Shadowing Practice: What is Vietnamese Coffee ( & How to Make it) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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A lot of us think of coffee as a fuel.
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Something to grab and go.
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Something fast.
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What if I told you this coffee was meant to be slow?
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In a world that rewards you for your speed, Vietnamese coffee rewards you for your patience.
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So today, I want to show you a coffee
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that taught me how to slow down
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and the culture that's been doing it long before the rest of us try to catch up.
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I'll be sharing the story, history, and recipe for Vietnamese coffee.
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Okay, believe it or not, my first ever sip of coffee was at the ripe age of three.
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And my grandpa was the one that taught me how to brew my first ever cup.
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But I was always impatient with it.
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I hated waiting.
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I tried to twist the pressure plate to make it looser, shake it up, mix it, anything to make it go by faster.
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But it always dripped the same.
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But first, why does Vietnamese coffee brew like this?
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When the French colonized Vietnam in the 1800s, they brought coffee with them.
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First came Arabica in 1857, planted by French missionaries.
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But Vietnam's climate had other plans.
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In 1908, the French introduced Robusta beans to the central highlands, and suddenly everything clicked.
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Robusta thrived in Vietnam's lowlands and humidity.
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It was hardier, disease-resistant, and produced almost double the yield of Arabica.
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It also contained nearly twice the caffeine, and was significantly more bitter.
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Here's something wild.
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Vietnam is now the second largest coffee producer in the world, right behind Brazil and 97% of it is Robusta.
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And that condensed milk, it wasn't just for taste.
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Mind you, in the 1850s, fresh milk was nearly impossible to ship and keep in Vietnam's tropical climate.
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But condensed milk was self-stable.
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It was accessible and it balanced the bitterness of the coffee perfectly.
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So what started as a shipping problem became the soul of Vietnamese coffee.
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But here's where it gets interesting because the French brought the ingredients, but what they didn't have was a way to make it accessible.
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Enter the Fien filter.
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This little device was made out of necessity.
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The Fiend became the great equalizer.
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It was cheap, portable, and requiring nothing but gravity.
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I remember when I got my Fiend in Vietnam, I got it for around 15 to 20,000 VND, which is less than a US dollar
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and equal to maybe a cup of coffee that you get at a local cafe in Vietnam.
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And it just goes to show you how affordable and accessible this device can be for the people there.
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Also, what's so beautiful about the Fiend is that its limitation became its philosophy.
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But anyways enough talking about it let me show you how to brew a cup.
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So how I like to prep my coffee is I like to just take the fien, take the lid and put it right underneath the filter just like
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so and then we're gonna take out our pressure plate and put it to the side for now.
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This way we can put our ground coffee into the chamber
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and not worry about it like getting all over the place or dripping into our cup later on.
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So I'm gonna do about two tablespoons, roughly.
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Then I like to just shake the chamber around a little bit just so that the grounds can settle down, even out for the pressure plate that goes on top later.
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Speaking of the pressure plate, we're gonna take our pressure plate and place it gently on top.
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Just add a little pressure, push it down just a little bit.
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If yours is the twist on kind, then you wanna just twist it to the point of it touching the grounds, but not too tight because then it will create a slower drip for the coffee.
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A lot of people like to bloom the coffee right on top of the cup, but what I like to do is bloom it
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while the lid is kind of just acting as a dish to collect the water.
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We're gonna put our coffee aside for now and we're gonna prep our cup for cafe sua.
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If you're just gonna make black coffee, then ignore this whole step.
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Take your condensed milk and we're going to add as much as you want.
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We're gonna measure with the heart because I like mine sweet, but if you don't like yours too sweet, you can add a little bit.
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Once that minute is up, we're gonna place our fien right on top of our condensed milk, and as you can see,
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there are no grounds coming through because it is now all compact into that little...
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We're just gonna go straight into filling our fien all the way to the top, just like so.
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Last but not least, we are going to put our lid on top.
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And now we wait.
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Personally, I really love watching Vietnamese coffee drip
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because it just amazes me how simple this little device is and just how delicious of a coffee it can brew.
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In Vietnam, while people wait for their coffee, they just sit on their plastic stools outside, catch up with their friends, watch all the mopeds go by, have a conversation.
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It's part of their routine, it's part of their day, and it's never a nuisance to wait.
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It's always part of the process and that's kind of what I love about waiting for this coffee to drip.
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So it should take roughly five to ten minutes for this to completely drip through.
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If it takes any longer than that we can take a look at the course of the grind.
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We can make it a little coarser.
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We can loosen up the pressure plate just a little bit and see how that affects the drip.
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Alright, we are just about done.
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There are a There are a couple more drops, but that's pretty much it.
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All right, I'm gonna take this to the side.
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Be careful not to make a mess everywhere.
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I tend to always make a mess.
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And this is your cafe sua.
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You get your coffee, about three to four ounces of it, and your layer of condensed milk.
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We have our trusty spoon.
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So just mix this up.
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Depending on how you like it, you can have it as is.
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So this is just having it hot.
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or you can have it iced.
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So let me show you how to do that.
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All right, so I'm back with my cup of ice, filled all the way to the top just the way I like it.
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So the trick to making any iced beverage
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and limiting the amount of water that's melted from the ice
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is to pour hot liquid into ice instead of putting ice into hot liquid.
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I've tried, I've experimented it, and overall the taste of the coffee is just a lot stronger and less watered down.
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So let's take our cup of coffee, still hot.
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We're gonna pour it right into our cup.
