Recipe

Cà Phê Cốt Dừa

Name: Cà Phê Cốt Dừa (Vietnamese coconut coffee)
Prep time: 4 min
Cook time: 6 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 1 glass
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Ingredients: 20 g Da Lat Dawn, medium-fine grind; 100 ml hot water, 90–96 °C; 80 ml coconut cream, full-fat, chilled; 1½ tbsp sweetened condensed milk; 1 glass ice cubes, about 150 g

Vietnamese coconut coffee

Coconut cream, condensed milk and ice blended into a thick white slush, with dark phin coffee poured over the top. Somewhere between an iced coffee and a dessert.

Prep: 4 min
Brew: 6 min
Total: 10 min
Makes: 1 glass

IcedDa Lat Dawn

Ingredients

Tick things off as you go.

20 g Da Lat Dawnmedium-fine grind
100 ml hot water90–96 °C
80 ml coconut creamfull-fat, chilled
1½ tbsp sweetened condensed milk
1 glass ice cubesabout 150 g

You'll need

Phin filter
Small cup
Blender
Tall glass for serving

Method

Step 1: Brew the coffee

Set the phin on a small cup, add the Da Lat Dawn, level it and rest the press on top. Bloom with 20 ml of hot water, then add the remaining 80 ml and let it drip.
5 min
Step 2: Blend the coconut

Blend the coconut cream, condensed milk and ice until thick and smooth, like a soft slush.
30–40 s
Step 3: Into the glass

Spoon the coconut slush into a glass, leaving a little room at the top.
Step 4: Pour the coffee over

Pour the hot coffee slowly over the slush. It will sink in dark ribbons and melt the top slightly.
Step 5: Stir and serve

Serve with a long spoon. Eat a little of the top first, then stir it all together.

Tips

Use the real thing

Full-fat coconut cream gives the thick texture; light coconut milk turns watery. Chill the can overnight.

No blender?

Shake the coconut cream and condensed milk in a jar and pour it over crushed ice. Less slushy, just as good.

A Hà Nội café favourite

Coconut and coffee meet often in Vietnam, a country with coconut palms all along its southern coast. Cà phê cốt dừa became a signature of Hà Nội's modern cafés, where it is served thick enough to eat with a spoon.