vietnameseiced.coffee

Journal

Stories, places and research from Vietnamese coffee.

A large aluminium phin with an embossed lid dripping into a glass on a red plastic table at a pavement stall, a plate of food beside it.Photo: Phương Huy · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Culture

Vietnamese Coffee Culture: Pavement Stalls, Chains and Pour-Over Bars

A pavement stall with a few plastic stools, a room up the stairs of an old apartment block, an air-conditioned chain, a pour-over bar with scales on the counter. All four are Vietnamese coffee culture, and they have little in common.

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Stories

The people behind Vietnamese coffee

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An aged photographic view of a colonial-era French shophouse café in Vietnam, with shuttered windows and small tables outside.

Stories

The History of Coffee in Vietnam

From French missionaries in 1857 to the world's second-largest producer. How coffee reached Vietnam, why it took 130 years to matter, and what changed in 1986.

Research

Vietnamese coffee through data

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Research

Weasel Coffee: What Cà Phê Chồn Is

Weasel coffee is cà phê chồn, and the animal is a civet. What digestion does to the bean, where it comes from now, and why the supply does not add up.

A professional coffee cupping table with a curved row of white bowls, each with a crust of wet grounds, and cupping spoons beside them.

Research

Specialty Coffee in Vietnam: From Commodity to Cup

Vietnam built a coffee industry on volume. Producers and roasters are now trying to sell by the cup instead: fine robusta, traceable lots and domestic demand.

Comparisons

What is actually different

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Comparisons

Thai vs Vietnamese Coffee: What Differs

Thai and Vietnamese iced coffee both start from dark robusta and a tin of milk. The filter, the blend and which milk goes in all differ.

Comparisons

Vietnamese Coffee vs Regular Coffee

Vietnamese coffee differs in the bean, the brew ratio and the sweetener. A side-by-side table, the numbers behind each, and how it compares with espresso.

Two coffee branches side by side: robusta on the left with broad leathery leaves and tight cherry clusters, arabica on the right with thinner glossier leaves.

Comparisons

Robusta vs Arabica: What Separates Them

Robusta has roughly twice the caffeine, half the sugar and more chlorogenic acid than arabica. What that means in the cup, and why Vietnam grows the one it does.

Culture

Habits, cities and the cup

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Culture

How to Say Cà Phê Sữa Đá, and Phin

Cà phê sữa đá is coffee, milk and ice, one word each. How to say the four syllables, what the tone marks change, and what phin means in Vietnamese.

A narrow café front in Hà Nội's Old Quarter with low wooden stools and small tables set out on the pavement beneath a yellow signboard.Photo: Alexkom000 · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Culture

Hanoi vs Saigon Coffee Culture

Two cities, two climates, two vocabularies for the same drink. What nâu means in Hanoi, why Saigon drinks everything iced, and where egg coffee and bạc xỉu came from.

Two phins dripping into glasses that stand in bowls of hot water on a stone table, a teapot and small cups between them and blue plastic chairs behind.Photo: Frank Fox · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Culture

Why Vietnam Drinks Coffee Slowly

The phin takes four to six minutes and cannot be hurried. The stool, the free tea and the hour spent over one glass all follow from that one mechanical fact.

Coming to the Journal

  • Coffee Places — Café guides and city guides — where to find Vietnamese coffee, in Vietnam and everywhere the diaspora took it.