Salted Vietnamese Coffee: Science Behind It & How to Make It

If you are also drinking your coffee the same way, you need to try Vietnamese salted coffee once. For the majority of people, coffee usually needs sugar, milk, or cream to soften its bitterness. Vietnam has another trick: a tiny amount of salt. Salted Vietnamese coffee combines strong Vietnamese coffee with a lightly salted creamy topping, creating a drink that tastes rich, smooth, slightly sweet, and surprisingly balanced.

What Is Vietnamese Salt Coffee?

Vietnamese salted coffee is a coffee drink made with strong Vietnamese coffee, a small amount of salt, and a creamy topping. Many versions of this coffee also use condensed milk for sweetness. The coffee is commonly brewed using a Vietnamese phin filter, which produces a concentrated cup with a deep, bold flavour.

Unlike Italian coffee that relies on pure espresso (caffè) and variations like cappuccino, latte, etc., Vietnamese salted coffee is a sweet-and-savory dessert-style drink featuring dark-roasted coffee, condensed milk or sugar, and a rich, salted cream layer on top.

While drinking salt coffee is deeply associated with Hue, the imperial capital of Vietnam in the center of the country, this salted brew only started making a name as the beverage of the city a decade ago. Popular coffee shops in Hue introduced it as one of their signatures, and as tourists shared the drink on their trip, it got known around the world.

The Culinary Science of Salt Coffee

There is biological science behind adding salt. When salt interacts with your taste buds, it has an effect that suppresses your bitterness receptors, and blocking the strong bitterness of coffee allows other flavour notes like nutty and chocolate to become more noticeable.

The creamy topping also plays an important role by adding fat, sweetness, and a softer texture to the concentrated brew. So, the salt is not there to make the coffee salty. It is there to help balance the drink.

Why Is Salted Vietnamese Coffee So Famous Nowadays?

The drink existed in Vietnam before TikTok discovered it. Social media simply gave it a much bigger audience.

Videos of Vietnamese salted coffee also tend to fare really well on the internet because of their novelty ingredient and eye-catching visual layers. Food creators were also partly responsible for making it a topic of curiosity for people more used to ordering their black coffee, iced coffee, or cappuccinos.

How to Make Vietnamese Salted Coffee at Home?

You do not need complicated equipment or hard-to-find ingredients to make salted coffee. A Vietnamese phin filter gives the most traditional brewing method, but a strong coffee brew can work if you do not have one.

Ingredients

• Sea Salt

• Heavy whipped cream

• Ground Coffee

• Hot water

• Condensed milk/sugar

Step 1: Salted Cream Preparation 

• Take heavy whipped cream, salt, and sugar or condensed milk. 

• Using a whisk or an electric whisk, start whisking until it softens. 

• You need to have a melted ice-cream-level thickness so that you can sip it with your coffee.

Crucial: Use sea salt because iodised salt can taste metallic.

Step 2: Brew the Coffee

A good coffee preparation starts with good quality coffee beans or ground coffee. Get Fine Vietnamese Robusta for the real and authentic salted coffee experience. 

• Add the ground coffee, around 15 grams (Brew the coffee with a phin filter).

Pour in a little hot water and let the grounds sit for about 20–30 seconds.

Add the remaining water and allow the coffee to drip slowly into a glass.

Don't add a lot of water; you want a concentrated brew because the cream will soften its strong flavour.

Step 3: Add the Salted Cream to The Coffee

• Take your brewed coffee and slowly spoon the salted cream over the top.

Don't mix it; just top it over. It will gradually get mixed as you drink.

Serve it hot or cold depending on your preference.

How to Experiment With Vietnamese Salted Coffee

• Try Different Sweeteners: Swap condensed milk for brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar to change the sweetness and flavour.

• Make It Extra Bold: Use more coffee or less water for a stronger brew, or choose a Vietnamese Robusta Arabica blend for a deeper, more intense cup.

• Add Flavours: Try vanilla, cinnamon, cocoa, coconut, or cardamom to give your coffee a different flavour while keeping the salted cream.

• Make It Iced: Pour the brewed coffee over ice and add the salted cream on top for a cold, refreshing version that works well in Dubai's warm weather.

• Make It Less Sweet: Reduce the condensed milk or leave it out completely, then let the coffee and lightly salted cream carry the flavour.

Final Thoughts

Salted Vietnamese coffee is a great replacement for your normal coffee, to try something whose beauty lies in its unusualness because the unusual ingredient has a practical purpose. 

Ready to try the recipe yourself? Explore our Vietnamese coffees, herbal teas, and traditional phin filters at The Caphe Vietnam and find the ingredients and brewing essentials you need for your next cup.