Besides passion and unique taste, the special thing that makes Vietnamese coffee culture is the coffee shops. Perhaps there are few places in the world where there are as many coffee shops as this country. Coffee shops with all kinds of styles are present everywhere, from urban to rural areas with diverse ways of serving and enjoying, imbued with the style of each region... Names like "black stone", "hot brown", "bac suu", egg coffee, weasel coffee... Have gradually created a unique feature in culinary culture, shaping the coffee waves of the land of "An Nam" once and now. The whole world is gradually knowing and admiring it.
Introduced to Vietnam in 1857, coffee is a product that the French planted in the Central Highlands because of the suitable soil (or in a sense, forcing us to cultivate the "black gold" that is growing rapidly). favored by Europe). The way to enjoy coffee in the Western style of Phin combined with the Asian style has created a very easy to understand term "Phin coffee". Next to such coffee filters, drinkers can sit and wait leisurely and freely, watching each drop of coffee slowly drip down, evoking many thoughts about life and times, then slowly sipping the essence of coffee. Heaven and earth are filtered through time.
Coffee is a "popular" place - it's the same in any era
The history of coffee in the 17th and 18th centuries shows that the French, after importing coffee from Arabia, invented a way to prepare it with a rack (cloth) and then add milk to coffee to get Café au lait – coffee. milk like today.
Coffee completely erases the boundary between rich and poor and the gap between rich and poor, because everyone can reward themselves with a fragrant cup of coffee after hours of hard work. The first wave of Vietnamese coffee was shaped by such cultural introduction and integration.
That wave lasted until before 1975. While the North of Vietnam popularized commercial cafes serving in the spirit of subsidies, or family cafes prepared and served by the owner himself. taking their own name as the name of the shop such as Giang coffee, Nhan coffee, Lam coffee... In the South of Vietnam, luxurious coffee shops have been formed that both evoke American culture and contain the liberal spirit of the Southern people. Set.
Lam Coffee Shop - Hanoi is still operating today
Saigon coffee shops at that time were frequented by military officers, modern girls wearing Tran Le Xuan ao dai, notorious gangsters, Saigon intellectuals and Western journalists. Saigon Givral, La Pagode, Brodard are the names that make up Saigon's famous "coffee axis" for journalists and politicians in the 1960s - 1970s. The journalists were famous in the press during the Vietnam War. Men like Peter Arnett, Larry Burrows or famous intelligence officer Pham Xuan An... have all sat at these bars.
Brodard Coffee - Destination for the "coolest" gentlemen in Saigon at one time
After liberation, in the subsidy period, coffee was considered a luxury product and was banned from business. There are very few coffee shops in luxury places, mainly shops selling on the sidewalk. The women "trade" coffee, operating very secretly to still supply market demand.
In the 1980s to early 1990s, the backward economy transitioned to a market economy, leading to increased demand for cheap coffee without concern for consumers' health. Many coffee establishments are willing to mix roasted corn and soybeans and add chemical flavorings... to race for profits..
Racket coffee is "stored" in the supermarket - Filtering to get the first water is the "standard of deliciousness" for a while
The sad thing is that most Vietnamese people, from North to South, rarely distinguish and enjoy original coffee. But they can only drink a drink similar to coffee. Then, that habit of enjoying has unintentionally created conditions for today's coffee manufacturers to take advantage of to produce mixed types of coffee that no one can distinguish what's in it.
Consumers enjoy this type of coffee for a long time, leading to misconceptions about the true taste of delicious coffee: dark black, bitter, long-lasting aroma, thick, foamy... Meanwhile, shops are running out of coffee. Use existing street corner sidewalk space and spontaneously create "toad coffee". At the same time, the concept of "coffee shop" at that time was still associated with many negative connotations because many shops had transformed into "dimmed" coffee and "hugging" coffee.
However, the beauty of the above cafes is that they still retain their unique characteristics as a unique Vietnamese coffee culture. Like returning to the starting line, overcoming distinctions in class and level, from students to officials and civil servants, from workers to writers and artists, everyone can happily chat. conversation over a cup of coffee - It can be said that Vietnamese coffee during this period, in addition to providing awakening for a nation after the war, was also the glue that held together the once peaceful hearts of the country.
One-time toad coffee shop
The potential of the coffee industry after inheriting the country's comprehensive innovation landscape is truly huge, but what can we do later to solve the problem, negative stereotypes about coffee shops, and the lack of transparency in business production? businesses of a number of small businesses, while being able to exploit and promote the beauty of Vietnamese coffee culture over the past hundred years.
By mid-1996, Trung Nguyen Coffee began to appear and quickly opened a chain of shops. Followed by a flood of coffee shops with similar styles, countless roasting establishments selling coffee beans, powdered coffee, and "kissed coffee" were born. After many years of being "prescribed" to drink coffee, Saigon people are now free to choose from dozens of different types of coffee displayed in transparent compartments of shops... Saigon Coffee in particular, As well as Vietnamese coffee in general, it is starting to form an attractive market. During this period, although the coffee industry was still filled with many difficulties, the premise for a third wave to take off had begun.
It is the two words "first" that create heat for Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu's brand. Just 6 months after launching its first coffee shop, Trung Nguyen surpassed a 20-year-old business in Ban Me. Just 2 years later, Trung Nguyen had about 1,000 shops across the country.
Trung Nguyen Coffee first appeared in Ho Chi Minh City in August 1998 - with the Slogan "Unleashing Creativity" and immediately after that Trung Nguyen became a phenomenon of the Vietnamese coffee industry.
Trung Nguyen coffee
Then after 2000, businessmen, professionals, tourists, foreigners, and overseas Vietnamese increased with the growth of the economy. The need to enjoy high-quality coffee with a foreign flavor rekindled the "taste of coffee". ” new coffee. But from 2007 until now, international coffee brands have truly entered Saigon such as Gloria Jeans Coffees, Coffee Bean, Angel In Us Coffee, Starbucks...
And as a response from the country's coffee industry, young names emerged in the second decade of the century such as The Coffee House, Viva Star Coffee, Urban Coffee... Even leading to the rejuvenation of Longstanding brands like Highland Coffee have opened up a period of fierce competition but full of vitality for the coffee industry that we are experiencing today.
Temporarily putting aside the reminiscences, which are more "emotional" than "descriptive", We - Vietnamese people, known by our friends as the world's second coffee power, have and always carry within us the lines flows of national pride, and above all, a strong passion for coffee beans. With this position, we believe that there will be not just one, two, or three but countless other waves that will continuously increase the value of the country's coffee industry.
Thank you readers for your time | NgTgHV | June 29, 2017 – February 4, 2019
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