The scent of coffee is a unique charm of Vietnam. Egg coffee is a beverage originating from Vietnam made from robusta coffee beans with eggs that has captivated many foodies around the world.

Where did egg coffee come from?

From the French colonial period, the French brought coffee to Vietnam in 1857 and chose the Central Highlands as the place to cultivate the "golden" product favored by the Chau people. And since then, Vietnam began to appear drinks made from coffee beans, initially the middle class and gradually spread to the lower class.

The first wave of coffee was introduced and integrated into Vietnamese culture in 1975. Coffee helps to erase the boundary between rich and poor, anyone can enjoy it. Unlike luxury coffee shops with American culture, in the North of Vietnam, there are family cafes that are prepared and served by the owner.

Nguyen Van Giang invented egg coffee in 1946. He used to be a chef in the famous French hotel Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, so he had the opportunity to be exposed to many types of coffee and to be exposed to many different ways of making coffee. When making coffee for foreign diners, he wants Vietnamese people to also enjoy this delicious drink. But at that time, fresh milk ice cream was very rare and expensive, so Vietnamese people could not buy it themselves. With his own experience, he immediately came up with a combination of coffee and eggs because there are a lot of eggs in Vietnam. So he used eggs instead of milk and cream to create a charming cup of egg coffee. 

Giang Cafe in Ha Noi, Vietnam

After successfully introducing egg coffee to customers, he decided to quit his job to run his own coffee shop. Over the past 70 years, Mr. Giang is still considered the king of egg coffee in Vietnam. Currently, Cafe Giang in Hanoi is being taken over by his sons.

Vietnamese egg coffee and Italian latte, which is better?

Vietnamese egg coffee has been cited as one of the world’s top 10 drinks by Buzzfeed, an American online social news and entertainment giant.

“Sounds very strange but a combination of egg yolks, condensed milk, sugar, butter and laughing cow cheese is whisked until fluffy and thick and served with hot coffee! Incredibly rich taste- like a liquid tiramisu”, said the website.

Although each place has a different taste, egg coffee in general has an impressive color. Coffee will be served with the cup sitting in a small dish of hot water to maintain its temperature. It is almost too thick to drink, so I use a small spoon.

Enjoying egg coffee must be enjoyed in a very personal way. As a pure robusta Vietnamese coffee, bearing Hanoi's character. Egg coffee can be enjoyed cold or hot. There is nothing better than sipping a cup of hot egg coffee in the cold weather of Hanoi. Before enjoying, customers must use a small spoon to gently stir the cup of coffee around. Egg coffee cannot be drunk quickly, but must be taken very slowly, sip by sip to be able to feel the blend of coffee and eggs.

“It doesn’t taste off egg – more like vanilla – and while I can taste the coffee at the bottom of the cup, the egg part is surprisingly light-tasting and not at all sickly, though certainly sweet. The cold option, laden with ice, is more of a dessert and tastes like coffee ice-cream.” A foreign customer said this when he came to Cafe Giang.

The drink does not have the fishy taste of eggs, but on the contrary, the bitter taste of coffee blends with the greasy, sweet and soft taste of eggs, creating a harmonious, rustic, very attractive taste. of diners.

How to make an egg coffee

• Ingredients for making egg coffee include fresh eggs, sugar, milk, and coffee.
• Egg yolks are hand-beaten with milk, granulated sugar, then poured boiling coffee over. 
• Coffee cups float in a fragrant brown color. 
• Egg coffee is made from whisked eggs mixed with coffee, made very well, to just pour hot coffee into the beaten egg, it will form a beautiful and fragrant foam. 
• Diners always have an extra spoon to enjoy the creamy foam on top like an appetizer before drinking coffee below.
• To keep the drink hot, the waiter places the coffee in a bowl of warm water.