How to Make Bac Xiu

Bac Xiu is a variation of Vietnamese coffee that’s perfect for those who prefer sweet, creamy flavors with less bitterness.

Today, I’ll show you how to make delicious, authentic Bac Xiu that’s easy to prepare at home.

What is Bac Xiu Coffee?

Bac Xiu is a drink that combines three main ingredients: phin-brewed coffee concentrate, sweetened condensed milk, and fresh milk. It’s a beverage with sweet, creamy flavors from the milk and a hint of coffee bitterness.

When compared to Vietnamese iced coffee, both are brewed using a phin filter and combined with condensed milk, but Bac Xiu uses more condensed milk and includes fresh milk as well.

History

Bac Xiu Coffee is a drink that originated from Vietnamese people of Chinese descent, concentrated mainly in the Saigon Cholon area during the 1950s. In the early days, black coffee and Vietnamese iced coffee were still quite difficult for women and children to drink due to their bitterness, but the flavor of coffee remained very appealing, so people found ways to modify the recipe to make it sweeter and creamier to suit everyone.

How to Make Traditional Bac Xiu

Equipment:

• Phin filter
• Glass
• Milk frother

Ingredients:

• 20 grams Vietnamese coffee grounds
• 30ml sweetened condensed milk
• 50ml unsweetened fresh milk
• 90ml boiling water at 95°C
• Ice cubes

Instruction

Traditional Bac Xiu is also known as iced Bac Xiu. Here’s how to make it.

Step 1: Prepare the Milk

Pour 30ml sweetened condensed milk and 50ml fresh milk into the glass, use a spoon to stir the mixture well.

Pro tips: Milk is very important and determines how delicious your Bac Xiu will be. The combination of condensed milk and fresh milk helps reduce sweetness and increase natural creaminess. Therefore, choose your milk as follows:

• For condensed milk: Choose one with 8-10% fat content that’s aromatic, not overly sweet, and not too thin. Vietnamese people typically use traditional Ông Thọ brand milk.
• For fresh milk: Choose unsweetened, lightly creamy varieties.

Step 2: Brew the Coffee

Use 20 grams of Vietnamese coffee grounds to brew 20ml of coffee concentrate using the Phin method. You can also substitute with 20ml espresso.

How to brew phin coffee:

• Rinse the phin with hot water to increase heat retention
• Add 20g coffee grounds into the phin, shake gently by hand to level the surface. Then pour 40ml of 95°C hot water in, cover the lid and let it bloom for 40 seconds.
• After the blooming time, use the press plate to press the coffee grounds with moderate pressure and continue pouring another 50ml of boiling water, close the lid to let the coffee extract.
• Wait for the coffee concentrate to drip completely into the cup, yielding approximately 25ml of coffee.

See detailed instructions: How to brew coffee with phin

Step 3: Froth the Coffee and Add Ice

• Add ice until the milk glass is nearly full
• Use a milk frother to froth the coffee, best to froth while the coffee is still hot. Then pour the frothed coffee on top of the milk layer.

When finished, you’ll see the Bac Xiu glass divided into 2 beautiful white and black layers.

How to Make Three-Layer Bac Xiu

In addition to the traditional recipe above, you can also make three-layer Bac Xiu. This version has a very beautiful decorative presentation, requiring just a slight change in the preparation method:

Instruction

Brew your phin coffee as usual, then add the ingredients to the glass in the following order:

• Layer 1: Pour 30ml sweetened condensed milk into the bottom of the glass
• Add ice until the glass is nearly full
• Layer 2: Pour 30ml unsweetened fresh milk
• Layer 3: Froth 20ml coffee, then pour it into the glass

How to make hot Bac Xiu

This is a hot drink suitable for cold weather. The ingredients and method are the same as traditional Bac Xiu, but you need to heat the fresh milk before preparing. Here’s how:

• Brew 25ml coffee concentrate as instructed above, then keep the coffee warm by placing the cup in a bowl of hot water.
• Heat 50ml unsweetened fresh milk on the stove, or microwave for 45-60 seconds. You need to heat the milk to approximately 70°C.
• Pour 20ml condensed milk into the glass (note: use condensed milk at room temperature, don’t use milk just taken from the refrigerator as it will lower the temperature).
• Add the freshly heated fresh milk. If you want a beautifully layered drink, use a spoon to block the flow so the fresh milk doesn’t immediately dissolve into the condensed milk.
• Slowly pour in the coffee and enjoy.