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Is all coffee “Vietnamese coffee” in Vietnam?

May Chang

The question came teasingly as I FaceTimed a friend from a coffee shop in Hanoi as I savoured my first sip of caffeine since December.

“Is all coffee ‘Vietnamese coffee’ since you’re in Vietnam?”. 

Before you go lambasting my friend, please be advised I had told them I was reintroducing myself to coffee not through an espresso or cappuccino but a distinctly Vietnamese creation: egg coffee. Espressos and cappuccinos were options on the menu — Italian-influenced drinks are often listed on any coffee shop menu, even in Vietnam! — hence the teasing (however it should be noted that the beans are grown and roasted here).

It does bring up a question though that’s been rolling around in my mind the past couple of years as I’ve traveled around the world, one I’ve been mulling my whole life. My friend had unintentionally raised an interesting question by asking what makes Vietnamese coffee Vietnamese: What defines identity? Or given my birthplace and the recent inauguration in America: What makes someone an American?

If I’m to use the espresso/coffee bean example on the most basic level: Is it enough to be American if you are born, raised, and live in America, even if your roots, no matter how distant or recent, are from somewhere else in the world? While your origins may be Italian, you have an Italian name, and on the surface you look to be an Italian, you actually have every right to call yourself an American. 

Granted it’s not that simple as this coffee metaphor. It’s a lot easier for the majority of the world to accept a stereotypically-looking Italian person as an American because of their whiteness rather than acknowledge that an Asian-looking woman can be an American — but maybe it is that simple. 

Maybe it’s as simple as acknowledging that the world has become more interconnected than ever, and the beauty of this is that people from all over can move and migrate and pursue an opportunity to seek a better life for themselves and their families, searching for a better future. Maybe it’s as simple as acknowledging that much of America is built on being a melting pot of people and diversity, whether intentionally through immigration, from 300 years ago to now, or forcefully through slavery. That if you truly want to get technical about who is actually an “American”, then the only people who have that right are the Native Americans who’ve been uprooted and torn away from their ancestral land. 

What does it mean to be an American?

I am still figuring that out. Despite living in Sydney, I still identify first as a “New Yorker” and last as an “American”. It feels shameful to identify as American given the current government (regime is likely a more accurate descriptor) and I don’t want to be associated with its values (can they really be called values? It feels wrong to even use the word “values” here - corrupt ideologies feels more apt). But isn’t that what they want, to associate “American” with whiteness, maleness, and fear instead of diversity, equality, and freedom? What might it be like to take back ownership of what it means to be an American, to remember that there’s so much more to what it means to be American and what America stands for rather than what we see happening right now?

“Yes,” I laughed, “all coffee is ‘Vietnamese’ coffee in Vietnam”. 

Coffee time!

Surprise but should not be a surprise: Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee in the world (after Brazil) and the largest producer of Robusta beans. Robusta beans are the most popular coffee beans grown in Vietnam and known for their strong flavor and powerful kick (almost double the caffeine of arabica beans!).

The menu at Loading T Cafe.

I originally associated Vietnamese coffee as only coffee + condensed milk, but I quickly founded out there is so much more than that. There are so many unique creations invented in Vietnam and served in their numerous coffee shops - though I can only speak for Hanoi from personal experience. I love love love Vietnamese coffee and am so glad that it was my reintroduction to coffee. An overview of my experience so far, although it should be noted that I have sampled the tiniest fraction of the menu and visited the tiniest fraction of coffee shops in Hanoi:

  • Egg coffee: Coffee topped with whipped egg yolks and condensed milk. You may balk at the mere mention of egg, but it is a creamy frothy creation that tastes like a luscious and frothy whipped cream. This Vietnamese creation was invented by Nguyen Van Giang in 1946 during French colonization when milk was scarce.

  • Salt coffee: Coffee topped with salted cream and condensed milk. Not as sweet as egg coffee and reminds me a bit of Starbucks’ salted cold foam.

  • Coconut coffee: Coffee blended with coconut cream and condensed milk, topped with toasted coconut flakes. I believe you can get this hot or iced; I only tried the iced version and found it just okay.

  • Espresso with condensed milk: Exactly what it says. Why would you use milk when you can use condensed milk?!

My favorite coffee shop is Hidden Gem Coffee because of its trifecta of beautiful venue, delicious coffee, and (in my opinion) the best vegan banh mi in Hanoi.