Seeking Out the Finest Egg Coffee Across Vietnam

Egg coffee, born out of wartime scarcity, is now a Vietnamese cult favourite. Here's where to find the real deal

- Prachi Joshi

"Egg coffee, eww!" That was my first thought when I heard about Hanoi's famous brew. As a coffee devotee (snob), I prefer my drink black and unsweetened. But I will try anything once, so on a Vietnam holiday a few years ago, I visited Hanoi's old quarter to sample the concoction. The frothy coffee arrived in a ceramic cup that sat in a bowl-like saucer with hot water (to keep the drink warm). I stirred the cup and gulped down the drink, which tasted like an airy, coffee-flavoured custard.

French colonists brought coffee to Vietnam in the mid-19th century. Today, the country is the world's second-largest Arabica coffee producer (after Brazil) and the largest producer of Robusta coffee. The Vietnamese introduced local variations of coffee, like coconut, yoghurt and even egg. The last was invented in 1946 by Nguyen Van Giang, a bartender at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi. Facing a milk shortage during the French War, the resourceful gent whisked eggs and condensed milk to make cappuccinos—and cà phê trung (egg coffee) was born.