Vietnam Drinks You Must Try On Your Travels

Disclosure: Advertising and affiliate services, including Amazon Associates, help the cost of running my blog. Clicking ads or making purchases through affiliate links may, at no additional cost to you, earn me a small commission. I appreciate your support.

The cafe culture in Vietnam is real. The whole country goes crazy for their delicious drinks, and while some might seem familiar there are others that have a Vietnamese twist. It’s going to be hot in Vietnam, but that doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy a nice cup of coffee. Iced coffee and fresh juices, smoothies and of course an ice cold beer are all some of the best Vietnam drinks you should try.

There was a point where I felt like I was just walking from cafe to cafe, bar to bar, with just a little sightseeing in between. I relished the part of the day where I could sit in the window of a cafe watching the world go by as I sipped my special drink of the day. While some of the drinks have regional variations, you can usually find the same things the length of the country. Below are some of my favorite drinks that I recommend you try on your trip to Vietnam. Check out this post for some other tips to help you survive your first trip to Vietnam.

Vietnamese coffee

It’s not just coffee, it’s an experience. I’m not a coffee drinker. I have hated coffee for as long as I could remember. But in Vietnam I had my first coffee and I enjoyed it. In fact, I had a coffee almost every day.

This one of the Vietnam drinks that they are most proud of. Coffee is almost a national institution and you can even visit a coffee plantation. Now it was pretty hot so we had a lot of iced coffees, but hot or cold a Vietnamese coffee is usually served with condensed milk to sweeten and give it a delicious creamy flavor. If you’re in Hanoi and looking for a great place to people watch while sipping a coffee, then try Cộng Cà Phê at the roundabout next to Hoan Kiem Lake. We went to the second floor and grabbed a window seat overlooking the traffic circle below while we enjoyed our coffee. A great location.

Passion juice

My favorite fruit in the entire world is passionfruit. I love how tangy it is. There’s nothing subtle about passionfruit, it’s like BAM! So to my absolute joy I discovered that in Vietnam passionfruit is EVERYWHERE. Every breakfast we had included a fruit station that included passionfruit. It was also a flavor of juice or smoothie everywhere I went. Passion juice is a common drink. It’s usually a slightly diluted drink of passionfruit and water but it’s delicious. You’ve got to have it at least once, but I would recommend you order it in a cafe or restaurant so you have the more flavorful version, as ‘complimentary’ juice at breakfast buffets in hotels tend to be a bit more watery.

Egg coffee

So remember how I didn’t like coffee? Imagine on day two of my trip when I was told in our Hanoi cooking class (highly recommend by the way) we were going to be making Egg coffee. One of the most famous Vietnam drinks the country has to offer.

I was thinking that maybe it was just a name because the coffee was super creamy or something. Nope. Literally eggs and coffee. If I never drank coffee before I sure as heck didn’t want to drink egg coffee. But it was part of our cooking class and we made the coffee….and WOW! It was so good. So creamy and frothy, thick enough to stand a spoon up in. It is made with egg yolks, sugar, coffee, vodka or rice wine (just a drop) and you’ve guessed it condensed milk. We whisked it for what seemed like an eternity and dusted it with chocolate powder and had what was almost a dessert in a cup.

Avocado Smoothie

OK you can’t really get more basic than an avocado smoothie. But I kept seeing it on menus and halfway through the trip I felt like I just had to try it. I mean, avocados in a smoothie. It was…interesting. Good interesting though.

Not really what I was expecting. I was thinking guacamole in a glass, but it was blended with ice and coconut milk and a little sweetener/syrup so that it ended up a pretty sweet drink. Being that avocados are pretty full of fat (the good kind) and coconut milk is also quite rich, this was like a meal replacement. I felt like I was on some Slimfast shake commercial from the 90s. But it was good. I just needed a big long nap afterwards. I got mine in Hoi An at Lands Drinks at Đặc sản Tây Giang.

Bia Hoi

Bia Hoi is a local beer. But not just any local beer. It can be found in Hanoi, typically in the Old Quarter, but there are similar types of locally brewed beer throughout the country. This is one of the most quintessential Vietnam drinks. It’s a locally brewed beer that is not too strong but always fresh. As in every day fresh. A batch is made and only lasts 24 hours. They are delivered to local drinking places, usually small street corner eateries and bars. Locals drink a lot of the Bia Hoi, and it is really, really cheap. As in it cost us 40 cents a glass of beer.

There’s no fancy tables, and the food served will be cheap and local, but it’s great to spend at least one night hanging out at the side of the street with a Bia Hoi watching the hustle and bustle of Old Quarter Hanoi. We enjoyed our drinks at the corner of Pho Hang Vai and Pho Bat Su as recommended by a local we met. Our drinks were 10,000 VND each (less than 50 cents). Just make sure not to have too much. Bia Hoi can give you a wicked hangover.

