All you need to make Vietnamese iced coffee is a stainless steel filter, which can be purchased online for about $7 USD. You’ll probably discover them even more inexpensively if you reside in a city with a Vietnamese grocery store.

Use 2 tablespoons of ground coffee in a Vietnamese coffee maker, then place a filter press on top of the coffee.

Vietnamese coffee can be served hot, but for the purposes of this tutorial, we’re going to make a potent, sweet iced coffee.

How to Use Vietnamese Coffee Maker?

Add Condensed Milk to the Glass

Condensed milk is very sweet, so you don’t need much. Start with just enough material to cover the bottom, perhaps 1/3 inch (1 cm). Later, you could always add more condensed milk. Ice has not yet been added. That is the final action.

Read More: 5 Best Iced Coffee Makers (2023 Reviews)

Remove the Top Screen of the Filter

Remove the top screen because coffee will spill out from underneath it.

Add Ground Coffee to Filter

The amount of ground coffee to be added is one tablespoon. On what grind level is best, different people have different ideas. everything, from espresso to french press coarse. Also important is how firmly the filter is screwed on. Starting with a medium grind is a good idea.

Chicory is used in some recipes that use this ingredient. You could use a coffee that already contains chicory, like Cafe du Monde, or you could do it yourself. You only need half a teaspoon of chicory if you add it yourself.

Cover With Top Filter

The top filter should be tightened. You might need to go a little tighter if you chose to use a coarse grind. More on that below.

Set Brewer over Glass With Stand

The benefit of brewing in a glass as opposed to a mug is that you can observe the process.

Add Hot Water

Water should be hot when filling the Vietnamese coffee filter. Normal procedure for me is to boil water, let it cool for about 30 seconds, and then pour.

The filtering process for the water should take 4 to 5 minutes. A less coarse grind or tightening the top filter can be used if it moves too quickly. Either the filter is screwed in too tightly or the grind is too fine if it moves too slowly.

Additionally, the filter has a lid that you can set on top of it. I prefer to keep an eye on the brew’s development so I can determine whether I need to adjust the grind or the tightness of the top filter.

Wait for Brew to Complete

Simply wait for the water to pass through the filter is the easiest step. Use a timer for the initial batches of brews. Eventually, the filter will let the coffee through. 4 to 5 minutes is the ideal target. If you fall outside that range, refer to Step #6’s advice.

Mix the Coffee and Condensed Milk

Condensed milk and freshly brewed coffee are combined. Some recipes ask you to add more sugar. You should let your palate decide whether the beverage is sweet enough for you.

Add Fish Sauce

In some Vietnamese locales, the toothpick’s tip will be dipped in fish sauce and added to the coffee. I think the rationale behind it is that the bitterness has been known to be diminished by a small amount of salt or a salty flavor. The bitterness of darker roasted coffee, particularly French Roast, tends to increase. The heavily roasted coffee can therefore taste smoother by adding a tiny bit of salty fish sauce. This step can be skipped if the coffee you’re using isn’t a dark roast.

Serve With Ice

Enjoy your beverage after adding the ice.

What Does Coffee from a Vietnamese Phin Filter Taste Like?

The coffee you use, along with other elements like grind size, water temperature, and coffee-to-water ratio, will significantly affect the coffee you get, but the Vietnamese phin filter is typically used to brew tiny, intense cups of coffee that are similar to espresso.

There will be some sediment in the cup because this technique avoids the need for paper filters. Consider a method that uses paper filters, such as a Hario V60, if you prefer a very “clean” cup of coffee, or an Aeropress if you prefer stronger coffee.

Vietnamese phin filters typically produce very robust-tasting coffee. While you shouldn’t anticipate it to have the mouthfeel of espresso, it will still be significantly more flavorful than coffee made using the traditional pour-over method.

Read More: Espresso vs Coffee Beans

What Grind Size Should You Use for a Vietnamese Phin Filter?

Naturally, you will need to modify your grind size based on your personal preferences and the coffee you are using. Nevertheless, when using a Vietnamese phin filter, you should generally grind your coffee more coarsely than you would for espresso.

This helps prevent excessive extraction and the bitterness that results from it. Grind sizes that are too fine won’t work. It will take a long time for the coffee to drip and it will almost certainly be over-extracted if a very fine grind size, like that for espresso, is used.

We advise beginning with a medium-coarse grind.

Summary: How to Use a Vietnamese Phin Filter

As more people learn about it, this technique is growing in acceptance. Small, intense serving sizes are produced. Although you could use this method to brew any type of coffee, it is most frequently used in Vietnamese coffee recipes because they call for robusta coffee that is extremely potent. There are a few things to remember, but using a Vietnamese phin filter to brew coffee is fairly easy and inexpensive. Don’t tamp or compress the coffee before anything else. A second important step is to pre-heat your filter. Be careful because the filter eventually becomes hot.

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