Bac Xiu
Bạc xỉubahk syoo
Condensed milk, fresh milk and a short pour of robusta over ice, so the glass is pale and sweet with the coffee as an accent. It is the Saigon order for an afternoon when cà phê sữa đá is too much, and it is a different drink, not a weaker one.
At a glance
- Coffee : milk
- 1:3
- Active time
- 3 min
- Total time
- 8 min
- Makes
- 1 glass
- Serve
- Over ice, layered
- Kit
- Phin filter
Ingredients
Note: Some cafes add a spoon of evaporated milk or a splash of fresh cream for a richer middle layer. It is a good idea.
Method
-
Brew a short phin
Bloom 15 g of coffee with a splash of water for thirty seconds, then add the rest and let it drip into a small jug. It will be done in three to four minutes because the dose is smaller.
You want about 40 ml of very strong coffee.
Drip 3 to 4 minutes -
Condensed milk, then ice
Put the condensed milk in the bottom of the tall glass, then fill it with ice.
The ice sitting on the condensed milk is what holds the layers apart. It slows everything poured on top from punching through.
-
Pour the fresh milk
Pour the cold milk slowly down the side of the glass. It will settle above the condensed milk because it is far less dense.
-
Float the coffee
Pour the coffee slowly over the back of a spoon held just above the milk. It sits on top as a dark band.
The coffee is hot and the milk is cold. Hot liquid is less dense, so it stays up if you pour gently.
-
Stir at the table
Serve it layered and stir just before drinking, all the way to the bottom so the condensed milk comes up.
Why this works
The name tells you what the drink is. Bạc xỉu comes from the Cantonese spoken by the Chinese community in Saigon's Chợ Lớn district, from a phrase usually given as bạc tẩy xỉu phé: a glass of white with a little coffee. It was built milk-first, not as a diluted coffee, and that framing is the useful one. You are making a sweet milk drink and seasoning it with robusta.
Why the coffee still has to be robusta: casein, the main protein in milk, binds to the polyphenols that make coffee taste bitter and astringent. That is the reason milk softens coffee at all. With three parts milk to one of coffee, a mild arabica is almost completely neutralised and the glass tastes of sweet milk. Robusta has enough bitterness to survive being tied up by that much protein.
The layers are a density gradient. Condensed milk is the heaviest thing in the glass by a distance, fresh milk sits above it, and hot coffee is lighter again, partly because it is hot. Ice acts as a baffle that stops the pours mixing on the way down. It looks good and it has one practical use: you can see at a glance whether the coffee went in, and how much.
Keep the coffee dose small rather than diluting a full-strength brew. A short phin of 15 g extracts differently from a long one, staying sweeter and heavier, so the coffee band tastes concentrated rather than watery.
Variations
- Bạc xỉu nóng: the hot version. Steam or warm the milk and pour the coffee on top.
- With cream: replace 20 ml of the milk with single cream for a richer middle layer.
- Coconut bạc xỉu: swap the fresh milk for coconut milk, which sits between this and coconut coffee.
- Less sweet: 20 ml of condensed milk and a spoon of sugar-free evaporated milk.
Made it?
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Questions
What is the difference between bạc xỉu and cà phê sữa đá?
The balance. Cà phê sữa đá is strong coffee sweetened with condensed milk. Bạc xỉu is mostly milk, both condensed and fresh, with a little coffee on top. It is paler, sweeter and gentler.
What does bạc xỉu mean?
It comes from Cantonese, from a phrase rendered in Vietnamese as bạc tẩy xỉu phé, roughly a glass of white milk with a little coffee. It was the Chinese community in Saigon's Chợ Lớn who named it.
Is bạc xỉu the same as a latte?
No. A latte uses espresso and steamed milk with no sugar. Bạc xỉu uses phin-brewed robusta, sweetened condensed milk and cold fresh milk over ice, so it is much sweeter and the coffee is more bitter.
Why won't my bạc xỉu layer?
Usually the pour was too fast or there was no ice to slow it. Fill the glass with ice over the condensed milk first, then pour the milk down the side and the coffee over a spoon.