Vietnam Coffee Origin Introduction_Where to Buy Vietnamese G7 Coffee_Popular Vietnamese Coffee Brands

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Vietnam's Coffee Production and Global Impact

When it comes to coffee origins, Vietnam may not yet have beans that rank among the top in cupping competitions worldwide, but in terms of global coffee production volume, Vietnam has consistently been one of the top contenders. In recent years, it has not only maintained its position among the top producers but in 2012, it surpassed Brazil for the first time to become the world's largest coffee exporter, taking the top spot that Brazil had long held.

Geographic and Climatic Influences

Vietnam's territory is elongated, stretching from south to north, and due to latitude and topography, there are significant climatic variations across different regions.

The northern mountainous regions exhibit a temperate climate, allowing for the cultivation of Arabica coffee, though production is limited.

The southern region, however, has a tropical monsoon climate primarily suited for growing Robusta beans (commonly known as robust beans or Robusta), which constitute the mainstay of Vietnam's coffee exports. When the coffee season arrives, entire landscapes are transformed.

Traditional Vietnamese Coffee Production Methods

Historically, Vietnam's main cultivated Robusta beans had mediocre flavor, but they were easy to grow and didn't require careful attention. Coupled with the generally limited technical skills of Vietnamese coffee farmers, the resulting Robusta beans were naturally of poor quality with inferior flavor. Consequently, they were typically deep-roasted until the end of the second crack, until charred and glistening with oil before being released from the roaster. The beans were severely carbonized, leaving only a bitter, burnt coffee flavor. To enhance aroma, cream was added during roasting, giving Vietnamese beans a strong creamy fragrance and a sticky feeling when handled. However, this still couldn't make the coffee taste good. If you hold a bean in your mouth...

Vietnam began cultivating Robusta beans as part of a large-scale banking initiative aimed at integrating Vietnam into the global economic system. However, due to the poor quality, the market became flooded with cheap Vietnamese beans, which once led the world into a coffee price crisis. (This excerpt is taken from Dean Cycon's work: "Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee").

Vietnamese Coffee Culture

Since the beans had poor flavor when consumed straight—bitter, astringent, and difficult to drink—and Vietnamese people generally have low incomes in an M-shaped society, the most economical and simple seasoning method was to add sweetened condensed milk to mask the beans' poor flavor. This became the unique Vietnamese coffee drinking method we see today.

The coffee culture in Vietnam was introduced around the early French colonial period by French missionaries, and its influence continues to profoundly affect Vietnam to this day, becoming integrated into the daily lives of Vietnamese people. The Vietnamese coffee drippers that can now be seen everywhere on Vietnam's streets originated from traditional French coffee brewing methods.

Vietnamese Coffee Dripper

For instructions on using Vietnamese coffee drippers, you can refer to another article in our collection about Vietnamese coffee brewing methods.

Popular Vietnamese Coffee Brands

The most famous coffee brand in the Vietnamese market is Trung Nguyen Coffee. Trung Nguyen offers stronger flavors and is a local brand with both retail stores and distribution channels. This brand can be found in various hypermarkets and grocery stores throughout Vietnam and is the top choice among Vietnamese people.

Trung Nguyen's G7 3-in-1 instant coffee series is also very popular and widely available everywhere.

Another well-known brand is Highlands Coffee, which was once called the "Vietnamese Starbucks." It offers milder flavors and primarily operates through a chain store system, providing freshly brewed and specialty coffees. The store decor is modern and fashionable, closely resembling Starbucks, making it popular with tourists. Highlands Coffee can be found in major tourist areas throughout Vietnam.

Incidentally, Starbucks has also established a presence in Vietnam.

Although these two major brands dominate the market, their products consist mainly of coffee powder, with most containing Robusta beans, with only a few products mixed with some Arabica beans.

Purchasing Vietnamese Coffee Beans

If you want to buy Vietnamese coffee beans, you previously had to visit local markets, hypermarkets, or private coffee shops (this photo shows the Cho An Dong market in District 5 of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).

When buying coffee beans at markets, you can see stores displaying beans in buckets arranged on shelves for customers to choose from. Each type consists of oily, dark-roasted beans.

