There is something about Vietnamese coffee that reminds me of a classic italian strong coffee--espresso. The aroma seems so inviting even from a feet away. But, the only different thing about this coffee is that...it's not hot. It's Iced. Yep, even when they drink it in the morning they would wait patiently for the water to go down from it's own mini metal filter and serve it with condensed milk and ice. When I first sipped my VN coffee for the first time--and it's morning. I was shocked when the waitress served me an ice cold coffee. I stared at it and looked puzzled. I said to myself... " I want coffee...and hot.." my partner said to me..."that is how we drink coffee here in Vietnam....with ice..." So... having no choice but to drink something so cold in the early morning, I went on. But it's not that bad, the tang... and bite of the strong coffee granules comes after you drink it and the smell goes through your nose and stays inside your tongue. When I first visited Vietnam for the first time, I never thought that I would encounter another different type of coffee. I love arabic and turkish coffee and this isn't really easy to find anywhere in a normal sassy coffeeshop. But this one caught my attention, because it's my first time to see this, (call me a caveman!) but the coffee filter on top just fascinates me and kept me wondering, why can't you just use a percolator and have it brewed there instead of staring at the cup and count all the coffee drips? But then, they said that's how it goes and that's how they done it. The next time I ordered coffee, I requested for a hot one, which they did? But to my surprise the coffee comes with a kick and my eyes popped out like I could stay awake for three days. It's purely and utterly strong enough to wake up all the sleeping cells in my brain. I feel like drinking hot johnnie walker in the morning . I love coffee, but not this strong so I requested for another extra cup of hot water. I said to my partner "how could you actually drink this strong?" and she said that's why they drink it with ice because of its ferocious taste. They also sell this on the street, everywhere you go you will find a small table and stools lined up in front of a shop and people drink this all day long. The iced coffee is somewhat addicting, because of the weather you would really need something cold while walking under the burning sun. But then, the small amount of coffee matched to the amount of ice cubes won't really suffice your craving for caffeine. Just one sip from the straw and you're all done. When you checked out the plastic cup, it makes you want to lick the ice cubes one by one, (i'm impatient, so I can't wait for the ice to melt). So I had to get another cup of it. I made my own Vietnamese coffee at home and let me show you the step by step procedure of how to do it (in my own way): 1. Boil the water as usual and put at least one spoonful of coffee granules inside the single cup filter. 2. Afterwards, put the inner cover with the black handle inside and press it. Pour the water inside of it. 3. Wait for a few minutes for the water to go all the way down and don't pressure it so that it'll go down faster, the coffee granules will mix wit the water. 4. After the coffee is done, remove the filter on top of the cup and pour a spoonful of condensed milk. We tried putting creamer, evaporated milk, honey or sugar into it but it doesn't taste much the same as the condensed milk mix. 5. Next is, pour some ice into your cup, you can calculate how many ice cubes you want. Then wait for it for melt down a little bit. 6. Lastly, serve and enjoy your coffee. READY TO DRINK Although for some of those who don't have the patience to wait for the coffee to be made in a metal filter, if you have a coffeemaker, of course you can brew the coffee powder same way as the other. But for those who's in the office and their office only provide hot water, then you can take the metal filter and make the coffee while checking your mails on your computer. For hot coffee, this would come out real strong and bitter, so if you're not one for punching kick in your gut... better add another cup of water because one filtered coffee could still make two cups of coffee. At least you can enjoy and share with someone else! RECYCLING THE POWDER Don't throw the powder afterwards, there are lot of ways how to reuse this after enjoying your cold/hot coffee. Put it in a container where you don't really use much around. You can use this as deodorizer, so either place it inside the fridge or inside the bathroom. Second is, you can use this as a bodyscrub. Coffee powder is best to remove cellulites in your body and just use it regularly. It's also good to shed off some deadskin from your body. History
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