Vietnamese salt coffee from Huế: strong Phin coffee under a whipped topping of cream, condensed milk and a pinch of salt that softens the bitterness.
Use the Phin filter to brew a strong coffee with about 80 ml of water.
Whip the cream together with the condensed milk and the pinch of salt until it forms a creamy, semi-firm mixture.
Fill a glass with ice cubes and pour the coffee over it.
Carefully spoon the salted cream on top of the coffee without stirring it in.
Drink through the creamy layer first, then stir gently. The mix of salty, sweet and strong coffee is what makes it special.
Tip
If you prefer it less salty, start with a very small pinch of salt and work your way towards the salty-sweet balance typical of Huế.
Cà Phê Muối, salt coffee, comes from Huế in central Vietnam and only appeared there in the 2010s. Strong Phin coffee is topped with a whipped mixture of cream, condensed milk and a pinch of salt. That sounds unusual but follows the same principle as salt in caramel: it dampens the bitterness of the Robusta and makes the sweetness feel rounder. Salt coffee has since spread far beyond Huế.
Only very subtly. The salt is not meant to stand out but to soften the bitterness and lift the sweetness. Dosed correctly you barely register it as salty, you mostly notice that the coffee feels smoother and fuller.
A small pinch of fine sea salt per portion of cream topping. Start sparingly and work your way up, because too much salt tips the balance quickly and cannot be corrected afterwards.
Whipped coconut milk works well and suits Vietnamese coffee. What matters is that the mixture turns semi-firm and stays as a layer on the coffee instead of blending in straight away.
From Huế in central Vietnam, where a small café invented it in the 2010s. It spread across the country quickly and is now a fixture on menus in Vietnamese cafés.
Iced is the classic version and the one served in Huế. Hot works too, and the cream topping melts into the coffee faster, which makes it taste closer to a very creamy latte.
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