Coffee and eggs are breakfast staples, but it might not occur to you to combine them in your morning beverage. This pairing, known as egg coffee (cà phê trứng), has been a signature drink in Vietnam for decades. Recently, social media users began flocking online to share their own recipes.
TikTok videos tagged #eggcoffee describe mixing strong coffee with raw egg yolk and sugar or condensed milk, sometimes vanilla extract. User @catherine.desserts says this is a “surprisingly delicious combination” that will “tantalize your taste buds.”
While a caffeine-sugar combo will definitely give you a boost, “this drink seems like it should be considered a treat instead of a daily beverage,” says Shannon O’Meara, RD, a registered dietitian at Orlando Health in Florida.
What Is Egg Coffee?
Egg coffee blends strong black coffee and egg yolk whipped with sugar or condensed milk.This adds a sweet, creamy texture to the coffee, and the “contrast between the bitter coffee and the sweet, creamy egg mixture creates a unique taste experience,” according to Vietnam Airlines.
Italy has a similar beverage called espresso zabaglione. It’s made by whisking egg yolk with a tablespoon or two of sugar until fluffy and then topping it with hot espresso.
How to Make Egg Coffee
On social media, most recipes for egg coffee suggest:
Whisk egg yolks and about a tbsp of condensed milk (or a tbsp of sugar) until they’re light, fluffy, and a pale yellow color.
Brew coffee or espresso.
Pour the egg mixture on top of the coffee, or the coffee on top of the whipped egg yolks.
Is Egg Coffee Healthy?
Black coffee contains magnesium, vitamin B2, and beneficial plant compounds called polyphenols. Drinking black coffee has been linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and certain cancers.
Adding sugar and egg yolk changes this health profile, however.
Egg coffee may contain “a lot of sugar,” which could put you at risk for developing prediabetes, diabetes, or insulin resistance, O’Meara says.
One tablespoon of sugar, or about 12 grams (g) contains around 48 calories. One tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk (about 19.5 g) contains around 62 calories and 10 g of sugar.
The American Heart Association recommends consuming less than 25 g of added sugar a day for women, and less than 36 g for men, to reduce your risk of heart disease.
“Adding 1 tablespoon of sugar into your coffee would equate to about 12 g of added sugar, which is almost half the daily recommendation for women and a third of the daily recommendation for men,” O’Meara says.
Is Egg Coffee a Good Source of Protein?
Whole eggs are a good source of protein and contain nutrients like choline, vitamin D, and B12. But egg yolks by themselves are high in cholesterol.One egg yolk contains about 3 g of protein.
While egg coffee contains protein, O’Meara says, “it shouldn’t be the protein item within your breakfast.”
She recommends including other protein sources at breakfast, such as low-fat yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, turkey bacon or sausage, egg whites, nuts, and seeds.
Is Egg Coffee Safe to Drink?
Raw or undercooked eggs can make you sick because chickens and other poultry are known to carry salmonella bacteria, which can spread to the outside and inside of eggs.
“Even though the hot coffee warms the egg, it is still not considered to be fully cooked through, and this does put you at risk for a foodborne illness,” O’Meara says.
If you decide to make egg coffee, O’Meara suggests using eggs that have been pasteurized — treated with heat to kill bacteria.
“I would also recommend making this yourself and limiting the amount of sugar you use to help reduce the amount of added sugar in your diet,” she adds.
Who Should Not Drink Egg Coffee?
O’Meara says people with weakened immune systems, pregnant women, adults over 65, and children under 5 should especially avoid consuming raw eggs, which means they should also avoid egg coffee.
“Also, those who are concerned about the amount of cholesterol or added sugar in their diet should also try to avoid this,” O’Meara says.
The Bottom Line on Egg Coffee
Egg coffee should be enjoyed as a treat, rather than a regular morning drink, O’Meara says.
“While it may be a tasty beverage for people to enjoy, there are more reasons to not recommend this beverage than to recommend it,” she says.
