Coffee
Egg coffee
Egg coffee, ca phe trung, is a Hanoi specialty in which egg yolk is whipped with sweetened condensed milk into a thick, airy, custard-like foam and floated on a small glass of strong, dark Vietnamese coffee. The result is almost a dessert in a cup: a rich, sweet, meringue-soft cap tasting of vanilla custard and tiramisu sitting over a bitter, robusta-strong brew, usually served hot with the glass resting in a bowl of hot water to keep the topping warm. It is one of Vietnam's most distinctive coffees and a signature of the capital's old-quarter café culture.
BittersweetNon-alcoholic
At a glance
Signature
Coffee & Custard
Roasted
Strength
Non-alcoholic
by taste profile
Egg coffee leads with its cap — a thick, airy, custard-like foam of whipped egg yolk and sweetened condensed milk that tastes of vanilla custard, meringue and tiramisu, dense and almost dessert-like on the spoon — sitting over a small glass of strong, bitter, dark-roast robusta. Sipped through, the sweet, rich, eggy topping softens the bitter coffee beneath; stirred together, the two become a uniformly creamy, sweet, roasty cup with a full, silky body. Served hot and often kept warm in a water bath, it reads far more as a warm coffee pudding than a plain black coffee. The numbers describe the served hot glass; sweetness and richness scale directly with how much egg and condensed milk go into the cap.
Taste balance
BitternessMedium
SmoothBitter