Specialty Coffee in Vietnam
Our coffee company in Vietnam - Building Coffee
Our specialty coffee shop in Saigon - BEL
Vietnam has several coffee cultures
What is “Vietnamese Coffee?”
Dark roasted robusta? Sure!
High-altitude arabica? Also yes.
A dense, sweet, nutty, iced concoction sold on the street? Totally.
Hip, third-wave specialty cafes with imported single origins on the menu? Yeah, that too.
photo by Daniel Mendoza
This is me in April 2022 serving robusta shots on a new La Marzocco GB5 at the Cropster booth at the Boston SCA Expo.
Wait, robusta shots at SCA?
Yeah, cause that’s where we are now.
I spoke at the Re:Co Summit about Vietnam, and specialty, and robusta - and colonialism, and making space for what’s next in coffee, and what it’s like to live in a country with a closed-loop specialty market.
That means there’s enough demand for Vietnamese specialty coffee here, we don’t need to export it.
So, who am I? And what do I know about specialty coffee in Vietnam?
Since 2004 I’ve been splitting my time between Saigon and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In 2013 I came here on a mission to find high quality arabica in the mountains of Dalat, but I ended up finding so much more.
I worked the bar, roasted coffee, trained baristas, trained roasters, judged competitions, and helped people open cafes. I supported anyone I could find who was dedicated to raising the bar for coffee in the country. I quickly became part of a small and young community of producers, processors, green coffee buyers, roasters, nerds, and cafe entrepreneurs who are trying to make Vietnamese coffee something legit and worthy of attention.
Why Vietnam?
Well, my mom is Vietnamese and that's what brought me there in the first place, but what keeps me engaged in the country are the people that I meet and work with, and its potential for producing great coffee - and a fascinating cafe culture that is growing quickly.
What now?
In 2019 I opened a wholesale coffee roasting company called Building Coffee with my partner Kel. In 2021 we were joined by Ed Leebrick of Lighthouse Roasters. Also in 2021 we opened BEL, a specialty cafe. Everything is under one roof, where we work with a pretty incredible group of people.
We are doing cool stuff on the farm level, finding and roasting really excellent coffees from around the world, and in general looking for ways to bring better coffee to more people.
Are You Working on Something Cool?
I may be able to help. I offer consulting services for starting up, launching, and scaling your coffee business. Some of the stuff I advise on:
Building a wholesale coffee roasting business
Creating training and education systems for staff retention
Sourcing green coffee, equipment, or solutions
Career and entrepreneurial guidance and support
Specific technical issues like roast profiling or quality control
General support and soundboarding for growing new coffee ideas
Bar flow design for cafes or production design for roasteries
Advice on menu and product development for retail