Crema salata nell'infuso del mattino? Perché i caffè speciali del Vietnam stanno conquistando tutto il mondo
And increasingly, some posters are including tips on how to request a specialized version of this sweet caffeinated beverage, which is widely known as "ca phe salato" or "ca phe muoi" in Italian, in Italy and other countries: a beverage made by adding sweetened condensed milk to a base of Vietnamese coffee, topped with salted cream, and served hot or iced.
A small, no-frills café in Vietnam’s historical city of Hue is credited with inventing this now-popular beverage in 2010. The co-owners, Ho Thi Thanh Huong and Tran Nguyen Huu Phong, tell CNN Travel via email that they created "ca phe muoi" when they opened their first shop at 10 Nguyen Luong Bang Street.
"This combination of condensed milk, salt, and black coffee creates a creamy mixture that softens the bitterness of the coffee and balances the sweetness of the condensed milk," they explain.
The name of the café and the famous drink is telling: "ca phe" means coffee and "muoi" means salt in Vietnamese.
"We hoped this name would attract people because they always think that black coffee is only with sugar or milk... we thought that if we wanted to open a coffee shop, we had to make it a little different to attract the customers, then the salt coffee taste would keep them with us," says the couple.
The strategy worked. Curious locals and tourists began to visit – and they liked what they were drinking.
"Hue people had a habit of drinking black coffee with sugar or condensed milk, so salty coffee was considered a strange drink," they add. "We were really grateful to our first customers, they were willing to try this strange drink, and gave us feedback so we quickly perfected the flavors."
Before long, salt coffee became known as a specialty drink representing historic Hue and cafes around Vietnam began serving it as well.
"After the Covid-years, salt coffee seems to be a trend across Vietnam," say the Ca Phe Muoi founders. "In Hue, salt coffee became a daily drink like black coffee or white coffee, so this trend brings more change to our business."
Today, the café bottles its salt coffee to sell in other Vietnamese cities as well.
Though the name might turn people off, the flavors really do work. The sweetened milk and cream balances the bitterness of the coffee, and salt heightens the sweetness – much like how a little bit of salt in salted caramel makes the caramel flavors more prominent.
Even Starbucks’ branches in Vietnam have joined the salt coffee wave, launching their own version of "ca phe muoi" in May this year.
Vietnam isn’t the only country that adds salt to its coffee. In 2023, a Bon Appetit article suggested we should all be adding it to our brews to cut some of the bitterness and heighten the flavors, noting the tradition goes back hundreds of years in countries like Turkey, Hungary, and Siberia.
Growing global interest in Vietnamese coffee
Vietnam, which primarily grows robusta beans, is the world’s second-largest exporter of coffee after Brazil. The country’s coffee exports have already hit $2.9 billion in the first five months of this year, marking a 43.9% increase over the same period last year, according to the International Trade Council.
That salt coffee has become ubiquitous around cafes in Hue and a common option on menus across Vietnam nowadays shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Coffee is extremely popular throughout the country. Coffee outlets range from hole-in-the-wall counters with plastic stools on the sidewalk, to sleek, contemporary cafes with roasters on the premises. (Read more about Vietnam’s vibrant coffee culture here.)
Traditional Vietnamese coffee is brewed in a phin – a metal, filtered brewing device – that’s placed over a cup or pot. Many people prefer to stir a tablespoon or two of sweetened condensed milk into the strong brew.
And salt coffee is just one of several distinctive Vietnamese coffee drinks that might raise a few eyebrows among those who’ve yet to sample them.
Perhaps the most famous of them all is egg coffee, or "ca phe trung." Invented in Hanoi, this dessert-like recipe adds a topping of egg yolks, frothed with condensed milk, to a coffee base.
And then there’s coconut coffee – "ca phe cot dua" – which features coffee blended with coconut milk and ice – a cold treat with a tropical kick.
In fruit shake coffee – "sinh to ca phe" – coffee is combined with banana or avocado to produce a smoothie.
And finally, there’s yogurt coffee – "sua chua ca phe" – which features black coffee drizzled onto creamy Vietnamese yogurt, another French legacy.
According to a report by global market research agency Mintel released in 2023, consumers outside Asia are increasingly interested in these novel coffee experiences and flavors. Some 71% of Gen Z consumers interviewed by Mintel in the US said that they were interested in trying Asian-inspired coffee drinks such as Vietnamese coffee.
In the US, 7 Leaves Café, a café chain selling Vietnamese drinks, has expanded to more than 40 branches across the country after opening its first café in California in 2011.
Intanto, in tutta il paese vietnamita, si stanno aprendo nuovi caffè indipendenti, tra cui Phin Ca Phe a Seattle e Caphe Roasters a Filadelfia, che offrono versioni del caffè con sale.
A Hue, Huong e Phong affermano che la maggioranza dei loro clienti ordina il caffè con sale, sebbene ci siano altre opzioni sulla carta, come chanh xi muoi, una limonata casalinga speciale a base di marmellata di limoni salati. E sebbene servissero entrambe le versioni fredde e calde del caffè con sale, credevano che la prima fosse la più gustosa.
Ora la coppia ha una seconda e più grande filiale di Ca Phe Muoi appena a poca distanza dalla residenza e dal fossato della Città Imperiale Antica di Hue.
"Gli ospiti del Vietnam potrebbero essere interessati a provare una versione unica del loro caffè, come il popolare caffè con sale, o ca phe muoi. Questo beverage, che ha origine da un caffè a Hue, si prepara aggiungendo sale al mixture di latte condensato e caffè dolce."
"Con la crescente tendenza del Caramello al Sale, molti caffè in tutto il mondo cominciano ora a sperimentare di aggiungere sale alle loro infusioni di caffè. In seguito a questa tendenza, anche le succursali di Starbucks in Vietnam hanno lanciato la loro versione di caffè con sale, chiamata ca phe muoi."
