Recipe · Halloween
Cà Phê Mè Đen
Black sesame iced coffee
Our Halloween glass: a charcoal-grey black sesame cream over ice with dark Robusta floating on top. Nutty, sweet and as dark as an October night.
- Prep
- 4 min
- Brew
- 6 min
- Total
- 10 min
- Makes
- 1 glass
Ingredients
Tick things off as you go.
You'll need
- Phin filter
- Heatproof glass or cup
- Tall glass for serving
- Small jar with a lid, or a whisk
Sesame is one of the 14 major food allergens.
Method
-
Step 1: Make the sesame cream
Shake or whisk the sesame paste, condensed milk and cold milk until smooth and charcoal-grey.
1 min -
Step 2: Load the phin
Set the phin on a separate cup, add the Saigon Drip, level it and rest the press on top.
-
Step 3: Bloom, then drip
Pour about 20 ml of hot water and wait 30 seconds, then add the remaining 80 ml, cover and let it drip into a strong, dark concentrate.
5 min -
Step 4: Build the glass
Fill a tall glass with ice and pour in the sesame cream.
-
Step 5: Float the coffee
Pour the coffee slowly over the back of a spoon so it settles on top in a dark layer. Serve layered, then stir until the glass turns a deep cocoa-grey.
Tips
Toast your own seeds
Freshly toasted sesame tastes far nuttier. Toast 2 tablespoons in a dry pan for 2–3 minutes and go by smell: black seeds burn without changing colour.
Smoother cream
Paste gives the silkiest result. With home-ground seeds, blend the cream for 20 seconds or strain it through a fine sieve.
Less sweet
Use 1 tablespoon of condensed milk and a little more milk. Black sesame is naturally slightly bitter, so taste first.
Not traditional, but familiar
Black sesame, mè đen, is a familiar flavour in Vietnamese kitchens, from the warm sweet soup chè mè đen to sesame sweets sold at markets. This glass isn't a classic café recipe. It's our way of marking Halloween with two things Vietnam already loves: dark coffee and black sesame.
Questions
Is black sesame coffee a traditional Vietnamese drink?
Not as a café classic. Black sesame is a familiar Vietnamese flavour, best known from the sweet soup chè mè đen. This drink is PHIN's Halloween take, pairing it with Vietnamese Robusta.
Where can I buy black sesame paste in Switzerland?
Asian grocery stores usually stock it, often as Japanese or Chinese black sesame paste. You can also toast and grind black sesame seeds yourself.
Which coffee works best?
Saigon Drip. Its strong Robusta body and cocoa notes hold their own against the sesame cream and the ice. Da Lat Dawn works if you prefer it softer.
Brew it with
Everything this recipe uses, from our shop.
