Hanoi is a serious coffee city. The traditional drink is ca phe sua da — strong, slow-dripped Vietnamese filter coffee over ice with sweetened condensed milk — and every street has at least one cafe making it properly. Ca phe trung (egg coffee), a Hanoi invention, is a whipped egg-yolk-and-condensed-milk foam over hot coffee; Cafe Giang on Nguyen Huu Huan claims to have invented it in 1946.
Bia hoi, fresh light lager drawn from plastic kegs and drunk on low stools on the pavement, is the city's social institution. Bia Hoi Junction (the corner of Ta Hien and Luong Ngoc Quyen in the Old Quarter) is the tourist version; every neighbourhood has its own local spot. For craft beer, Pasteur Street Brewing and Furbrew both have taprooms in the city.