How to Make Vietnamese Coffee with a Phin

Whether you are a fan of a healthy blend of Arabica and Robusta or swear by pure Arabica coffee : Vietnamese coffee tastes best when it is prepared the Vietnamese way.

The traditional Vietnamese way of preparing coffee is not influenced by the type of bean. In contrast to the typical German "mass filter coffee production", Vietnamese coffee is always brewed in individual portions. To do this, the drip filter with a sieve bowl, called a phin , is placed on the glass or cup and filled with coffee powder. The small press is then placed on the coffee powder and boiling water is poured over it. Little by little, the coffee drips into its container.

In contrast to Germany, coffee in Vietnam is usually drunk cold due to the high temperatures. It is often cooled with ice cubes or served directly as iced coffee ( you can find the recipe for the traditional preparation in our blog article on Vietnamese iced coffee ). Another typical Vietnamese practice is to add sweetened condensed milk. This gives the coffee a pleasantly mild note.

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  For preparation in the Phin, the coffee should be ground medium to coarse (grind level 4 out of 5). If the coffee is ground too finely, it runs through the Phin too slowly and becomes bitter. If the grind level is too coarse, the coffee becomes too thin.
• Use enough coffee. The bottom section should be filled with coffee right up to the edge so that the water cannot run past the sides.
• Fill your Phin with coffee powder before placing it on your cup . This will prevent any coffee powder from getting into your finished coffee.
• The lid of the Phin can also be used as a coaster . Once the coffee has brewed, you can turn the lid over and place the Phin on top to prevent your table from getting coffee stained or wet.
• The classic Vietnamese coffee preparation: In Vietnam, coffee is also often drunk as iced coffee. Simply put a few ice cubes in the glass before placing the Phin on top.

Coffee is a fixed part of Vietnamese culture. Introduced by the French during the colonial era in the 19th century, it has become a staple of everyday life in Vietnam. Wherever you go, you will find small coffee shops on the street corners, where people meet in the morning for their first coffee of the day.

But the Vietnamese are not only passionate coffee drinkers. As the world's second-largest coffee producer, Vietnam is also one of the leading exporters. Production, however, remains a local and largely traditional affair. Every Vietnamese citizen is allowed to grow coffee and run a plantation, and the state even supports this, for example by allocating land. Coffee farmers lease the land from the state for around 50 years, with the government allowing 1.2 hectares per household. A plantation of this size produces an average of 2.5 tonnes of coffee. Around 95 percent of the coffee grown is exported, and about five percent stays in the country.

So far, this has kept large corporations largely out of the picture, and the value of coffee growing stays in the country and with its people. Because the state regulates the land, coffee in Vietnam is grown by many small family farms, not just large plantations.