The holidays are coming fast and furious for 2020. Vietnamese egg coffee reminds me of the holiday eggnog drink. To celebrate the holiday with something familiar yet exotic, we will be showing how to make egg coffee or cà phê trứng with a Vietnamese Egg Coffee recipe I have learned and researched. There are different recipes available on the internet. I used the techniques from different recipes along with my own experiences to make this recipe as simple and straightforward as possible.
In addition, the egg coffee is creamy, sweet, and delicious. You can partake of this drink at any time. No need to wait until the holidays to enjoy the richness of coffee.
History of Egg Coffee
What is egg coffee? It is exactly what the name offers — the combination of egg and coffee. During the first Indochina war around 1946 in Hanoi, there was a shortage of milk in Vietnam. Nguyen Van Giang came up with a new creamy concocted coffee to help substitute for the lack of milk. At that time, he was bartending at a renowned hotel called Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel in Hanoi.
The drink became so popular that Giang decided to open his own coffee shop called Cafe Giang. He was known as the original Vietnamese egg coffee king. Cafe Giang is now being managed by his son, Nguyen Van Do in Hanoi’s Old quarter. The traditional recipe has been kept hidden since the 1940s. Over the years, there are different renditions of creating egg coffee such as egg yolk, butter, sugar, condensed milk, and sometimes cheese is added. However, the secret is to use the main ingredient egg yolks adding to the coffee without the egg flavor taste.
Please make sure to read through the recipe at least once to be familiarized with the procedure. It will definitely make your life easier and be prepared for what to expect.
As the owner of this website, I tracked down special deals for some products or services mentioned herein. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. When you use the link from this page to make a purchase, I may receive a small commission, and you may receive a great bargain – Full Disclosure.
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of ground coffee:
Trung Nguyen Coffee OR Cafe Du Monde
(2 most common Vietnamese Coffees) - 1 to 2 tablespoons of condensed milk
- 2 egg yolks
- (optional) 1 packet of vanilla sugar OR 1 teaspoon sugar and 2 drops of vanilla
- (optional) sprinkle cinnamon or nutmeg
The amount of coffee being used is totally up to the coffee drinker. The traditional amount is 1 tablespoon. If you prefer a stronger flavored coffee, add 2 to 3 tablespoons of ground coffee. The same goes with the sweetness of the coffee. I find 2 tablespoons of condensed milk is very sweet. However, my daughter loves it. For me, 1 tablespoon of condensed milk is perfectly enough.
Pasteurize the eggs
We will be using raw egg yolks. If you are concern with the risk of Salmonella infection, we can pasteurize the eggs. By pasteurizing the egg, we bring the water to 140 degrees F temperature. First of all, make sure to have the eggs at room temperature for at least 5 to 10 minutes.
Balance the water at 140 degrees temperature and submerge the 2 room temperature eggs completely in the water for 5 minutes. I have a gas stove so I used the lowest setting on my gas stove once my temperature hit 140 degrees. A cooking thermometer would be very helpful to monitor and maintain the heat. We don’t want the temperature much higher than 140 for a long time because we don’t want the eggs to be cooked.
Keeping the temperature at 140 degrees for 5 minutes can be challenging. If you don’t want to deal with the hassle, check out a gizmo called Sous Vide. 
Fill a small to medium bowl with cold water. Once the five minutes are up, transfer the eggs into the bowl of water. The eggs are now ready to be processed.
Process the egg
The next step is separating the yolk from the egg white. It is a little trickier when the egg is not cold. The yolk can be easily punctured and that would make it harder for you to separate the yolk from the white. Here is a fun article on how to separate the yolk in four different ways => how to separate eggs. You can choose one or try them all to see which one works best for you.
I like using the eggshells to separate the eggs. I enjoy the challenge of transferring the yolk from one eggshell to another without puncturing the yolk. It is even more challenging when the eggs are warm.
Once the yolks are successfully transferred, add the condensed milk, and/or vanilla sugar. The amount of condensed milk is totally up to you. If you like it sweet add 2 tablespoons and if you like it less sweet use 1 tablespoon. Personally, 1 tablespoon is enough sweetness for me.
Use an electric mixer and blend the mixture. Start your timer for this. It may take up to 10 minutes of mixing before your mixture becomes a smooth, thick, and frothy cream. The color slowly transforms from yellow to a light vanilla color after 6 or more minutes of mixing. It is a pretty neat chemistry reaction.
Make the Vietnamese drip coffee
If you do not know how to make the Vietnamese drip coffee, please click on Cafe Sua Da Recipe for the full instructions. In our case, you will make straight black coffee with no ice. We do not need to add the condensed milk to the cup of coffee unless we like it even sweeter. We are already mixing the sweet condensed milk with the egg yolks.
Fill a bowl with hot water. Once the drip coffee is completed, we can place your cup of coffee in the bowl of hot water. Be careful not to have the hot water higher than the cup. We wouldn’t want unwanted water to leak into our coffee. We can keep our coffee nice and warm while we are finishing up the blending of our egg yolk mixture.
Conclusion
The last step is combining everything together. Once the drip coffee is completely done, pour the whipped egg yolk mixture on top of the coffee. It should be thick, frothy, and airy that the cream floats on top.
With the final touch, sprinkle a little bit of nutmeg or cinnamon on top.
You can drink coffee in two ways:
- Keep the frothy cream and the coffee separated. You can taste the contrast of the sweetness and bitterness combined with smooth and warm flavors sliding down your throat.
- Mix both the cream and the coffee together. Allow the two to intertwine and blend in a heavenly yummy texture and flavored coffee.
Either way is totally delicious and purely decadent. I enjoy the blending of the two flavors. Enjoy!!!
I love to hear how this recipe works out for you. Please leave your comments below.