When selecting coffee beans, the owner will scoop up a handful for customers to see and smell, and will seriously explain the difference between male and female beans. The beans in these stores are generally roasted until charred and oily, with a greasy texture, and the creamy or milky fragrance almost masks other flavors. Even the Arabica Mandheling they sell is no exception.

You can also find famous Southeast Asian internally fermented beans here (like civet coffee), and almost every vendor sells them, with an average price of approximately NT$400-600 per pound. However, after consulting with locals, most commercially available beans are not genuine but rather simulated through formulas, and the prices seem to reflect this information. I ended up choosing two varieties: premium marten and civet coffee beans.

Not only are the beans oily, but the ground coffee powder is equally greasy.

When grinding these tar-like coffee beans purchased from regular Vietnamese markets, be careful not to use the same grinder as for regular beans. The smell and greasiness are truly overwhelming. Once ground, the grinder plates will become deeply coated with coffee powder and cream as shown in the picture above, creating a persistent oily smell. Subsequent beans ground will pick up this rancid flavor, destroying their original taste. Even after disassembly and cleaning, the smell is difficult to remove completely. Therefore, for grinding Vietnamese beans, it's recommended to use a dedicated machine (exclusively for Vietnamese coffee beans) or be prepared to replace the entire set of parts.

Even for locally higher-quality brands like Highlands or Trung Nguyen, their coffee powders still have a strong creamy or milky fragrance, just less greasy.

After grinding the beans, I tried a pour-over test, and the crema formation was quite good.

Here too, be aware that once your brewing equipment has been used for these typical market Vietnamese coffee beans, even after cleaning, it's difficult to completely remove that terrible oily smell, which will ruin the flavor of subsequent coffee brewing with other beans. Therefore, it's recommended to prepare a separate set of brewing equipment specifically for Vietnamese coffee beans.

Basically, no matter what brewing method you use for these typical market Vietnamese coffee beans (including equipment, temperature control, etc.), the dry aroma, wet aroma, and tasting flavors are all similar, showing no special variations. And as mentioned earlier, the flavor is poor when consumed straight—bitter, astringent, and truly difficult to drink, even when brewed with a Vietnamese coffee dripper.

Even when switching to better-quality brands like Highlands or Trung Nguyen, the brewed coffee flavor still lacks quality, though it's milder, it remains bitter and hard to drink.

After several attempts, I gave up on drinking it straight and switched to the local Vietnamese method of adding sweetened condensed milk. According to traditional Vietnamese coffee drinking customs, sweetened condensed milk is added to the cup before brewing, with the amount adjusted to personal preference.

After brewing the coffee, stir to let the condensed milk blend with the coffee, creating a traditional Vietnamese coffee. Since the condensed milk settles at the bottom, you can stir according to your taste preference to control how much incorporates into the coffee.

If you want it iced, prepare another cup filled with ice cubes.

Then pour the dripped, stirred condensed milk coffee into the iced cup and stir again, creating a Vietnamese iced coffee.

Strictly speaking, this Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk is just a sweetened coffee-flavored drink that tastes similar to instant coffee mixes. Because it uses Robusta beans, the caffeine content is extremely high, which can cause palpitations. However, on a hot, thirsty summer day, occasionally having a glass of iced Vietnamese coffee is still refreshing. It might be more appropriate to categorize it as a coffee beverage.

Emerging Quality in Vietnamese Coffee

It's worth mentioning that in recent years, Vietnamese coffee merchants seem to have started paying more attention to coffee quality. For example, these two varieties of 100% Vietnamese Arabica and Robusta beans produced by the local Vietnamese company Pham Ha (P.H) feature burlap bag packaging with a boutique feel.

The description on the small card shows they are mainly suitable for fully automatic coffee machines.

The beans are packaged in sealed aluminum foil bags. This bag contains their Arabica beans, marked as 100% made from local Vietnamese Arabica beans.

Upon opening, it's truly eye-opening! This bean is no longer roasted like the traditional charred, creamy Vietnamese market beans but instead uses a medium-dark/city roast. Rather than the ubiquitous creamy or milky fragrance, it's replaced by a strong ginseng aroma that's truly impressive.

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee): A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, offering both famous and lesser-known beans, plus online services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473