Vietnam’s Coffee is an Art Form

            This Vietnamese coffee mogul's company has grown to nearly $350 Million US
 

After a long international flight followed by an iffy night’s sleep in Hanoi, I remember heading down to the hotel’s breakfast room where I found my three girlfriends guzzling pots of coffee.  This was more than a decade ago but I still remember they were all raving about the terrific coffee.  I’m very picky about coffee but I was hooked at first sip.

When breakfast was over I asked the server what brand the coffee was and where I could buy it.   Seems the coffee Gods were looking down on me as the hotel agreed to actually sell me a bag.  The only issue was that it came in large commercial packaging.  No problem.  I bought the equivalent of ten pounds and carried them throughout Vietnam, then on to Australia, and back to the US.  I never regretted lugging a single coffee bean.  This stuff was the bomb!

           Wine-Knows will stop for a coffee in Hanoi at one of the city's original coffee houses

There is something very different about Vietnamese coffee.  When I first tasted it I remember being surprised by nuances of chocolate and even nuttiness.  (BTW:  I’m not one for any type of flavored coffee.)   I’ve since learned that there is a miniscule amount of chocolate but the real difference is that Vietnam grows an entirely different bean.  Most American coffee uses the Arabica bean, Brazil’s Holy Grail.  Vietnam, however, uses the more earth flavored Robusta bean.  (Italian espresso often contains Robusta in the mixture of beans to provide a full-bodied drink.)   Furthermore, Vietnam roasts its beans at very low temperatures over a long period of time, allowing it to develop complex flavors.

Coffee was brought to Vietnam in the 1800’s by the French who colonized it until the 1950’s.  Today, Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee on the planet, surpassed only by Brazil.   Walk around downtown Saigon and you’ll notice immediately that coffee is big business:  sleek modern coffee houses abound and are loaded with upmarket crowds.  Even retail shops selling everything from clothing to electronics have large displays of packaged coffee for sale.

                                   Coffee is sold in nearly every type of store in Vietnam

Thankfully Vietnamese coffee is now available in the US---seems I’m not the only one who is hooked.  Amazon now offers more than 20 brands of Vietnamese coffee.  Furthermore, many American coffee brands have added a “Vietnamese-style” coffee to their offerings.

Wine-Knows’ 2026 tour to Vietnam sold out on the first day of marketing, but we are accepting folks on a wait list.  In the meanwhile, you can still get your Vietnamese morning Joe fix by ordering online, or looking for Vietnamese-style coffee at a local spot.