Trung Nguyen Coffee

Have you ever tried vietnamese coffee? If not, you really should! In Manila, Highlands Coffee serves Cafe Da (Iced Coffee) and Cafe Sua Da (Iced Coffee with Condensed Milk). While I do enjoy those two drinks, Highlands Coffee is significantly more expensive here than in Vietnam. Fortunately, there are cheaper ways to enjoy Vietnamese coffee!

Caphe Tuoi by Trung Nguyen

One way to do it is with Caphe Tuoi, from Trung Nguyen Coffee. Unfortunately, this product really isn't sold in the Philippines, but it's great if you can get it. A 500ml bottle costs around 30,000 VND (P62) and can give a lot of cups of coffee (depending on how strong you like it). It's freely available in Vietnamese supermarkets, where everything is much cheaper. Sadly, I don't think it's available here. Ask as pasalubong from friends who travel ;)

Condensed Milk + Caphe Tuoi

Other Ingredients for Cafe Sua Da: Condensed Milk, Water (Optional), Ice
Other Ingredients for Cafe Da: Granulated Sugar, Water (Optional), Ice

I like to drink it with a lot of condensed milk and dilute it a bit with water and ice. I don't stock sugar at home, so unless I have a few packets lying around, I can't make Cafe Da.

Cafe Sua Da (Coffee and Milk only)

First pour in the milk. I like mine really sweet so I put in a lot. Condensed milk has a sweet, full bodied taste that pairs well with the strong coffee. Then add the coffee: I don't read Vietnamese, but I think it tells you to put in around 40ml (giving you 10-12 cups), I experiment then eyeball the amount I'm comfortable with.

Cafe Sua Da

I then dilute the coffee with water, since I don't like using a lot of ice, and the coffee is really strong. If you're hardcore, you can go sans water... even sans ice!

Stir and enjoy!

While there's a part of me that ones Trung Nguyen to open in the Philippines, it'd probably be quite expensive (as compared to Vietnam), so I'll stick with this for now.

Hopefully, one day soon, I can talk about the Phin filter.