- Origin: Vietnamese
- Also called: Vietnamese iced coffee
- Availability: Specialty
Cà phê sữa đá literally translates as "coffee milk ice." It is built one cup at a time: a small phin filter sits on top of a glass holding 1 to 2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk, hot water drips slowly through coarse, dark-roasted, often robusta-blended coffee, and the finished concentrate is stirred and poured over ice. The condensed milk is essential. It dates to French colonial Vietnam, when fresh milk was scarce. A growing wave of Vietnamese-American cafés in Brooklyn now serves it.