Egg coffee in Hanoi: Where to get your caffeine fix
Walk down any street in Vietnam, and it quickly becomes apparent this is a country that’s crazy about coffee. From people sipping and sitting on low plastic stools on the sidewalk while gossiping with friends, to those who prefer the pricier, hipster-style cafes popping up around Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, the need for caffeine is inescapable.
Everyone at Hanoi’s humble Cafe Giang however, is after something more than just a caffeine fix. They’ve come for “cà phê trứng,” or egg coffee, a Hanoi specialty in which a creamy soft, meringue-like egg white foam is perched on dense Vietnamese coffee.
While destinations across the city now serve it, this cafe claims to have invented it.
There are hot and cold versions. The former is served as a a yellow concoction in a small glass. It’s consumed with a spoon and tastes almost like a coffee flavored ice cream – more like a dessert than coffee.
The hot version comes resting in a small dish of hot water to maintain its temperature. The strong coffee taste at the bottom of the cup seeps through the egg – the yellow layer on top – and is quite thick and sweet, though not sickly.
