Vietnamese phin coffee: a lesson about patience that no one asks to be taught

You order coffee. They bring out a glass, with a metal filter placed on top. Inside the filter is coffee. Water is dripping down. Drop by drop.

You look at it. It looks back at you. Nothing happens.

Wait time: 5 to 8 minutes. This is not a slow restaurant. This is by design.

Vietnamese phin coffee doesn't use pressure like an espresso machine. Water filters through the coffee grounds entirely by gravity. Patience is essential to extract the full flavor — rush it and you'll end up with weak, watered-down coffee.

While waiting, here's what you shouldn't do:

• Lift the phin up to see. Everyone does this once. It won't make it faster though. • Press the filter cap down. The more you press, the slower it flows. • Ask the staff if there's a problem. There's really no problem.

What you should do: sit still. Look out at the street. This is exactly the point of the whole ritual — Vietnamese coffee shops aren't designed for you to buy a drink and leave, but for you to sit. Some people sit there the entire morning with just one cup.

When the phin finishes dripping: if it's coffee with milk, there will be a layer of condensed milk at the bottom of the glass. Stir it well. If you want it iced, pour everything into the ice-filled glass next to it.

A dosage warning: Vietnamese coffee is mostly robusta, with almost double the caffeine content of arabica. One cup here is equivalent to two cups back home. Don't order a third cup at 4 p.m. and then wonder why you're still strangely wide awake at 2 a.m.