The Stars Aligned and I Made Vietnamese Coffee

In honor of two wonderful wonderful events that happened this weekend, I made Vietnamese coffee for the first time.

1. A Dong reopened!!!!  

2. My beautiful babe of a friend got engaged! She and her fiancé totally fell in love over their separate trips to Vietnam. And she brought Zach and I back these cute little coffee makers!  

It was all too appropriate, really.  

Back to 1....A Dong gave out free food for their re grand opening (?!) and they ran their kitchen plum out of food. So Friday, we went on a winter walk, pumped to close the walk over a big bowl of pho, and it was closed for restocking :( however! We got our pho fix on Sunday.

I did some research on how to make Vietnamese coffee properly. We had a percolator in Italy, so I figured it was somewhat similar.  

The most common brand of Vietnamese coffee is Cafe Du Monde. It's actually in the French Quarter in New Orleans, but they are famous for their Vietnamese coffee (they also have French ground coffee, oh and I hear amazing beignets?? Open 24 hrs??) 

What makes Vietnamese coffee set apart is chicory. A common root in the country that adds a little, well spice, to the coffee bean. It is also used in cases, as a complete substitute to coffee altogether-decaf. WOOF. 

I got a can at World Market. 

I also used Evaporated Milk...from my pantry. 

You pour milk until the glass is  1/4 full. 

And then.  

You put 2 teaspoons of coffee grounds into the coffee maker, and place the screened lid down onto the grinds (gently, gently!)  

Then you pour hot water filling about 1/4 of the can. Let it sit for 20 seconds as it blooms and drips a few little beautiful dribbles into the cream.  

After 20 seconds, GOOOOOO. Pour that hot water. And then place the lid on top and watch the magic. 

Remove the coffee maker and mix the cream and coffee togetha.

And it's so yum! I won't lie, I was skeptical. Our coffee in Florence was like, cat litter most mornings. But this is a good cup of creamy coffee. 

Congrats to Paulina and Ben! And congrats to the king of Vietnamese in Des Moines. I love you both equally.

Come over to Pleasant St and have coffee with me! And tell me if I totally did this wrong :) 

Emily