One of the biggest surprises after settling in South-East Asia, specifically Vietnam, was coffee. I had no idea Vietnam is the 2nd largest coffee producer in the world. When you think coffee you think South America, or Africa, not South-East Asia.
And yet, here they are, with a very impressive coffee culture.
Now, I'm an espresso aficionado. I really lived off of espresso only at times in my life, and I am still starting each and every day with a tiny cup. Many people don't know that it actually has less caffeine than filter coffee, not to mention cappucino or latte. Because it packs a punch in its taste, you tend to think it's also "strong" in caffeine.
Espresso is not very popular in Vietnam, and for a while, this prevented me to understand the actual coffee culture. I thought "since they cannot even make a decent espresso - which they really can't, by the way - what else can I expect?". Wrong. Very wrong.
In the beginning, I stayed close to modern coffee shops, franchises or big local players, like Trung Nguyen Legend, and tried to stay on the espresso train. But slowly, as my espresso options dwindled away, I started to try their own types of coffee. And man, what a taste festival that started!
Cà phê đen
This is the standard coffee, way stronger than any espresso and filter coffee. It's what I drink now instead of espresso every morning. In the Southern Vietnam, they enrich it with roasted corn, and sometimes butter. The taste obtained is unique.
The best coffee I ever had was in a remote Mekong Delta town, on a small coffee shop near a canal, with hardly any customer, but with an amazing roast. I did try it the next day, and the taste was the same. Hell, I even tried it a month later and it was the exact same taste.
Cà phê sữa đá
This means ice milk coffee. This is the cup that you see on every street, sold by every small shop. People here drink it as a refreshment, but it's still strong on caffeine. I usually drink it as a supplement, or it's really hot outside (which is pretty much every day, at least in Saigon).
Cà phê trứng
Now here's where it gets really creative. This is "egg coffee", meaning they mix a raw egg in it. I know, it sounds like something you wouldn't touch, and yet, it's incredibly tasty. Something between a cake and slice of liquid, sweet bread. When I first tried, it reminded me of "chaud d'eau", a milk and egg drink my mom used to make for me when I had a sore throat.
Cà phê muối
This is literally salted coffee. In all honesty, the only instances I drank salted coffee before was on extreme hangovers. It somehow accelerate the liquid transit, and gets the alcohol out faster. But when I tried it in Vietnam, it tasted nothing like what I used to drink back then. It's soft and just a pinch of taste coloring, enough to give it volume.
There's a lot more to it, but let's stop and move to the coffee "experiences", or the settings in which you consume coffee, because this is also a world in its own.
Cà Phê Bệt
Literally, squatting coffee on the street. You get it everywhere in Saigon, and the seller is usually just a person selling it off of their motorbike. You get a small plastic blanket, put it on the sidewalk, and then sit on it, enjoying your coffee.
Cà Phê Võng
Very, very popular on the roads between the cities. It means "hammock coffee" and it's a type of coffee shop where you enjoy your coffee, you got it, in a hammock. There are dozen of hammocks lined up and hardly any chair. Been in quite a few, when I was traveling around, and it's a very relaxing experience.
Cà Phê Vườn
Garden coffee. This is usually part of a bigger setup, found in resorts, or in the suburban areas of Saigon and Hanoi. Pretty peaceful.
There's a lot more to be said, we just scratched the surface, but for one post, I think this will do