Vietnamese restaurants (even in Vietnam) use very different coffees. Cafe du Monde is often one of the standard choices, and it's a mix between coffee and chickory (I'm not sure of the coffee origin or roast, however). Another is Trung Nguyen, which is the Vietnamese version of Starbucks or Peets. You can usually find their robusta beans in select asian supermarkets. Personally, I prefer the taste of Trung Nguyen, since you can often get it as whole beans, unlike the typical ground cans of Cafe du Monde on grocery store shelves. I don't know if they export their "Chon" variety, but it is exquisite! It's sort of a poor man's kopi luwak, since it has gone through the digestive system of a weasel, not a civet.
Other than that I will say that there's no big mystery in terms of coffee blends. The Vietnamese got this out of the French occupation, so anything that is in the French tradition will do. I like the flavor of nuttier-tasting beans brewed with this method.
The drip cups you buy in the West (Chinese made?) are 10 times better than the ones you get and that they actually use in Vietnam (Vietnamese made). But they're both pretty damn cool as far as the ritual of preparation goes.
Posted Sat Jan 1, 2005, 7:10am Subject: Re: Vietnamese Coffee (Hardware)
I got a can of Trung Nguyen for Xmas. Very interesting.
I made an Americano using my Brikka moka pot and it was quite good. It holds up very well to the heat and pressure of moka pot brewing. I have no idea if it's got chicory or other spices in it, but by the taste it certainly could.
I would highly recommend giving it a try if you like a spicier taste. I'd also be very interested if anyone knows if there are additives and what they might be.
Hi to all of you who love vietnamese coffee, I don't know that this is too late for some of you or not but I found this vietnamese coffee website called Intergrocery.com. They have really reasonable price on vietnamese coffee. They even have vietnamese coffee selling by set. I order this vietnamese coffee set for only $15.00 not included shipping yet ...This vietnamese coffee set is included 1. 2 x BLACK & WHITE FULLCREAM SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK 14 OZ. 2. TRUNG NGUYEN VIETNAMESE COFFEE 17.6 OZ 3. VIETNAMESE COFFEE MAKER 0.5 OZ. Here is the URL to this website Click Here (intergrocery.com)
I hope this helps all of you who can die for vietnamese coffee.. Dan
I live in Orange County, CA...near "Little Saigon". You can buy "fresh" Viet coffee (in paper brown bags) in just about any Vietnamese grocery store. I buy a bag just to make my cafe sua da at home. I don't have the patience to use the Viet coffee makers. I pull a double shot from my espresso maker and add two table spoons of condense milk. After thoroughly stirring it, I pour it over ice...mmm mmm good.
The brand of condense milk also makes a big difference in the taste. I like the "Longivity" brand myself. Glad to see that there are people who enjoy the drink and not go to the viet cafe's just to get long looks at the girls in lingerie serving them.
I've posted instructions for the aluminum filter use on click here. It took me awhile to get it working the way I liked, that is to say, coffee still hot but not too fast a brewing time. Now I find that I don't brew pots of coffee much anymore unless I have guests, I love these little filters. The flavors are different and stronger in the single cup filters, which I think is opposite of what you expect when brewing small quantities in a coffeemaker.
I started this site and imported Trung Nguyen coffee simply because after almost a year of haunting all the Asian and Brazilian etc. markets in my area the Trung Nguyen House Blend was by far the best coffee I had ever tasted. Now I import the full Creative coffee line. They really have done amazing things with blends. I have some of the coffees in whole bean but it seems the ground doesn't suffer much in flavor. The whole bean is a little oily for the grinder, since they add a little butter oil when they roast, which is traditional in the East.
There are no additives, I have checked with the roasters. The flavors of chocolate and tamarind and other fruits are from the varieties and the soil; especially in the stronger blends with the chari and catimor.
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