Egg Coffee Vietnam: “Everything” About Egg Coffee

Vietnamese Coffee Exporter
Egg Coffee Vietnam Everything About Egg Coffee

Egg Coffee Vietnam: “Everything” About Egg Coffee: If Europe is famous for being the home of classic coffees like Espresso, or America is the biggest source of quality coffee ingredients in the world, then in a small corner of Southeast Asia, Vietnam is the only country in the world. Proud to be the country that produced an extremely unique and outstanding coffee recipe: Egg Coffee. 

Not exaggerating at all, because egg coffee from Vietnam is considered a craze on a global scale as soon as it is spread and shared in the international culinary community.

When did coffee start in Vietnam?

From the period of French domination of Vietnam, France imported coffee into Vietnam in 1857 and chose the Central Highlands as the place to cultivate this product that is said to be black gold favored by Europe. And since then, Vietnam began to appear drinks made from coffee beans, initially among the rich, and gradually spread to the poor class to enjoy.Egg Coffee Vietnam Everything About Egg Coffee

Since then, the first wave of coffee imported and culturally integrated appeared in Vietnam in 1975, coffee helped to erase the boundary between rich and poor and everyone could enjoy it, a filtered coffee. fragrant after a tiring day of work. Coffee shops have begun to spring up in both North and South Vietnam.

Unlike luxury coffee shops with American culture and containing the spirit and liberality of Southern people in the South, in the North, there are family cafes brewed by the owner himself. Prepare and serve and then use your name as the name of the shop such as Giang coffee, Nhan coffee, Lam coffee, etc.

History of Egg Coffee

Footprints of the foundation in Vietnam

It will sound a bit shocking at first, but in fact, egg coffee has appeared since the 1940s in Vietnam. At that time, milk was gradually becoming scarce in the market due to the influence of the war with the French colonialists.

In 1946, Nguyen Van Giang – then working at the Metropole Hotel Hanoi – when experiencing a period of milk scarcity in the market, experimented with how to whip egg yolks and mix them to replace milk. The result surprised him because this improvised way turned out to give a very delicious and unique taste.

Egg Coffee Vietnam Everything About Egg Coffee
The sign of Cafe Giang is too familiar to the people of Hanoi’s old quarter

Since then, he has been cooking and successfully realized the intention of opening his cafe called “Cafe Giang” to develop this recipe. When created and perfected, the way to make Giang egg coffee includes main ingredients such as coffee ( robusta beans ), egg yolks, sugar, and condensed milk.

Immediately, Giang egg coffee became a familiar drink for most Hanoi in the past and gradually spread to all parts of the country. It was this turning point that gradually laid the first foundations to help build the brand and reputation of Vietnamese egg coffee in many other continents and countries.

The oldest coffee shop in Hanoi, the cradle of egg coffee

For more than 70 years, Giang has always been the name of a famous coffee shop in Hanoi, which is always crowded with customers.

Egg coffee is considered to be the first birth here, created by Nguyen Van Giang. Previously, when working as a bartender for the 5-star Sofitel Metropole Hanoi hotel, due to a lack of fresh milk, he thought of a way to use eggs to make it, and so egg coffee was born.

The rich coffee when combined with the unexpected greasy egg taste was especially popular, so around 1946, Giang decided to quit his job at the hotel and open his shop and build his brand.

Only from a small temporary place, after that, Giang coffee gradually moved to a new and more spacious shop at 90 Cau Go.

Around 1988 – 1989, when Giang died, his descendants split up and opened their egg cafes.

Through many ups and downs, fortunately, Giang coffee is still maintained now. Every day, address 39 Nguyen Huu Huan welcomes countless visitors, both Vietnamese and foreign guests.

Giang’s egg coffee goes on conquering from the country to the world

It is a clear fact that Giang’s egg coffee from its inception until now still does not need a lot of advertising. People keep telling each other about the taste of coffee here, about the pleasure of sitting and sipping a small cup of coffee in a small shop, on a small street corner… That’s why Giang coffee is a “good” natural musk flavor”, just does well in terms of taste, customers will come by themselves.

