Commerical Scale Vietnamese Iced Coffee Maker

[mahi03]

Hi all,

I am looking for a way to produce Vietnamese Iced Coffee on a commercial and efficient scale (100+ cups a day). Traditional Vietnamese restaurants typically use a phin filter (http://www.vietnamese-coffee.com/brew...) to produce individual orders. This is a time consuming process but allows the flavor to truly come out.

Do any of you know of a way to produce such coffee at much greater quantities? Is there a gigantic phin filter available or is there a way to produce the same flavor/essence of coffee via a commercial machine?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[Joe Blowe]

A very popular pho joint that I go to moves a great deal of iced coffee, probably at least 20~30 cups per hour, for 12 or 13 hours a day.

Their solution: Three shelves full of phin filters, and a kitchen full of hand washers, to keep up with the demand.

There is no shortcut to quality...

[mahi03]

Joe,

That is very helpful feedback. I appreciate it.

[ferret]

If you're looking for scale, try cold-brewing. You lose some of the romance, but I don't think there's any difference in quality (i actually prefer the cold-brew flavor). As long as your beans are good the end product will be good.

[mahi03]

Thanks ferret,

I will give it a shot. I've also hear an infusion brewer creates a close product but I'm not sure I want to make the investment just to "try".

[DAWK]

As ferret mentioned, I also would recommend going the cold brew coffee route. Cold brewing creates a coffee concentrate that is comparable to the strength of Vietnamese coffee. Toddy makes a commercial cold brew system that may interest you.

[ferret]

And if you intend to go the traditional sweetened condensed milk route, I don't think anyone will be able to differentiate between the methods.

[mahi03]

Thanks DAWK and ferret. Very helpful suggestions. I will give it a try.

[Vetter]

I was thinking the same thing. I've been drinking cold brewed chicory coffee all month. It's very similar when full of sweetened condensed milk. My local coffee shop sells cold brew; there must be an efficient way to make large batches.