Phuong Hoang Vietnamese Coffee Filter | Also known as Vietnamese Coffee Maker or Coffee Press | Made in Vietnam (8oz)

I love Vietnamese coffee – we like buying the premade filter packs that slot over top of a coffee mug, so I was hoping this would be a more sustainable way to get the same stellar results. Unfortunately, this product was a major miss for me.

First and foremost, it isn’t dishwasher safe, and that isn’t communicated very clearly in the packaging. We ran it through the dishwasher when it first arrived, and chaos ensued: the galvanized coating already started to come off of many of the pieces, and the top turned a sickly whitish-black. It reacted so poorly that I worry whether you could actually keep this clean with hand washing, either. I appreciate the vintage feel of the materials they used, but it’s just not practical for a modern kitchen: we’ve tossed our Kalita Wave into the dishwasher a thousand times and it still looks as good as new.

Setting that aside, the instructions included are really rough. They specify an amount of coffee to use, but as far as I can tell, that’s not nearly enough; when I added three tablespoons, it didn’t rise up to the level where the tamper could actually tamp down the coffee. That meant that the water went through way too quickly and the coffee wasn’t correctly brewed; the instructions say three minutes, but it was more like fifteen seconds. On a second attempt, I added much more coffee up to the notches on the side as another reviewer suggested, and that was better, but the water still went through way too fast despite properly blooming the coffee first. Perhaps my grind is off or there’s some mistake I’m making in technique, but the instructions aren’t thorough enough for me to get past those challenges.

With the poor washability and simple instructions, I’m left with a coffee accessory that I haven’t been able to make a single good cup of Vietnamese coffee with. I’ve given up and returned to the disposable filter packs, I’m afraid. I might try again someday, but I’d choose a different product that’s dishwasher safe.

So, the first time I used this device, I was not impressed. As someone who’s a fan of Vietnamese coffee, the first time I made coffee with this device, I was sorely disappointed. There were grinds in my coffee and too much condensed milk. The second time I used this device, I made some changes, and the coffee turned out amazing — just how I like my Vietnamese coffee.

First things first, you’ve got to use A LOT of coffee in this device. The ground coffee needs to be poured into the cup portion of this device high enough to where the grinds rise past the little notches inside of it. Once this is achieved, you can actually pack down the coffee like it needs to be with the tamper. If you don’t pour in enough coffee to make it past the notches and pack it firmly down with the tamper, then you’ll get coffee grounds in your Vietnamese coffee.

The second thing that I did which improved the quality of my coffee made in this device was use less condensed milk than what’s listed in the little index card that comes with this device. I put about 1/2 less condensed milk than what it tells you to put in and that helped out a lot. If you go with as much condensed milk as they list, then it’ll be overly sweet and you won’t get any of the coffee flavor (which you want, coffee brewed with this device tastes just like a pour-over — it’s amazing!) Also, make sure you mix the coffee and condensed milk really well after it’s all poured into your coffee mug, otherwise the condensed milk will stick to the bottom of the mug and you’ll get it all at once at the end.

The best part about this device is the clean up. Simply pour out the grinds in the trash and rinse it with soapy water then let it dry. I really like this device, just don’t expect to make the perfect cup of coffee on your first try! It’s definitely something you get better with over time.

I was super excited to give this little guy a try! The directions were pretty easy to follow, though I would have liked a diagram of it, or if the parts were be labeled to be absolutely sure I was doing it correctly. I did exactly what it told me, and was pretty pleased with the results. I packed my grounds too tightly so I had to stir it after a bit to get it to filter down, and I would’ve liked more coffee at the end of it. It also would have been nice if I’d had a clear mug or glass to use so I could see how much I was actually getting– a tip for my future self. I may experiment with the amount of water and of sweetened condensed milk (maybe half as much of that– it’s pretty sweet!). But for my first attempt at Vietnamese coffee after having it once several years ago, I thought it was easy and quite tasty!
Super easy to rinse off and dry for next time.
I was a little confused about the purpose of the lid (I prefer to watch the grounds going down so I can make sure it’s not clogged) but it is cute.

Update: After 4 attempts I went to the product page and realized that the part I thought was just a tamper is in fact another filter that stays IN when you add the water. That solved the issue of the brewing time for me, though it did tip over as the water started training and I couldn’t get it to sit back in place.

After putting it in the dish washer, the color came off and I’m afraid when making the coffee the paint color will come off and it looks the same as the coffee itself and so I throw this away. I’m concerned about the quality of the product since I only use it a few times

My Perfect Vietnamese Phin, love the matte black color, coffee quote on top makes it unique. Makes a great cup of Ice Coffee. Nicely packaged , added an extra touch with the “how to make Vietnamese coffee” instruction card. Thank you so much !