Introduced into the central highlands by the French in the 1950s, coffee is immensely popular throughout the country. Along the old streets of Hanoi such as Hang Giay, Hang Buom, Ta Hien, and Luong Ngoc Quyen, as well as many other places in various other cities and towns, you can spot locals and visitors sitting on low stools enjoying coffee throughout the day and night. And beyond its domestic popularity, coffee has become Vietnam´s biggest export after rice, and this small country is now the world´s second largest coffee exporter, after Brazil.
There are at least six distinct varieties of Vietnamese coffee. Many people drink it with sweet condensed milk - either hot or cold with ice. One of the most distinctive variations is egg coffee (cà phê trứng, above), made by beating egg yolks with sugar and condensed milk, then extracting the coffee into the cup, followed by a similar amount of egg cream or egg yolks which are heated and beaten, or whisked - it´s a bit like drinking a coffee-flavored custard cream. Another is yogurt coffee (sữa chua cà phê), where the dark richness of the coffee and sweetness of the condensed milk is given a tangy touch by yogurt.
Read more in Tripatini contributor Orient Skyline Travel´s post The Delights of Vietnamese Cuisine.
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