Phin coffee: a lesson in patience that nobody asks to be taught

You order coffee. Someone brings out a glass with a metal filter placed on top. Inside the filter is coffee. Water is dripping down. One drop at a time.

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

Waiting time: 5 to 8 minutes. This isn't a slow restaurant. This is by design.

Pour-over coffee doesn't use the pressure that an espresso machine does. Water passes through the coffee grounds entirely by gravity. Going slow is essential to extract the flavor — rush it and you'll end up with watery, weak coffee.

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

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

What you should do: sit still. Look out at the street. This is the whole point of the ritual — a Vietnamese coffee shop isn't designed for you to buy a drink and leave, but for you to sit. Some people sit all morning with a single glass.

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

Dosage warning: Vietnamese coffee is mostly robusta, with caffeine content nearly double that of arabica. One cup here equals two cups back home. Don't order that third cup at 4 PM and then wonder why you're still wide awake at 2 AM.

Photo: McKay Savage (CC BY 2.0) — Wikimedia Commons