风靡北美的越南鸡蛋咖啡是什么？

1946年的越南正饱受与法国交战之苦，牛奶短缺促使当时在河内索菲特传奇大都会酒店（Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel）工作的阮文江想出了一种方法来替代传统做法中搭配咖啡的炼乳。他的解决方案是打发生蛋黄。

这种创意大受欢迎，成为当地流行的特色饮品，阮文江也因此开了自己的咖啡店Giảng咖啡，吸引了来自于全国的客人。

传统的cà phê trúng（越南鸡蛋咖啡）是北越特色，由罗布斯塔咖啡豆、打发的鸡蛋、糖和炼乳调成。就像具有典型文化特色的其他饮食一样，随着时间的推移，这种饮料最终跨越海洋和陆地，在越南国境之外广为流传，勾引着外国食客的味蕾，培养出一批又一批的忠实拥趸。

值得一提的是最基本的越南咖啡的做法——这是阮文江发明鸡蛋咖啡的基础。传统的爪哇咖啡是一种深焙咖啡，味道浓烈而苦涩，与甜炼乳的口味相得益彰。越南咖啡有冷有热，大约在1857年法国殖民统治期间首次引入国内。由于当时冷藏能力有限，奶牛又仅仅被当作役用动物，鲜牛奶缺乏，因此人们广泛以炼乳的形式进行乳制品的长期储存。

如今，这个东南亚国家是世界上第二大咖啡生产国（巴西排名第一），也是罗布斯塔咖啡的第一大产地（罗布斯塔咖啡豆产自于罗布斯塔咖啡树，苦味浓烈、酸度低）。目前，北美大多数越南咖啡实际上用的是新奥尔良杜梦咖啡馆（Cafe du Monde）的咖啡和菊苣，这与河内及其周边地区仍然在使用罗布斯塔豆的做法并不一致。

然而，尽管基本款越南咖啡和越南菜在西方世界相对容易找到，鸡蛋咖啡却并不常见。例如，在纽约市，鸡蛋咖啡迷实际上只有一个选择：曼哈顿东村圣马可广场（St. Marks Place）上的河内汤品店（Hanoi Soup Shop）。

“它绝对可以被当成一道甜点。”河内汤品店和河内之家（Hanoi House）的老板之一萨拉·莱文这样评价鸡蛋咖啡，因为它的味道很像提拉米苏。“这取决于你怎么看它：你之前吃了什么？你想要什么？蛋奶沙司自身的味道让它吃起来就像甜品。”莱文解释道，“它是甜的，但是你又加了黑咖啡，味道很浓。”

莱文和她现在的未婚夫本·洛厄尔曾经环游世界，其中包括越南，他们在那一站培养了对当地美食的热爱，2017年回国后，开了越南餐厅河内之家。她回忆道，“当时我们只能在唐人街的几家餐厅找到几道不正宗的河内菜。”这可能要归因于美国越南移民的历史：由于大多数越南移民来自于越南南部，他们随之带来了当地的特色食物。虽然鸡蛋咖啡目前在越南全国上下都十分常见，但它无疑是北方产物。

这家餐厅最初只提供晚餐，后来增加了每周一次的早午餐服务，菜单包括鸡蛋咖啡。莱文说：“一份咖啡要打发三个蛋黄，再加一点蜂蜜和炼乳。”在打发鸡蛋的同时，需要加热咖啡里的热牛奶（这样等把鸡蛋倒在咖啡上时，既能保持一定热度又不会导致温度激增），做一杯咖啡需要四分钟。她说：“做起来特别麻烦，但人们喜欢喝。”

今年4月，这对情侣在离河内之家两家门店的地方开了一家全天候的越南咖啡馆——河内汤品店。新店更多的是外卖服务，他们果断在菜单上加入了鸡蛋咖啡：但一家快餐外卖店怎么能出售一种几乎需要5分钟才能够做好的咖啡呢？“我们破解了这个问题。”莱文说。现在，工作人员不再直接把鸡蛋打发到饮料中，而是先做一个蛋奶沙司基底，并在空气中静置。他们先做好大量的蛋奶沙司基底、冷却，然后把它倒入咖啡中，冷热均可。莱文说：“每天进店的50个人中，有6到8个人是为了喝咖啡。河内汤品店的越南鸡蛋咖啡售价为8美元，大约是普通越南热咖啡价格的两倍。

粉丝们在加拿大也能够找到原汁原味的鸡蛋咖啡。越南战争之后，定居在加拿大的难民带来了越南的传统食物，至今在加拿大仍然可以看到这些美食的身影——包括鸡蛋咖啡。

2016年开业的多伦多Dak Lak咖啡店里的鸡蛋咖啡（4.99加元）由两个打发的蛋黄、炼乳、咖啡和可可粉制成。（和河内汤品店一样，Dak Lak咖啡店的蛋奶沙司也是提前做好的。）这里使用的咖啡豆是从越南直接进口的，是罗布斯塔咖啡豆和阿拉比卡咖啡豆的拼配。这家加拿大咖啡店的总经理庆范说：“这是做出美味咖啡的理想配比。”说到这款咖啡的受欢迎程度，庆范估计，每天到店的顾客中，有80%的人是为了喝杯咖啡而来。

鸡蛋咖啡并不是河内唯一一款被西方世界列入必喝清单的饮料：椰子咖啡在河内之家和Dak Lak都很受欢迎。在多伦多，庆范的员工把椰子奶油和炼乳倒在越南蒸馏咖啡上，再撒上一层烤椰子屑。在纽约，河内之家的团队还供应一种用椰子冰淇淋、椰奶和咖啡制成的冻椰子咖啡。莱文说，在越南，这种饮料的制作方式略有不同（用她的话说，“超级棒！”）：把甜椰奶和冰混在一起，形成一种冰冻饮料，然后泡在咖啡里，最终做出的咖啡像液态甜品一样，吸引了全世界的顾客。（财富中文网）

译者：Agatha

In 1946, when Vietnam was plagued by war with France, a shortage of milk led Nguyen Van Giang, who was then working at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, to come up with a substitute for the condensed milk traditionally used when preparing coffee. His solution? Whipped egg yolks.

