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Iced · Easy · 9 minutes

Bạc xỉu

Saigon-style iced milk coffee
Bạc xỉu is cà phê sữa đá with the proportions turned around: the fresh milk is the base, and the coffee adds colour and a slightly bitter edge. The name comes from Cantonese and means roughly "white with a little coffee". That is exactly what it is. You order it when you want something long and cold that is not too strong.
  • 15 g
    Coffee
  • 60 ml
    Water
  • 3:30
    Drip
Next time, this recipe opens like this.

Ingredients

  • Sweetened condensed milk
    The sugar and the milk in one. Evaporated milk is not a substitute, because it is not sweetened.
    30 ml
  • Fresh milk
    Whole milk. This is what makes bạc xỉu long and mild rather than simply sweet.
    60 ml
  • Vietnamese ground coffee
    A dark-roast robusta, or a blend of robusta and arabica. Ground for a phin: a little coarser than for espresso.
    15 g
  • Hot water
    Just off the boil, around 92 to 96 °C. Boiling water scorches robusta and makes the coffee bitter.
    60 ml
  • Ice cubes
    Fill the glass generously. Vietnamese iced coffee is served properly cold.
    8

Equipment

Steps

  • Add the condensed milk

    30 ml
    Spoon the sweetened condensed milk into your heatproof glass. It goes in first, so the hot coffee drips straight onto it.

  • Add the fresh milk

    60 ml
    Pour in the fresh milk and stir the two together. The fresh milk is what makes bạc xỉu what it is: long and mild, not just sweet.
    Tip
    If your kitchen is cold, warm the milk a little. Ice-cold milk cools the coffee before it has finished dripping.

  • Add the coffee

    15 g
    Set the phin on the glass and add the ground coffee to the chamber. This is less coffee than in the other recipes, but not much less. A phin needs enough coffee to drip evenly. The mildness comes from the milk.

  • Place the filter plate

    Lay the filter plate on the coffee and press down lightly. With less coffee, the layer in the phin is thinner, so go gently. It is easy to press it down too hard.

  • Wet the grounds

    15 ml
    Pour just enough hot water to cover the coffee. The coffee swells and lets out gas. That is what lets the rest of the water flow through evenly.

  • Let it bloom

    ± 30 s
    Wait while the coffee swells. Half a minute is enough. The coffee may dome slightly.

  • Fill the phin

    45 ml
    Top up with the rest of the hot water and put the lid on.

  • Let it drip

    ± 4 min
    Wait while the coffee drips into the milk. This goes a little faster than in the black recipes, because there is less coffee and less water.

  • Stir it together

    Lift the phin off and stir until the colour is even. It should be the colour of milky tea. If it looks like coffee, you have made cà phê sữa đá.

  • Pour over ice

    8 cubes
    Fill a tall glass with ice and pour the coffee over it. Do use a tall glass. Bạc xỉu is a drink to take your time over.

Flavour

Background

Where it comes from

Bạc xỉu comes from Saigon, and especially from the Chinese-Vietnamese cafés of Chợ Lớn. It was made there for people who wanted something milder than the usual coffee. People still order it for children, for anyone who does not drink much coffee, or as the second glass on a long afternoon.
Every café, family and region in Vietnam makes coffee a little differently. Treat these amounts as a good starting point, not a rule.
These amounts are new, and we are still fine-tuning them.

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