You have probably already heard about the famous Vietnamese Cà phê sữa đá which is basically a glass of strong dark coffee mixed with an equal amount of condensed sweetened milk and a generous amount of ice. For those of you who are after a less caffeine-charged way of drinking coffee, Vietnamese people have the alternative called Bạc Xỉu. A glass of a dark coffee mixed with condensed sweetened milk and a generous amount of ice. “Ups, but didn’t we just say the same thing about cà phê sữa đá“ Yes, here is the difference. While ingredients in both drinks are exactly the same, the proportions are very different. Bạc Xỉu is basically a glass of sweetened condensed milk mixed with ice and a tiny bit of coffee as opposed to cà phê sữa đá that comes served with a larger amount of dark coffee mixed with an equal amount of condensed milk and heaps of ice.

Where does Bạc Xỉu come from?
Bac Xiu is a Chinese expression used mostly by people living in Saigon. In its full length it goes like this: “Bạc Tảy Xỉu Phé” where Bạc means white/or silver, Tảy refers to an empty glass, Xỉu means “a little” and Phé stands for “coffee”. Put it all together and you get “a white glass with a little amount of coffee”.