Cà Phê Sữa Đá

Spoon the sweetened condensed milk into the bottom of a short, heat-resistant glass or directly into the phin filter's receiving cup. The condensed milk goes in first — this is not negotiable — so the hot coffee drips directly through it, beginning to dissolve and integrate before you stir. You want that visible layer of dense white beneath amber coffee, both for aesthetic reasons and to allow you to calibrate sweetness by how thoroughly you stir before icing.

Assemble the phin filter: screw the inner press plate loosely onto the filter chamber, load the coffee grounds, and give the press plate one quarter-turn to compress slightly — not tightly, as the water needs to drip, not gush. Place the filter over the glass. Pour just enough hot water (about 10 ml) to pre-wet the grounds and let them bloom for 30 seconds. Then fill the chamber with the remaining water. The coffee should drip at a rate of one drop per second — 4 to 5 minutes for the full brew. Too fast means the grounds are too coarse or the press too loose; too slow means too fine or too tightly pressed. A 4-minute drip into the condensed milk produces a concentrated, almost syrupy coffee.

Once all the coffee has dripped through, stir the hot coffee and condensed milk vigorously until the condensed milk has fully dissolved and the mixture is a single dark-tan color. Do not skip the stir — undissolved condensed milk will clump around the ice. Load a second tall glass with ice cubes, filling it to the brim. Pour the hot sweet coffee over the ice all at once from a height. It will hiss and froth dramatically. Drink immediately with a straw, stirring as you go.