The proper term for this iced coffee is ca phe sua. I know everyone has their favorite spot for Vietnamese ca phe sua. What makes Mr. Baguette’s iced coffee so amazing is it is made with espresso and not just regular brewed coffee. Brewed coffee often gets watered down in the process of getting iced and loses a lot of body and flavor, not Mr. Baguette’s version. This iced coffee is thick, intense and not too sweet. I can only manage a few sips, otherwise I’m bouncing off the wall and my mouth never shuts up. You have been warned!
Mr Baguette
400 S. Atlantic Blvd. #288,
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Tel: (626) 282-9966
I’ve been to all three locations and each are equally good. The Monterey Park location is closest to the Eastside and always seems to be playing one of my all-time favorite artists Serge Gainsbourg whenever I go in. Veggie ham sandwich, iced coffee and chanson, what more can you ask for?
Of course this is a purely subjective pronouncement, I’ve done no recent taste testings or anything of the sort. I was once a barista for Peet’s Coffee & Tea so I kinda know my coffee.
I like the Ice Coffee @ McDonalds & Mocha Freeze at Costco..
it’s kinda hard to mess up iced coffee. you can find the dripper thingies at most vietnamese groceries, and whip up your own rather easily with a touch of sweetened condensed milk.
btw, we don’t have an “f” in vietnamese. and we don’t have two-syllable words either. it’s actually ca phe, not cafe.
Cate, thanks for the info re:Vietnamese language.
Maybe for some folks it would be easy to whip up iced coffee but I’d be hard pressed to come up with one as delicious as Mr Baguette’s.Mmmm…
Once, I ordered one and I did not sleep. Neither did my lovely partner. We did not sleep. Bouncing off the walls indeed. Do they add extra caffeine??
That said, yup some of the best iced coffee I’ve had ever. I’m a big coffee snob and usually raise my snobby-nose to anything that is coffee-related & iced but this stuff frankly is delicious.
VEGGIE HAM SANDWICH! FTW!
Im gonna have to cast my ca phe sua da favorite as Lee’s sandwiches over Mr. Baguette, although its a hard choice. I’d invite you to do a taste test competition, or actually challenge you.
Cate is kinda right, although Im not too thrilled at the cafe from Pho 79 or golden deli/viet house. Actually, I really am only smitten over Lee’s. They even have a handy take home ca phe sua da 2 pack you can add to ice and leche. I get crazy after I get down to half a bottle and just add milk and agua for the road into it, and stay upp all day.
That coffee is the strongest and yummiest Ive been hooked on so far.
From my days as a Peets barista, I remember the method used for Vietnamese iced coffee being called “French drip”. It does make some of the best-tasting, concentrated coffee. Add that to sweetened condensed milk and it tastes like really good coffee ice cream that’s just melted. Yum!
What I want to know is – when is Peets going to open a branch anywhere closer to central LA / the Eastside than Pasadena or Larchmont? I’m an addict and I don’t want to drive for my fix!
The big difference between Mr Baguette’s and other iced coffees is the use of espresso vs. brewed coffee (which is commonly used for iced coffee drinks). It’s that intense espresso flavor that has me salivating at the mouth…
Ah, another Peet’s barista! I was so used to making my own drinks that I no longer order espresso drinks (esp cappuccinos) at cafes, they just don’t come out quite right.
Art, I’ve been wanting to try Lee’s. They opened that huge new store on Valley. Do they also sell veggie sandwiches?
Julio, yeah so you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about! Hehehe!
It’s the foam! That smooth, silky foam. Most cafes think a cappucino is espresso with dry foam scooped on top. No! They need to mix. Luckily there’s more places that get it right these days. But it’s getting more and more pricey now!
Ha, yeah it’s the foam! At Peet’s we were taught to make the foam look like glass with tiny, microscopic bubbles. It’s all in the art of milk steaming. I would’ve mentioned this in my other comment but didn’t want to sound like a total nerd (I know it’s too late for me! haha!)
So what places make good, glassy cappuccinos? I braved Intelligentsia but was not impressed.
Serge Gainsbourg playing in a Vietnamese bakery? And more than once? Oh wait, I didn’t think about the French connection. I guess it doesn’t seem so implausible now that I think about it. But still! I wouldn’t expect to hear him anywhere in the world with any kind of regularity, even in France. The world is always full of surprises.
Because of your post, I went to Rosemead’s ‘Sandwich District’ and had a veggie ham with their iced coffee. The iced coffe with milk was good.
But the sandwich was totally lacking. Dry as cardboard, and the tiny little packet of mustard they give you doesn’t help much. I can only figure their iced coffees are the key to their popularity.
I’ll stick with Peet’s. The coffee their has a complexity that I just didn’t taste with Mr.B’s.
The best iced coffee I ever had was at Antigua’s in El Sereno. But I guess that will now forever be just a memory.
I couldn’t tell you exactly where has good foam. I did think of Intelligentsia as a good but pricey cappuccino. I’ve had ’em before, just don’t remember where. One thing I remember is that it’s a lot easier to make good foam with whole milk than lowfat or skim. Skim milk foam always comes out stiff and dry.
There’s whole websites devoted to discussing coffee, so although this discussion might make us nerds, at least we’re not like THEM, right?