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Be very careful not to make a mess.
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I always do.
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Then you can just give it a very good mix to make sure it's all iced up
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and cold and there you have it!
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Which is just one of the many ways to enjoy Vietnamese coffee.
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So let me go ahead and show you other ways that we can prepare it.
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This is a baxi, a drink that's more milk than coffee.
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It was created for people who didn't love bitterness but still wanted to be part of the coffee ritual.
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So first we'll brew the coffee the same way we did before, fill the fiend with coffee grounds, bloom it, then fill it with water all the way up.
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This is optional, but a lot of people like to froth up their coffee.
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It creates a nice foam and mouthfeel for when you taste the coffee.
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Now get your cup, add as much condensed milk as your heart desires, some milk, and mix until the condensed milk is completely dissolved.
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Gently add your ice till it reaches the top, then pour over your frothed coffee.
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And there you have it, a drink that is gentle and approachable.
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It's a reminder that you don't have to jump straight into bitterness to belong here.
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Next is cafe muy, or salted coffee.
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The salt softens the bitterness, deepens the sweetness, and makes the coffee taste rounder and smoother.
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It's proof that sometimes the smallest addition can completely change how something feels.
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First, we'll line our cup with some condensed milk, and you know the drill by now, so brew the coffee how you normally would.
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After it's done dripping, you can mix and set it aside.
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Now we will work on the salted foam.
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Add 1 tablespoon of condensed milk, 3 tablespoons of heavy cream,
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2 tablespoons of milk, a few dashes of salt,
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then whisk it up with the frother until it thickens and doubles in size.
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Now for the fun part, the assembly.
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Grab your cup, fill it with ice, pour in your coffee mixture, then top it off with your salted foam.
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It's a super simple way to elevate your coffee and make it a little more special.
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The salted foam balances the bitterness, sweetness, and sharp edges just right.
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Vietnamese coffee is a part of my culture and will always be one of my favorite ways to have coffee.
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But admittedly, it does take a while to trip and I used to think that the wait was the obstacle.
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Like it was something that I had to fix.
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And we live in this world where we celebrate speed and we prioritize optimization and somewhere along the way
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patience became an inconvenience instead of practice.
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And then comes the fiendrip.
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It doesn't care about your schedule and it brews at the pace
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that it brews and you either accept it or you make a bad coffee.
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And maybe that's what we need more of.
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Things that don't necessarily bend to our urgency.
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Things that say you can only have this if you are willing to slow down.
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So next time you have a good Nwiz coffee, don't fight the drip.
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Remind yourself that some things are worth the wait.
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Nwiz, thank you so much for watching this video.
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I hope you've learned something or have found a new coffee that you can enjoy.
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Thank you and I'll see you guys in the next video.
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Bye!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 134 sentences and 1754 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:56. The speaker talks fast, about 196 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- drip /ˈdɹɪp/ (verb) — To fall one drop at a time.
- brew /bɹuː/ (verb) — To make tea or coffee by mixing tea leaves or coffee beans with hot water.
- pour /poɹ/ (verb) — To cause (liquid, or liquid-like substance) to flow in a stream, either out of a container or into it.
- foam /ˈfɔʊ̯m/ (noun) — A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially
- twist /twɪst/ (verb) — To turn the ends of something, usually thread, rope etc., in opposite directions, often using force.
- accessible /əkˈsɛs.ɪ.bəl/ (adjective) — Easy of access or approach.
- bloom /blum/ (noun) — A blossom; the flower of a plant; an expanded bud.
- chamber /ˈt͡ʃeɪ̯mbɚ/ (noun) — The private room of an individual, especially of someone wealthy or noble.
- liquid /ˈlɪk.wɪd/ (noun) — A substance that is flowing, and keeping no shape, such as water; a substance of which the molecules, while not tending to separate from one another like those…
- roughly /ˈɹʌf.li/ (adverb) — In a rough manner; without kindness, softness, or gentleness.
- reward /ɹɪˈwɔɹd/ (noun) — Something of value given in return for an act.
- shake /ˈʃeɪk/ (verb) — To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.
- filter /ˈfɪltɚ/ (noun) — A device which separates a suspended, dissolved, or particulate matter from a fluid, solution, or other substance; any device that separates one substance from…
- patience /ˈpeɪ̯.ʃəns/ (noun) — The quality of being patient.
- gently /ˈd͡ʒɛntli/ (adverb) — Without strong force or quickness: softly, lightly.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- go by (verb) — To pass or go past without much interaction.
- slow down (verb) — To decelerate.
- wait for (verb) — To wait until the specified event occurs.
- catch up (verb) — To pick up suddenly.
- come through (verb) — To come into a room or other space through a door or passageway.
- get at (verb) — To manage to gain access to.
- go ahead /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ (verb) — To proceed with; to begin.
- go on /ˈɡoʊˌɒn/ (verb) — To continue in extent.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 40 contractions and reduced forms, such as gonna, we're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: smooth /smuːð/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, thrive /θɹajv/, froth /ˈfɹɒθ/, mouthfeel /ˈmaʊθˌfil/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shake /ˈʃeɪk/, patience /ˈpeɪ̯.ʃəns/, sharp /ʃɑɹp/, delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/, dish /dɪʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: accessible /əkˈsɛs.ɪ.bəl/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, affordable /əˈfɔɹ.də.bəl/, necessity /nɪˈsɛsəti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like drip, brew, pour.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was meant · was made · was created |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've tried · you've learned |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | VND, which is · people who didn |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.