Recipe
Cà Phê Đen Đá
Vietnamese iced black coffee
A short, strong phin brew poured over ice, with a little sugar if you like. No milk to hide behind, so it shows exactly what the coffee tastes like.
- Prep
- 2 min
- Brew
- 6 min
- Total
- 8 min
- Makes
- 1 glass
Ingredients
Tick things off as you go.
You'll need
- Phin filter
- Heatproof glass or cup
- Tall glass for serving
Method
-
Step 1: Sugar first
If you take sugar, put it in the empty cup now. It dissolves in hot coffee, not in cold.
-
Step 2: Load the phin
Set the phin on the cup, add the Da Lat Dawn, level it and rest the press on top. Press lightly.
-
Step 3: Bloom
Pour about 20 ml of hot water to wet all the coffee and let it swell.
30 s -
Step 4: Slow drip
Add the remaining 80 ml, put the lid on and let it drip into a dark, fragrant concentrate.
4–5 min -
Step 5: Over ice
Stir, then pour over a tall glass full of ice. Drink it slowly: it's meant to soften as the ice melts.
Tips
Why Da Lat Dawn
Its 40% Arabica rounds off the Robusta, so a black cup tastes of dark cocoa and toasted grain rather than plain bitterness.
Stronger or softer
For a harder kick, use Saigon Drip. For a lighter, more floral cup, use Hanoi Haze.
Black and iced
Đen means black, đá means ice. It's the everyday order of people who drink their coffee without milk: often in the morning, often finished slowly over an hour while the ice melts into it and turns a strong coffee into a long one.
Questions
Is cà phê đen đá very bitter?
It's strong, but it shouldn't be harsh. Da Lat Dawn's Arabica share softens it, and the melting ice does the rest. A teaspoon of sugar takes the edge off too.
Why put the sugar in first?
Sugar dissolves in hot coffee in seconds but barely at all once it's poured over ice.
Can I drink it hot?
Yes: that's cà phê đen nóng. Skip the ice and drink it from a small warmed cup.
Brew it with
Everything this recipe uses, from our shop.
