Go Gaga Over Vietnam's Delicious Egg Coffee

I won't lie, it weirded me out when I first heard about egg being mixed in coffee.

But it is always fun to follow the customs and traditions of a place you're visiting and I had to therefore lay my hands on Vietnam's famed egg coffee when I visited the country recently. Trust the Vietnamese to turn a bizarre combination into a delicious affair!

Coffee, both hot and iced versions, is a favourite beverage for the Vietnamese people and rightly so. The country is one of the leading coffee-producing countries in the world, second after Brazil.

There are cafes all over Vietnam with extensive coffee menus. From condensed milk coffee, coconut coffee, salted coffee to regular Americano, latte, cappuccino, as well as hot cacao, the options are aplenty and oh-so-flavoursome! The coffee gets its signature fragrance and taste from the Coffea robusta beans that are aged and roasted to perfection.

Egg coffee is served in every café and restaurant, but the one I had at Cafe Giang in the Old Quarter area of Hanoi, in North Vietnam, is said to be the best and the original one.

It is believed that the father of the current owner of Giang invented the beverage in the mid-1900s when he was working in a plush hotel. It was difficult to store milk in North Vietnam's hot and humid weather, hence the idea of condensed milk came into the picture. The whisked egg yolk was used as dairy replacement as milk was sparse and expensive.

The process of egg coffee is similar to Dalgona Coffee, a South Korea-inspired coffee, which became a rage, worldwide, during the pandemic.

To be honest, the egg coffee on first sip tasted less like a coffee and more like coffee-flavoured dessert because of the rich foam and sweetness that’s derived from the condensed milk. I wouldn’t have guessed it had egg in it, if it wasn't for my 'precursory' knowledge. I liked it nonetheless, but a true coffee connoisseur probably would not!

The one at Café Giang made for a highly-satisfying experience because of the rich bitterness of the coffee concoction and the lovely sweetness of egg and milk foam cutting through it. It had me going gaga over it and I liked it so much that I brought it home.

Thanks to all the dalgona-making practice during lockdown, making this one at home was an easy (and a bit nostalgic?) task. All you need is a good coffee filter tool and a bunch of other simple ingredients.

Take a cue from this recipe and enjoy a delicious cuppa at home. And if you find yourself -- by some luck -- in Hanoi or anywhere in Vietnam, let this coffee be on your must-try list!

Egg Coffee

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 4 egg yolks (brighter the better, ideally from free-range eggs)
• 3 tbsp of Vietnamese coffee powder, available online, or any medium roast ground coffee powder or 2 tsp instant coffee powder
• 4 tsp condensed milk
• 2 cups boiling hot water
• 1 tsp cocoa powder or grated dark chocolate to garnish, optional

Method

• Brew a coffee in a coffee filter (the South Indian coffee filter does just fin,e in case you don't have Vietnamese phin filter) or mix instant coffee in hot water.
  Keep aside.
• Put the yolks and condensed milk in a bowl and whisk vigorously until a foamy mixture or use a hand blender instead.
• Once the mixture is ready, add just 1 tbsp of the brewed coffee and gently mix.
• Now pour your brewed coffee in your favourite coffee mug, add the egg mixture on top and dust some cocoa powder or grated chocolate over it for the pretty look.
  Serve.

Mayur's Note: For iced egg coffee, the coffee-making process remains the same. Simply put ice cubes in a tall glass before pouring in the coffee concoction and then the egg mixture. And voila, your delicious iced egg coffee is ready!

Also, you may add vanilla extract or chocolate sauce or pinch salt to your egg mixture as flavouring agents. Some cafes had the option of pouring in rice wine into egg mixture for that extra zing. So yes, you can customise your egg coffee however you like!

Do not just discard the egg whites. Smear a tsp of butter in a hot pan and rustle up some quick egg whites fry. Sprinkle pepper and salt on it and serve with a piece of toast as side dish with your coffee.

• REDIFF FOOD