In Hanoi today, there are many places selling egg coffee, but judging by the taste, nowhere is as good as in Giang, Europe is also correct because of different know-how and experiences. To make a delicious egg coffee requires careful, and meticulous because a little fast or a little slow will make the taste different.Egg Coffee Vietnam Everything About Egg Coffee (4)

American television channel CNN once rated egg coffee as one of Hanoi’s most impressive specialties. prtimes.jp has also reported on the event that Giang cafe is present in the land of the Rising Sun with the first establishment located at 78-3 Yamashita Street, Naka District, Kanagawa Prefecture, Yokohama City. This newspaper also respectfully introduces that Giang cafe is a “delicious egg coffee originating from Hanoi’s old quarter, Vietnam”.

During the ongoing US-North Korea Summit in Vietnam, Giang’s egg coffee was also selected to serve with a quantity of more than 3,000 cups.

The fever broke out in the US

So after Cafe Giang was born? Was the context of Vietnam’s country and society in the 20th century at that time the right conditions for “natural musk flavor”? It wasn’t until a few decades later that the reputation of Hoan Kiem Lake egg cafe spread and stood out.

In 2013, the couple Sara Leveen and Ben Lowell traveled to Vietnam from the US. After being mesmerized by the local food culture, especially the specialties from Cafe Giang, they returned to New York and established a restaurant called Hanoi House a few years later – specializing in serving authentic and authentic dishes.

Vietnamese coffee. Of course, the recipe for egg coffee is also carefully studied by them to introduce in their menu.

According to Sara, she noticed that many Vietnamese restaurants in the US at that time did not fully show the spirit of traditional cuisine. Most of these restaurants either mix “hybrid” ingredients, lose the original value and flavor of the recipes, or focus mainly on dishes from the South of Vietnam, lacking the rich and varied.

By buying ingredients exactly like the original method in Vietnam, Hanoi House has made a big difference for itself. Dishes such as pig ears and frog thighs are also studied for meticulous processing, although previously very rare in the US.

Less than 2 months after opening, Hanoi House has received the title of Best Vietnamese Restaurant in the “Best Of” category of New York Magazine. That was the time when the reputation of egg coffee became more famous than ever, attracting huge attention from both the media and food critics.

Egg Coffee Vietnam Everything About Egg Coffee
Sara Laveen – Co-founder of Hanoi House

Gradually, they continued to create and improve more with their egg coffee recipe. A cup of egg coffee at Hanoi House can be mixed with up to 3 yolks, whipped finely, and mixed with honey and condensed milk. Revealing to Fortune, Sara admitted that the process of regulating the temperature when mixing is quite complicated and meticulous (it takes about 4-5 minutes/cup), but she is still happy because customers always love this dish.

After the success with Hanoi House, the couple opened another Hanoi Soup Shop – a cafe specializing in takeaway needs a few steps away – and of course, are still proud to include egg coffee on their menu.

So, with the nature of takeaway meaning that a large number of customers are always in a hurry to buy coffee as quickly as possible, how can Hanoi Soup Shop confidently make egg coffee cups that usually take an average of 5 minutes with that recipe?

The difficulty emerges the wisdom! Sara and her colleagues have come up with a completely new way of doing things: They use eggs and milk as the two main ingredients, cooking them into a large batch of thick sauces to use at the beginning of the day. Whenever a customer asks to buy egg cream coffee, they just need to pour a layer of that ready-made sweet sauce on top of the coffee.

Fame spread to Canada

The context of egg coffee introduced here is a little different from Sara’s story in the US: This recipe was passed down from wartime immigrants when they took refuge from Vietnam to Canada.

However, it was not until 2016 that egg coffee emerged thanks to the appearance of Coffee Dak Lak in Toronto. Their method is also quite similar to Hanoi Soup Shop: A cup is made from 2 yolks, condensed milk, and coffee, but with a little cocoa powder.

A special feature of Coffee Dak Lak is the harmonious combination of both robusta and arabica beans to create a milder coffee flavor. Tips for cooking custard sauce are also applied by them to quickly serve many customers at the same time.

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