A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Another consumption-related personal transformation has occured in the area of iced coffee. My first experience with iced coffee was not exactly a positive one, as chronicled here several weeks ago. I didn't know what I was doing, and accidently ordered a "ca phe da" rather than a "ca phe sua da", as recommended. The "sua" is a very key word -- it means they add milk. But really, how could I be expected to remember the exact Vietnamese name? As I found out, "ca phe da" is iced black (and I mean BLACK) coffee and is strong as all hell. Vietnamese coffee uses a lot of grounds to meake very little liquid, so it more closely resembles espresso than the regular American drip version. Most drink it either black (you might as well just inject it into your vein) or with milk. The individual stainless steel Vietnamese coffee dripping apparatus is put over a cup already containing a shot of sweetened condensed milk. I was initially a bit hesitant about this sweetened condensed milk business -- something about it just seemed kind of icky to me.

Although my initial attempt was unsuccessful, I didn't want to give up on the concept altogether since I do like coffee in general (being true to my Seattle roots), and I have loads of time to spend lounging about in coffee houses. So the first time I visited Highlands Coffee, an extremely Seattle-style coffee house, I ordered the iced coffee with fresh milk. Mind you, this ain't no feeble low-fat version -- it's unpasturized whole milk, something I vaguely remember my guidebook specifically warning against in the "Health" chapter.

Nonetheless, the drink was great, so I determined then and there that I did like iced coffee, but that I liked it with fresh rather than condensed milk. Of course now I realize that that was just my irrational sweetened condensed milk prejudice talking. Ca phe sua da made the traditional Vietnamese way is fabulous and is much better than that pitifully watery fresh milk version. Now not a day goes by without at least one ca phe sua da. The really good ones taste like dessert, yet they have so much caffeine that I'm wired for an hour. The perfect drink right before that deadly dull TOEFL class.

© 2002 Katy Warren







posted by Katy at 9:07 PM