The creative improvisation caught on and became a revered local drink in its own right, eventually leading Van Giang to open his own shop, Giảng Cafe, which has since become a national attraction in the city.

Traditional cà phê trúng (Vietnamese egg coffee) is a Northern Vietnamese specialty made with robusta beans, whisked eggs, sugar, and condensed milk. As is the case with culturally defining culinary endeavors, it was only a matter of time until the drink made its way across oceans and continents, tickling palates and developing devotees among folks living outside Vietnam.

A note should be made about the most elemental form of Vietnamese coffee, which predates and is the basis of Van Giang’s glorious invention. The traditional java is of the dark roast kind—incredibly strong and bitter—with flavors counterbalanced by sweetened condensed milk. Served hot or cold, coffee in Vietnam was first introduced around 1857 during French colonization. Limited refrigeration capabilities, the use of cows solely as work animals, and scarcity of fresh milk led to the widespread use of condensed milk for storing dairy long term.

Today, the Southeast Asian country is the second largest producer of coffee in the world (Brazil is No. 1) and the first when only taking into account the robusta variety (from the Coffea canephora plant, boasting high bitterness and low acidity levels). Currently, most Vietnamese coffee in North America is actually made with Café du Monde’s coffee and chicory beans—produced in New Orleans—a departure from the robusta beans still used in Hanoi and its surrounding areas.

And yet, while standard Vietnamese coffee and cuisine can be found throughout Western countries relatively easily, egg coffee is not prevalent. In New York City, for example, aficionados virtually have a single option: Hanoi Soup Shop on St. Marks Place in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood.

“It absolutely could be a dessert,” says Sara Leveen, co-owner of Hanoi Soup Shop and Hanoi House, of cà phê trúng, whose flavor many describe as tiramisu-like. “It is what you make of it: What did you have before? What are you craving? The custard itself tastes like it could very easily be a dessert,” Leveen explains. “It’s sweet, but then you mix in all that dark black coffee, and it is strong.”

Following a trip around the world that included stops in Vietnam, where they developed a taste for the local culinary offerings, Leveen and her now-fiancé Ben Lowell opened Hanoi House, a Vietnamese eatery, back in 2017. “There were just some dishes from Hanoi that we would find bastardized versions of in places in Chinatown,” she recalls. That is likely the result of the history of migration to the United States: As most Vietnamese immigrants hail from the southern part of Vietnam, they brought along regional specialties. Although now widespread in Vietnam, cà phê trúng is undoubtedly a northern creation.

Only serving dinner initially, the business partners eventually added brunch service once a week, offering a menu that included the egg concoction. “It was three egg yolks for one order of coffee, whipped to order, with a drizzle of honey and condensed milk,” Leveen says. Needing to heat the milk with hot coffee as the eggs were whisked (so that, once they hit the coffee, they’d stay warm but not get shocked), each drink would take four minutes to prepare. “It was a pain in the ass, but people loved it,” she says.

This past April, the couple opened an all-day Vietnamese café two doors down from their first shop. More of a takeout effort, Hanoi Soup Shop decidedly demanded the presence of cà phê trúng on the menu: But could a quick takeout business serve a coffee that requires almost five minutes to be made? “We hacked it,” Leveen says. Instead of whisking the eggs directly into the drink, the staff now cooks a custard base and aerates it. Making large batches, they cook it, cool it, and then pour it into the coffee, which can be served either hot or cold. According to Leveen, “out of 50 people that walk through the door every day, six to eight of them are coming just for coffee.” Hanoi Soup Shop’s Vietnamese egg coffee costs $8, about double the amount for the café’s regular hot Vietnamese coffee.

Fans will also find faithful renditions of the treat up in Canada. Following the Vietnam War, refugees who settled in Canada brought along with them food-related traditions that still pepper the local gastro scene—including cà phê trúng.

At Coffee Dak Lak in Toronto, open since 2016, the egg coffee ($4.99 Canadian) is made with two whisked egg yolks, condensed milk, coffee, and cocoa powder. (Like Hanoi Soup Shop, the egg custard at Coffee Dak Lak is prepared in advance.) The beans used here are imported directly from Vietnam and are a mixture of robusta and arabica beans. “An ideal ratio to make a good tasting coffee,” says Khanh Pham, the general manager at the Canadian coffee shop. In terms of popularity, Pham estimates that about 80% of customers who stop in daily do so singularly for a cup of coffee.

Cà phê trúng is not the only Hanoi drink that claims a spot on Western culinary bucket lists: Coconut coffee is a popular order at both Hanoi House and Coffee Dak Lak as well. In Toronto, Pham’s staff uses coconut cream and condensed milk, pours it onto a Vietnamese coffee espresso, and tops it off with roasted coconut crumbs. In New York City, the Hanoi House team prepares a frozen coconut coffee made with coconut gelato, coconut milk, and coffee. As Leveen mentions, the Vietnamese way of preparing the drink is slightly different (“badass,” in her own terms): sweetened coconut milk and ice are blended to form a sort of frappé that then gets drenched in coffee, giving rise to a liquid dessert-like brew that appeals to masses worldwide.