Sugar Cane juice

It’s as sweet and delicious as it sounds. On a walking food tour in Ho Chi Minh City we finally got to try the tasty, sweet drink of sugar cane juice.

There was nothing else added, just pure sugar cane. The place where we went had a machine where the owner fed in long sugar cane stems. They were pressed and the juice collected. He repeated the task with the same sugar cane stems over and over again, getting an absurd amount of juice out of them. Eventually we all had a nice glass of juice to drink. It’s hard to describe the flavor other than sweet, perhaps similar in ways to coconut juice but even sweeter. It had a greenish hue. We passed a number of places that sold this throughout Vietnam include street vendors. If you have the chance, grab yourself a glass.

Ginger tea

One day I was not feeling the best while we were traveling. We arrived at a restaurant and I saw ginger tea on the menu. I thought that might settle my stomach a bit so I ordered it. I wasn’t really expecting what I ended up with.

There was a ginger tea bag as well as pieces of fresh ginger, lemongrass and mint leaves all mixed together with water and ice. It was a cool, refreshing drink on a hot day and hit the spot. Another place we went to in Hoi An we saw a similar drink, but it wasn’t ginger tea, instead just ginger, honey, lemon and lemongrass. The drink was called mật ong chanh đào and was also delicious and very soothing for someone not feeling good or if you just want a refreshing juice on a hot day.

Rice wine

Every country has an alcoholic drink, a spirit, like this. In Russia there is vodka, in Korea there is Soju. China has Bai Jiu. In Vietnam they have their own rice wine called ruou gao or ruou de. I managed to avoid this stuff as I traveled through the country as I’m not a big fan of doing shots of any kind, or neat alcohol. But we were on a cruise on Halong Bay and there was a cooking demonstration. At the end of it they explained a local rice wine drink that is made by adding rice wine to a coconut.

They drill a hole in the coconut, add the rice wine, close up the coconut and leave it for months to ferment. The rice wine then takes on the flavor of the coconut and mixes with the juice and it becomes this unique drink. Well I was actually impressed. It was not cold, but it was really tasty. In reality all I could taste was the coconut flavor with just a hint of rice wine, which is maybe why I liked it so much. If you come across it on your travels, make sure to try some. It might turn into your favorite of the alcoholic Vietnam drinks.

Coconut coffee

And we’re back to the coffee. I left the best until last, or the best as far as I’m concerned. If you don’t want condensed milk in your coffee, the other popular option is coconut milk.

When you order coconut coffee it can vary considerably. I’ve seen it look just like a regular coffee but with coconut milk instead of milk. We saw deconstructed coconut coffee with coffee, coconut cream/milk and flaked coconut all in separate glasses for you to mix as you prefer. I saw it served more like a smoothie in a tall glass with whipped cream and shaved coconut on top. Hot or cold, mixed or separate, coconut coffee was my favorite. The first one I had was similar to a cappuccino, hot and frothy. I had it iced and blended. All were delicious.

Insider Tip: head to The Note Coffee in Hanoi, they give you little post it notes to decorate the coffee shop with and have really great drinks.

Local beer

Wherever you go in Vietnam you will find local beer. I don’t mean Bia Hoi. I mean bottles and cans of local beers. The main one you can find no matter where you are is Saigon beer. It’s arguably the best in my opinion. But there is Hanoi beer in the North, Huda in central Vietnam and 333 Beer from the South. Some you can find all over the country, others change regionally. I was probably least impressed with the Huda and Larue beer, but Hanoi beer and Saigon were really good. It was fun to try different beers as we went through the country, with each city proud of their local beer and eager for you to try it.

Harry Potter cafe

This one isn’t really specifically about Vietnam drinks, but is a Hanoi cafe in particular. It was a Harry Potter themed cafe called Always Cafe. They served Butterbeer (both with and without alcohol) and a vast range of Harry Potter inspired cocktails. So sit back and enjoy your surroundings as you enjoy a Felix Felicis, Goblet of Fire or a Nettle Tea. We even tried a Polyjuice Potion. The prices aren’t too bad, around 40,000-60,000 VND per drink, but it’s more about the place you’re at. Especially if you’re a Harry Potter fan.

• 

• 

The Polyjuice Potion was incredibly sweet as I suspect most of the cocktails were. I enjoyed my alcoholic butter beer which included actual beer. The decorations all around the cafe are amazing and there are books on the shelves and Harry Potter inspired merchandise to purchase. My favorite thing was the bathroom had a sign on the toilet saying This way to the Ministry of Magic.

If you’ve enjoyed this post please leave a comment or share using the social media buttons below. What are your favorite Vietnam drinks? Are there any others you think I should try?