Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Egg Coffee (Cà Phê Trứng)
Strong Vietnamese coffee crowned with a whipped, custardy cloud of egg yolk and condensed milk.
Vietnamese · medium · serves 2
prep 10 min · cook 5 min
~165 cal · 9g protein · 16g carbs · 8g fat · 0g fiber · 16g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Egg coffee (cà phê trứng) is Hanoi's ingenious specialty, strong Vietnamese coffee crowned with a thick, sweet, custardy foam of whipped egg yolk and condensed milk. It was invented in 1940s Hanoi during a milk shortage, when a bartender whipped egg yolks as a creamy substitute, and a classic was born.
The egg foam is beaten until airy and rich, almost like a warm tiramisu poured over robust coffee, the bitterness of the brew balancing the sweet, velvety top. It is meant to be sipped slowly, spooning the foam.
Served in the atmospheric old cafés of Hanoi, egg coffee is a specialty and a point of local pride.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 2
2 small cups strong Vietnamese robusta coffee, brewed in a phin (or any concentrated brew)
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
1
Brew the coffee strong and keep it hot.
2
Whip the egg yolks (or aquafaba) with the condensed milk until pale, thick and holding soft peaks, about five minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Consistency is the whole trick. Under-whipped, the foam thins out and sinks straight through the coffee; over-whipped it turns dense and flat and buries the coffee underneath it. You are aiming for something closer to a light mousse than a cream.
3
Stand the serving glasses in a bowl of just-boiled water, then pour half the hot coffee into each.
✎ Chef’s note
The bowl of hot water is not a garnish. It holds the drink at temperature and gently cooks the raw yolk, and a cup sitting inside a small bowl is how Cafe Giang has served it for the better part of eighty years.
4
Spoon the whipped cloud generously over the top, then pour the remaining coffee over it so it soaks down through.
5
Leave it in the hot water a couple of minutes, then serve, stirred in or spooned off the top.
✎ Chef’s note
By the account of the family who make it, egg coffee was invented in Hanoi in 1946 by Nguyen Van Giang, a bartender at the Metropole, when the war with France left the city short of milk and he reached for egg yolk instead. He later opened Cafe Giang, still at 39 Nguyen Huu Huan and still run by his son, who will not say what else goes into it.
Hanoi café tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Hanoi (Red River Delta). Hanoi, in the Red River Delta, is the home of bún chả and the city that made pho famous, though the soup's birthplace is disputed with Nam Dinh province to the south, whose Van Cu villagers were carrying it to the capital by about 1900. Balanced and less sweet than the south, its cooking prizes clean, clear broths.
🗺️
Vietnam. Vietnamese food is a study in balance and freshness, clean broths like pho, herb-piled rice-paper rolls, and the baguette-born banh mi. Fish sauce, lime, chili, and mountains of fresh herbs create a cuisine that feels both light and deeply savory, often eaten on low plastic stools.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Vietnam
Phở Gà (Hanoi Chicken Pho)A clear, star-anise-scented chicken broth over rice noodles, finished with herbs and lime at the table.
Bánh XèoSizzling turmeric-rice crepes stuffed with shrimp, pork, and sprouts, wrapped in lettuce and dunked in nuoc cham.
Bún Bò HuếThe imperial city’s fierce beef-and-lemongrass noodle soup, spiked with chili oil and shrimp paste, bolder than pho.
Browse all Vietnam recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Vietnam meal
Chả Cá Lã VọngDinner
Chè Ba MàuDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Egg Coffee (Cà Phê Trứng)?
Strong Vietnamese coffee crowned with a whipped, custardy cloud of egg yolk and condensed milk.
Where does Egg Coffee (Cà Phê Trứng) come from?
Egg Coffee (Cà Phê Trứng) is a Vietnamese dish from Hanoi (Red River Delta), Vietnam.
Can Egg Coffee (Cà Phê Trứng) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Egg Coffee (Cà Phê Trứng) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Egg Coffee (Cà Phê Trứng) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Egg Coffee (Cà Phê Trứng) take to make?
About 15 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 5 minutes cooking), serving 2.
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