Food & Drink

Behind Dominique Ansel’s Viral Iced Vietnamese Coffee Latte

I’m particular about drinks — wine temperature, lemon vs. lime in my Diet Coke, a Gimlet on ice — but coffee is another story.

I rarely drink coffee at home, seldom purchase it, and don’t care to discern the minutiae between roasts and brewing methods. So, when I encounter a coffee drink that makes me stop and take notice, it has to be something special. 

On a recent Sunday afternoon, I visited Papa d’Amour, Dominique Ansel’s newest bakery that is inspired by Asia’s diverse bread cultures. It has all the terrific pastries you’d expect, from a tender bun stuffed with chicken curry to a steamed bao croissant, and a banana bread that toes the line between snack and dessert. 

What I’ll be going back for, though, wasn’t a pastry at all, but the café’s Iced Vietnamese Coffee Latte that advertises a “condensed milk cold foam.” It’s a drink that’s truly changed the way I’ll think about coffee for good.

The method behind the Iced Vietnamese Coffee Latte

The success of Ansel’s drink has to do with its simplicity and unique combination of the right ingredients with the right technique.

“It’s made with a darker roast coffee that we brew and filter through a traditional Vietnamese phin,” says Ansel. A Vietnamese coffee phin is a traditional metal drip filter that yields a single serving of strong, concentrated coffee that is typically served over sweetened condensed milk. It’s the cornerstone of cà phê sữa đá (Vietnamese iced coffee) and cà phê đen (black coffee). 

Once brewed, the coffee is poured over ice with the customer’s choice of milk (I went with whole milk for an ultra-creamy drink) and a bit of simple syrup for sweetness. Then comes the good stuff: the condensed milk cold foam. 

“It’s creamy and velvety, with a touch of sweetness,” says Ansel. It’s made by heating whole milk with granulated sugar and a bit of gelatin to ensure a creamy texture. The whole milk is then blended with cream, condensed milk, and vanilla bean; the mixture is then added to a whipped cream siphon, which uses pressurized gas to aerate and dispense the soft cold foam onto the top of each drink.

“We didn’t want the sugar level to be too much, or add just straight condensed milk in, so we decided to make a whipped cream foam made with cream, condensed milk and a bit of vanilla to give it some added texture that’s not too sweet,” says Ansel. 

How condensed milk cold foam differs from regular cold foam

While hot lattes or cappuccinos are topped with steamed milk foam, iced drinks don’t get the same luxury. That is, until cold foam was popularized. Pioneered by Starbucks since 2018, the coffee topping has become ubiquitous at major coffee chains and even expanded into products at the grocery store. 

Akin to steamed milk foam, cold foam is made by aerating or whipping dairy products to yield a rich consistency. The texture can be similar to a soft whipped cream and adds a silky quality to iced drinks that sometimes lack richness. Cold foam is typically made from milk (ranging from nonfat to 2% or even cream) and a bit of sugar. Ansel’s use of condensed milk, which brings an added richness of texture and unique sweet flavor, is inspired.

What’s the best coffee to use for an Iced Vietnamese Coffee Latte? 

Vietnam’s coffee culture is unique and historic. According to the founder of Nguyen Coffee Supply, Sahra Nguyen, it’s a coffee culture built around slower moments and community. 

“Rather than treating coffee as a sidekick to breakfast or a grab-and-go caffeine fix for boosting productivity, you go to a café to sit with a cup of coffee fitted with a slow-drip phin filter on top,” writes Mari Uyehara, in a 2021 F&W Game Changer profile on Nguyen. 

Traditional Vietnamese coffee is the perfect thing to counter the sweetness of the cold foam. “We use a darker roast coffee from Stone Street Coffee,” says Ansel. “The flavor is fragrant and bold without being too bitter or tart and works really nicely in a more concentrated brew in this case.” Through his specialty latte, Ansel pays tribute to this culture of savoring coffee drinks and making them into a truly special experience. 


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