Classic Vietnamese Coffee From Sahra Nguyen

Author Notes

Phin drip coffee is a quintessential morning time drink in Vietnam—and since it's so simple to prepare at home, there's no reason why it shouldn't be your quintessential morning drink, too. It just requires a couple gadgets, some of which you may already have around (a stainless steel for one, which will run you about $15, an electric kettle or regular kettle fitted with a candy thermometer to measure the temperature of the water, and a trusty coffee grinder) and good beans.

After that, it's all in the ratio and technique. Luckily for us, coffee expert Sahra Nguyen and her team at Nguyen Coffee Supply kindly shared her "recipe" for this classic concoction, and offered a few tips to help you make your very best brew at home.

Recommended coffee: Loyalty or Truegrit (for stronger coffee). The robusta beans in this signature blend are indicative of Vietnamese coffee culture.

Grind size: Fine, like sand. Check the grinder manual for your grinder, look for the "Pour Over" setting, then go a tiny bit more coarse. Dialing in the phin filter with the right grind size is critical to making a proper brew you'll enjoy. Keep in mind that the coffee is fully immersed within the phin filter and it's a slow drip method, so if it's too fine, it may over extract. If it's too coarse, it will flow through too fast and under extract. See time benchmarks below.

Coffee:water ratio: We recommend starting at a 1:2 ratio of ounces of water to tablespoons of coffee. If you're using a 4-ounce phin filter, that would mean you'd use 2 tablespoons of ground coffee and 4 ounces of water. All this said, there's no wrong way to enjoy your coffee. Start with our benchmarks, then freestyle on the water to coffee ratio until you find your personal preference (aka the perfect cup). —Food52