The article by CNN cites that a small, no-frills café in Vietnam’s historical city of Hue is widely credited with inventing this now-popular drink back in 2010, which is made by adding sweetened condensed milk to a base of Vietnamese coffee. The mixture is then topped with salted cream and can either be served hot or with ice.
“Cà phê” means coffee and “muối” means salt in Vietnamese. This combination of condensed milk, salt, and black coffee comes together to create a creamy mixture that softens the bitterness of the coffee whilst balancing the sweetness of the condensed milk, CNN wrote.
Before long, salt coffee became known as a specialty drink representing historic Hue and cafes nationwide began serving it as well. After the COVID-19 pandemic, salt coffee quickly became a trend across Vietnam, CNN quoted salt coffee founders.
According to the website, today sees the café bottle its salt coffee in order to sell in other Vietnamese cities as well. Though the name might turn people off, the flavours really do work. The sweetened milk and cream balances the bitterness of the coffee, whilst the salt heightens the sweetness in a similar way to how a little bit of salt in salted caramel makes the caramel flavors even more prominent.
Salt coffee is just one of several distinctive Vietnamese coffee drinks which may raise a few eyebrows among those who’ve yet to sample them, the writer Maggie Hiufu Wong confirmed.
The article also suggested that travelers drink other kinds of coffee during their trip to the nation, including egg coffee, known locally as cà phê trứng; coconut coffee, cà phê cốt dừa; fruit shake coffee, sinh tố cà phê; and yogurt coffee, sữa chua cà phê.
