Before you start. This uses raw egg yolk. In the UK, buy eggs stamped with the British Lion mark — those are produced to a vaccination and testing standard that makes them safe to eat raw, including for pregnant women, infants and older people. If your eggs do not carry the Lion mark, use pasteurised egg yolk instead, which you can buy in cartons. Do not serve raw egg to anyone who is immunocompromised.
Tell someone you are about to crack a raw egg into their coffee and watch their face. It is the single hardest sell in this entire collection, and it is also the one that converts people fastest, because it does not taste remotely like what they are bracing for.
It tastes like pudding. Thick, sweet, custardy pudding, sitting on top of a very strong, very hot coffee that cuts straight through it.
The history is worth knowing too. Hanoi, 1946, in the middle of a war, with fresh milk almost impossible to get hold of. A bartender at what is now Giảng Café reached for egg yolk instead. The city has been drinking it ever since.
What you need
- 2 egg yolks, at room temperature (British Lion stamped, or pasteurised)
- 30ml sweetened condensed milk
- 60ml Western Tamp High Noon Espresso, brewed very strong and very hot
- A pinch of fine salt
- Optional: ¼ tsp vanilla extract
The roast for this High Noon Espresso From £11.95 How to make it
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Separate carefully
Yolks only, and not a trace of white. Egg white will not whip into this properly and it is the thing that makes people say egg coffee tastes eggy.
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Whisk the yolks with the condensed milk
Yolks, condensed milk, salt and vanilla in a small deep bowl. Whisk hard for three to five minutes — an electric whisk is far easier than a hand one. You are after a pale, thick, glossy foam that holds a ribbon on the surface for a couple of seconds when you lift the beaters. Under-whipping is the single most common failure.
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Brew the coffee strong and hot
Pull a double espresso, or brew 60ml at roughly twice your normal strength. It needs to be genuinely hot — it is about to have a cold foam sat on top of it.
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Pour the coffee, then spoon the foam over
Coffee into a small heatproof glass first. Spoon the foam gently over the top so it sits as a distinct layer rather than sinking. Fill the glass no more than two-thirds with coffee or you will have nowhere to put the foam.
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Serve it standing in hot water
Sit the glass in a bowl of just-boiled water. That is how it is served in Hanoi and it is not for show — it keeps the coffee hot underneath while you work through the cold foam on top, which is the entire experience.
Why it works
Egg yolk is roughly a third fat and full of lecithin, which is one of the most effective emulsifiers in any kitchen. Whipped with sweetened condensed milk it traps air into a stable, custard-thick foam that behaves like zabaglione and tastes like the top of a tiramisu. What it does not taste like is egg — the sugar, the fat and a strong dark coffee underneath completely cover it. Giảng Café in Hanoi invented this in 1946 when fresh milk was scarce and a bartender substituted the one thing that was not: yolk. Nearly eighty years on it is still on their menu.
Worth knowing
- Room-temperature yolks whip to about twice the volume of fridge-cold ones. Take them out twenty minutes before.
- It must be sweetened condensed milk. Evaporated milk has neither the sugar nor the viscosity and it will not hold.
- High Noon Espresso is the right pick because the foam is very sweet and very rich — you need a coffee with enough dark cocoa and molasses to push back. A light roast disappears completely under it.
- Any leftover foam keeps in the fridge for a day and is outstanding on vanilla ice cream.
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