Đắk Nông

A young province

Đắk Nông was carved out of southern Đắk Lắk in 2004. It has the same red basalt, a similar altitude band of roughly 600 to 900 metres, and slightly more rainfall.

By the time Đắk Nông existed as a province, the Vietnamese commodity robusta chain was mature and Đắk Lắk owned the name. Competing on volume and reputation against a larger, established neighbour was not a realistic strategy.

What it did instead

Đắk Nông has become the province most associated with fine robusta in Vietnam: honey and anaerobic processing, raised drying beds, selective picking of only ripe cherries, and lots kept separate and cupped rather than blended into a grade.

Other provinces do all of this too. Đắk Nông does more of it.

It comes down to money. Selective picking takes far more labour than strip-picking. Raised beds cost money to build and have to be turned several times a day. Honey processing risks the entire lot if the weather turns. Nobody does any of it without a price premium, and the Fine Robusta market is where that premium exists.

Fine robusta

The Coffee Quality Institute’s Fine Robusta protocol is a cupping standard written for robusta itself, and a lot that scores well can sell at a premium above the commodity price. What that score means, and what it does not, is covered in the robusta guide.

What it tastes like

Đắk Nông fine robusta is commonly described as cocoa, toasted grain and caramel with a smooth finish, and as noticeably cleaner than commodity robusta, with the musty and woody notes largely absent.

Anaerobic lots are described as going further: strikingly fruity, sometimes boozy. Whether that reads as exciting or as odd depends entirely on the drinker.

What to buy

If you want to test whether robusta can be a specialty coffee, Đắk Nông is the place to look.

Buy a honey-processed lot, brew it black in a phin at about 1:5 with no sugar, and compare it against a supermarket Vietnamese coffee brewed the same way.