“Bạc Xỉu” - Vietnamese White Coffee

Story of "Bạc Xỉu"

This drink we get inspired from Chinese Vietnamese in China town of Sài Gòn. The original names “Bạc tẩy xỉu phé”: “Bạc” means white (the color of milk), “tẩy” means the glass, “xỉu” means a little & “phé” means coffee. So, the whole means the milky cup with a little bit of coffee. At the beginning, women and children were not interested in drinking black coffee or condensed milk coffee because they had a bitter taste and were too strong to enjoy. There was even a time when fresh milk was quite expensive, so people used condensed milk mixed hot water instead. Gradually, the bitter taste of coffee seemed to disappear and thus Bạc xĩu was born (more milk was used than coffee helping to reduce the bitterness and create a characteristic aroma for the drink).