Classic phin, hot or iced
Bloom, fill, and let it drip for about 5 minutes. Add condensed milk and ice if you like.
⏱️ 10 minEasy
Starting recipe
20 g coffee + 100 g water at 93 °C (199 °F), with a 20 g bloom, dripping through in 4–6 minutes.
Grind: Medium-fine, like table salt
You need
- 20 g coffee, ground medium-fine (like table salt)
- A phin filter (screw-down or gravity insert)
- A kettle
- A sturdy glass or cup that the phin sits on firmly
- Optional: a kitchen scale
- Optional: 1–2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk and a glass of ice
Step by step
Warm the phin and cup
Boil the water and let it rest about 30 seconds so it's near 93 °C. Pour a little through the phin into your cup to warm everything, then empty the cup. Add condensed milk to the cup now if you're using it.
Add the coffee
Put 20 g of ground coffee into the phin chamber and give it a little shake to level it.
Place the insert gently
Set the press insert on the coffee. For a gravity insert, just let it rest. For a screw-down insert, turn it until it touches the coffee lightly, without squeezing it hard.
Pressing too hard is the most common reason a phin barely drips.
Bloom
Set the phin on your cup and pour about 20 g of water, just enough to wet the coffee. Wait while it puffs up.
40 sFill it up
Pour the remaining 80 g of water, filling the chamber, then put the lid on to hold in the heat.
Let it drip
Leave it alone. It should drip steadily, about one or two drops a second, and finish in 4–6 minutes. Don't jiggle or lift it.
The phin is hot. Lift it by the edge of the plate and set it on its upturned lid.
5:00Serve
Remove the phin. Hot: stir in the condensed milk and sip. Iced: stir well, then pour over a glass full of ice.
Taste and adjust
Sour or drips fast? Grind finer or settle the insert a little more firmly. Bitter or barely drips? Grind coarser or loosen the insert.
Common mistakes
- Screwing the insert down hard, so the coffee barely drips and turns bitter.
- Skipping the bloom, so water runs through unevenly.
- Using an espresso-fine grind that clogs the holes.
- Balancing the phin on a narrow glass where it can tip.
- Lifting or poking the phin while it drips.
Tastes off? Fix it
| If it… | Try this |
|---|---|
| Sour or thin | Grind a little finer, or settle the insert a touch more firmly so the water spends longer with the coffee. |
| Bitter or harsh | Grind a little coarser, or loosen the insert so it drips a bit faster. |
| Weak | Use more coffee for the same water, for example 22 g instead of 20 g. |
| Too strong | Use a little less coffee for the same water, or add a splash of hot water or more ice. |
| Drips through in under 3 minutes | Grind finer, and make sure the insert sits snugly on the coffee. |
| Barely drips, over 7 minutes | Grind coarser and loosen the screw insert. Rinse the holes if they're clogged with old grounds. |
Words you'll hear
- Phin
- The Vietnamese drip filter: a chamber with holes, a plate it rests on, a press insert and a lid.
- Press insert
- The perforated disc that sits on top of the coffee. Some screw down, others just rest by gravity. It controls how fast water flows.
- Bloom
- A small first pour that just wets the coffee. Fresh grounds puff up and release gas so the rest of the water flows evenly.
- Drip rate
- How fast the coffee drips out. Steady drops, about one or two a second, is a good sign.
- Ratio
- Water weight divided by coffee weight. A phin is strong: about 1:5, so 20 g of coffee to 100 g of water.
- Extraction
- How much flavor the water pulls from the grounds. Under-extracted tastes sour and thin; over-extracted tastes bitter and dry.