Scott.Buffington.me

Usually on Fridays the guys at work and I go out somewhere. Most days we all eat at our desks, so we try to get out of the office at least one day a week. For today's lunch we decided to visit a local Vietnamese restaurant that we eat at from time to time. Every time I have eaten there, I have always gotten the food to go. But today we decided to sit down and eat at the restaurant. Wow, am I glad I did, because I had the opportunity to enjoy a new coffee experience.

One of my co-workers only lives a couple blocks from the restaurant and visits it often. His first words to me when we decided to stay and eat was that I had to try Vietnamese Coffee. Never one to shy away from coffee, I was game. When the coffee arrived at the table, I had to admit I had never seen this method before.

Atop my clear cup sat a Vietnamese coffee filter, A Vietnamese filter is a small coffee pot. It looks like a hat and sits upon the top of a coffee cup. Inside is a chamber for coffee and room for hot water. The Vietnamese filter seemed very basic, simple and best of all it made a wonderful cup of coffee. On the bottom of the coffee cup I saw what looked to be a heavy cream, the coffee was slowly filtering through and looked to be dark and strong. The cream was actually condensed milk and typically contains sugar and is heat processed with steam. Steamed milk has different physics from non-steamed milk and tastes better when used in coffee. Basically the water slowly drips into the cup and when it stops your coffee is ready.

I decided to stir up my Vietnamese coffee, but some drink the coffee and save the condensed milk for the end. From my reading, either is fine, it all depends on your taste or style. If you ever visit a Vietnamese restaurant, which I urge you to try, you have got to order a Vietnamese Coffee. You might find yourself going back for just the coffee!