Pseudo-Vietnamese Coffee

After having a delicious dinner at a little mom-and-pop Vietnamese restaurant, a friend of mine ordered some Vietnamese coffee. I took a single sip and I was sold on the concept: strong, fine-ground coffee brewed in an individual French drip filter, right into a mug with condensed milk at the bottom. I vowed to make it at home first chance I got.

Of course, I don’t have a French drip filter, nor the type of coffee they used. I made do by grinding my grocery store brand coffee extra fine, using a lot of it in a French press (hey, it’s still French), then slowly stirring it into a mug with condensed milk.

The main thing here is the sweetened condensed milk. It’s different than dumping a crapload of cream and sugar in the coffee; more caramelly, and thicker in texture. Even with regular coffee, it’s a new way to cream and sweeten it in a tasty new way.

I like to put a lot of condensed milk so it’s sweet as candy in a base of bitter coffee, but (obviously) I like bold flavours. It may not be true Vietnamese coffee, but I highly recommend giving the stuff a try.