So for the past couple of months, I have been getting more into coffee.  For the longest time I was perfectly content with instant, or trotting down to the local Tim Hortons (who doesn't love good ol' Timmies?) for a cuppa.  The taste never bothered me; I was more concerned with the caffeine--working at a job where the call time is EARLY, you learn to appreciate the picker-upper for what it is.

That being said, I got curious about coffee science once when I was bored and looked up videos on the Internet (I'm sure that's North America's favourite pastime).  There are A LOT of sites on the Internet about coffee methods, and coffee drinks, and even minute differences between grinders and their effectiveness.  Being the type of geek I am about stuff like that (don't even get me started on my gear whoring), I got interested.  Perhaps I could get into brewing a nice cup of coffee that DIDN'T reek of bitterness and failed dreams?

The opportunity came when I flew out to California and Hawaii to vacation and meet up with some friends.  I picked up an Aeropress, picked up some coffee beans, and when I came back, went to town.  I had fun experimenting with time, grind, pressing styles, all of that.  It was loads of fun and I found out what I liked.  And man, fresh coffee beans-- nothing can beat the caffeinated content of that stuff.  It'd be hard to go back.

While I was having fun with all my new experiences and stuff, however, it hit me--I was so caught up in western-style coffee making that I forgot us Viets had our own regional way. 

'This is not cool', I thought.  'I hadn't had the chance to make it in awhile.  I have to remedy that.'

So, one free night recently, my boyfriend and I set out to make some awesome Viet-style iced coffee (Cafe Sua Da).  He was nice enough to take pictures of the process.  If you don't feel like doing all the work like we did, you can also order this exact coffee at pretty much every Vietnamese restaurant (and Pho restaurant) in town...but  I hope you guys try it out for yourselves, too.  Somehow it's always more fun if you make if you make it yourself.

How to make Cafe Sua Da (Vietnamese Iced Coffee over Milk)

Making Cafe Sua Da isn't hard, but you need to have the right equipment.  To make it, you need:

- A Vietnamese coffee filter (found for a couple bucks at most Asian grocery stores)
- A mug (for the coffee to filter in) 
- A second glass, half-full of ice (for the pour-over at the end).
- A kettle, or boiling water dispenser for the water
- A spoon (do I even have to list this?)
*Optional- A grinder (if you're starting from scratch for the beans)

For the actual coffee, you need

- Ground coffee, or coffee beans (Cafe Sua Da is normally done with Dark Roast coffee.  You can also buy Vietnamese-style coffee grounds specifically for Cafe Sua Da, namely Cafe Du Monde- a Vietnamese-American favourite, or Trung Nguyen, the true stuff harvested from the central highlands of Vietnam).  In this case since I don't have the stuff on hand, I'm choosing to use good ol' French Roast (the staple is not too far off in taste).
- Condensed milk in a can (for the awesome sweet taste that the drink is famous for)

(The mug, fiilter, and the condensed milk.  Not shown: The extra glass with ice, and the coffee beans.)

(Close up of the filters.)

First, we have to set up the mugs.  To do this, pour about 1/5th of an inch of condensed milk into the bottom of the mug.  You are free to pour more or less, depending on how sweet you want the final result to be.


(In goes the condensed milk.  I like mine super-assed sweet, so I put more in my mug.)


The next bit is optional, for people who started from scratch.  If you have already-ground beans, you're free to skip this step.  For those who have whole beans, however, you have to grind them.

Typically I use a tablespoon for each cup of Cafe Sua Da I want to make (I'm making 2, so two tablespoons here).  Experimenting with more or less is totally encouraged :)
*Oh yeah!  If you don't have a boiling water dispenser, now is a great time to turn the kettle on, or start boiling the kettle if you use a stove-top.


(Fresh roasted beans!  Awesome)

For the GRIND SETTING, the filters have very large holes, so you want a medium coarse grind.  We don't want any of it to escape into the cup.


(Into the grinder it goes)


(Extra nice medium-coarse grind for the filter)

Once the grind is all set, pick up the filter, uncap the top part (there is a screw in the middle), and spoon the grind into it.  Make sure not to fill it too much, as the top part of the filter has to be screwed back on, effectively sandwiching the coffee between two parts of the filter.



(filling the filters)


(All set!)

So the grind is in the filter and the filter is ready to go.  This filter now sits on top of the mug (which has the prepared condensed milk in it).  The final part of this step is to fill the filter with off-boiled water all the way to the top.

(We've got a boiling water dispenser but you use whatever you have.)

The next step is simply to wait for the water to steep through the filter and into the mug.  Vietnamese-style coffee takes a bit longer than most other types of drip or pourover coffee, but I think it is totally worth it.  (Besides while you wait you can clean up your grinder, or watch Jeopardy, or something.  I chose to give my awesome boyfriend a big hug...and eat some chips.)

(Dooodily-doo, waiting for the coffee filter through.  Note the totally awesome mugs.  They even sorta match).


(To emphasis the SLOW drip, check out the below-the-filter action.)

Once all the water has gone into the mug, the filter's job is done.  Toss em into the sink and take a look into the mug.  The coffee should have started to mix with the condensed milk a bit, making it look pretty damn tasty.

(Take a guess at which one is mind.  Hint: I put a shitload of milk into it.)

To help with the mix, grab a spoon and stir that stuff up!


(The aroma at this point is AWESOME.)

The last step is pretty simple: once the mug is thouroughly stirred, the coffee is poured into the glass with the ice in it (did you prepare one?).

(Start!)

(Almost finished!)

Voila!  Feel free to mix it up some more, and wait a bit for the ice to chill the mixture, but basically you are all set!


(This stuff is freaking fantastic to drink on a summer day.)

Go enjoy the awesomeness that is Cafe Sua Da!

....oh yeah, just a bit of a warning-- Cafe Sua Da is one of those coffees that are really strong.  Vietnamese-harvested coffee in general is made of Robusta beans, which loads on the caffiene (and is generally more bitter than Arabica, mostly used in Western specialty blends- hence the extra milk).   This stuff will knock you straight up if you aren't used to it, especially if you order it in Pho shops.  Nothing beats the nice kick you get to face the day, though!

Cheers,

Chi out.

PS*-- I would like to add a little addendum, because I feel that this is important.  Earlier in the post I mentioned that coffee in Vietnam is mostly harvested in the central highlands of Vietnam.  Those same central highlands are being threatened with contamination from bauxite mining- an extremely TOXIC extraction process for aluminum.  Unfortunately the government in power does not overly care about the fact that it is in the middle of a National Park and that coffee and and exports are grown there. 

Please do me a favour and take some time to read about the campaign to Save Tây Nguyên, an area that will face a shitton of ecological damage due to the horrible bauxite process.  The containing process for bauxite mining is precarious at best, and leaks do horrible damage to the sorroundings.  Don't take my word for it, check out the recent Hungary leak. This. Shit. Is. Nasty.