Bạc Xỉu

Bạc xỉu turns the usual Vietnamese coffee ratio on its head. Where cà phê sữa đá is strong coffee softened with a little condensed milk, bạc xỉu is mostly milk with just a splash of coffee. A typical glass has sweetened condensed milk at the bottom, fresh milk above it and a small shot of dark, phin-brewed Robusta on top, all over ice.

The result is sweet, creamy and gentle, with the coffee as a flavour rather than a jolt – a good choice for people who find Vietnamese coffee too strong, and a favourite afternoon drink in Ho Chi Minh City. Poured carefully, it shows pretty layers of white and brown until you stir it.

The drink was born in Saigon’s Cantonese community and its name comes from Cantonese. Originally it was made with condensed milk diluted with hot water and a little coffee; today most cafés use fresh milk, and it is served across Vietnam and in Vietnamese cafés abroad.

Bạc xỉu comes from the Cantonese-Vietnamese community of Chợ Lớn, Saigon’s Chinatown, where it is said to have appeared in the 1950s. Its name is a Vietnamese rendering of the Cantonese baahk dái síu fèh (白底小啡), roughly “a cup of white with a little coffee”. In Vietnamese this became bạc tẩy xỉu phé, later shortened to bạc xỉu.

The original drink was a glass of condensed milk thinned with hot water, with only a splash of coffee. As fresh milk became easier to get in Vietnam, cafés switched to it, and the drink became the creamy iced coffee served today.

Bạc xỉu stayed a southern speciality for decades, but has spread with chains and modern cafés across Vietnam and to Vietnamese cafés abroad.