Saigon’s standout java
There’s a brew for everyone as indie roasters, specialty coffeehouses sprout up in Ho Chi Minh City
Other than Brazil, no nation produces more coffee than Vietnam. Introduced by French colonists in the
19th century, the country’s coffee crop is now a $3 billion business and accounts for nearly 15% of the global market, making Vietnam the java giant of Southeast Asia.
Quality, however, has only recently begun to catch up with quantity, mainly because farmers have begun augmenting Vietnam’s longtime cultivation of cheaper, easy-togrow robusta beans with a connoisseur’s favorite, arabica.
A major beneficiary has been the cafe scene in the country’s largest metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). Thanks to direct crop-to-shop supplies, the retail business of coffee is booming as increasing numbers of indie roasteries and specialty coffeehouses sprout up around the city’s French colonial opera house, amid the boutiques of fashionable Dong Khoi Boulevard, and in the shadows of high-rise towers in District 2.
From semi-hidden bohemian hangouts such as RedDoor to stylish chains like Laviet — which has its own coffee farm near Dalat, in the country’s Central Highlands — the city has a cafe for every coffee acolyte.
Café Cheo Leo: Given the exceptional bitterness and caffeine wallop of most robusta beans, it’s little wonder that the Vietnamese have traditionally softened their coffee with a thick dollop of sweetened condensed milk.
For your initiation into this national classic, head to this humble hole in the wall, the oldest existing cafe in town, in an off-the-radar pocket of District 3 not far from Nguyen Thien Thuat Street, known for its musical instrument shops. Here, Madame Suong and her sisters perform the ritual that their family has been practicing since the 1930s.
As sentimental Vietnamese pop songs echo off the sky-blue walls, the women fill hand-held cloth nets with a mix of robusta, arabica and culi (also called peaberry) grounds and pass them through boiling pots of water heated by a charcoal fire in a repurposed American oil drum. After a second pass through the water, the potent brew is then poured into highball glasses and mixed with condensed milk.
If the result still isn’t sufficiently creamy for your taste, ask for a special embellishment: a dab of French butter.
96B: Thirsty for coffee knowledge? Head to the Tan Dinh district, famous for its 19th-century pink church. This small cafe packs educational ambitions with hands-on workshops devoted to everything from roasting beans to latte art. Hardcore enthusiasts can take the “Sensory Training” sequence, two courses that impart the art of tasting coffee like a pro, from understanding acidity to judging sweetness.
But 96B’s mission is not purely academic. The cafe serves five hand-brewed Vietnamese coffees — complete with tasting notes and individual small carafes, like fine wine — as well as experimental drinks like Solar Cold Brew, a mix of chilled coffee, ginger syrup, ginger jam, lemon cordial and rosemary.
Customers can expand their knowledge by taking home “The Vietnam Coffee Atlas,” the shop’s boxed set of Vietnamese beans. The eight varieties showcase different regions and styles of coffee.
The Workshop: There might be no better place to test your taste buds than at this loftlike, neo-industrial cafe. A chalkboard announces the many local and international beans available, and the illustrated menu proposes myriad preparation methods, from simple espresso to more involved pour-over methods.
For a high-tech coffee, try the siphon, an elaborate contraption of glass bulbs and knobs. The slow-drip technology will test your patience and reward your senses. The salted coffee with condensed milk is a favorite savory-sweet style developed in the former imperial city of Hue.
The Workshop might also win the award for the city’s most extensive coffeehouse food menu, jumping from Americanish breakfasts (lemonricotta pancakes with mango) to North Africanized dishes (scrambled eggs with harissa sauce) to French desserts.
Little Hanoi Egg Coffee:
The name of this local coffeehouse chain tells you everything you need to know about its signature attraction: a frothy, foamy, sweet take on egg coffee, a Hanoi classic made with whipped egg yolks, condensed milk, sugar and vanilla flavoring.
The decor at the main location (119/5 Yersin
St.) is old school: bamboo armchairs, floral-print cushions, plaid blankets, wood-paneled TVs, reel-toreel tape decks and shelves of used paperbacks. But the all-ages crowd laps up the time-warp atmosphere along with the (egg-heavy) all-day breakfast menu.
Ca Phe Vot: By now, you might have a serious caffeine dependency. If so, one tiny old establishment is open round-theclock to provide your fix. Known as Ca Phe Vot (“net coffee”), the small, garagelike space is tucked away at 330/2 Phan Dinh Phung, a narrow lane in the Phu Nhuan district, south of the airport.
By day, employees unload boxes of condensed milk while Madame Tuyet Pham and Monsieur Con Dang pass nets filled with robusta grounds through a cauldron of hot water atop a charcoal stove made from a repurposed B-52 bombshell. According to Pham, the fire hasn’t gone out since the stove was first lit in the 1960s. The shop itself goes back to the 1950s.
By night, they hand over the reins and retire to sleep in their apartment over the shop. But the line of pedestrians and scooters awaiting takeaway coffee is nearly constant. Fueled by this nonstop demand, the cafe serves more than 500 cups a day. Sip it on the go or on a low plastic stool in Ca Phe Vot’s white-tiled salon across the alley.