Three coffees you have not had yet

Cà phê trứng, egg coffee

Egg coffee is strong coffee under a warm, whipped cream made from egg yolk, sugar and condensed milk. It was invented in Hà Nội in the 1940s, when milk was scarce and a hotel bartender whipped up yolk instead.

It tastes like custard over dark coffee, closer to a pudding than a latte, and not eggy at all. Order it mid-morning or after food. Take the first spoonful of foam on its own, then tilt the cup.

Cà phê muối, salt coffee

Salt coffee is iced coffee with condensed milk under a lightly salted cream. It is the newest of the three, credited to a small café in Huế, in central Vietnam, and now copied everywhere.

A pinch of salt takes the edge off the bitterness and stops the sweet milk from cloying. It tastes like salted caramel without the caramel. Ours is a salted cold foam over cà phê sữa đá. Order it on a warm day, or if you think you do not like sweet coffee.

Cà phê cốt dừa, coconut coffee

Coconut coffee is coconut cream, condensed milk and ice blended to a slush, with strong coffee poured through it. It comes from the cafés of Hà Nội and has spread the length of the country.

It is the most tropical thing we serve and the easiest to love at first sip. Order it in the afternoon, by the window, when the sea outside is doing its best impression of somewhere warmer.

What they have in common

Each is a topping over a proper phin brew, not a flavoured coffee. The strong coffee underneath is still there, and the cream on top is there to meet it, not hide it. Try the first sip unstirred. The contrast is the point.