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I
n Hanoi, coffee is an excuse for a
gathering, to escape the heat of the
day and to relax. At any time of day,
pavements cafes are full of groups
catching up on the day’s news.
Hanoi is a city that takes its coffee
seriously and it has a cafe culture to
rival Italy’s.
Origins and execution
Coffee was introduced to Vietnam
by French colonists in the late 19th cen-
tury. Vietnam quickly became a strong
exporter of coffee with many planta-
tions in the Central Highlands. The bev-
erage was adapted with regional vari-
ations. Because of limitations on the
availability of fresh milk, the French and
Vietnamese began to use sweetened
condensed milk with a dark roast coffee.
Preparing a good coffee is as much
of an art as it is a science. Hot water is
filtered through a metal filter directly
into a cup and then mixed with ice and
sweetened with condensed milk. The
drink itself should be savoured, never
rushed. Locals enjoy taking the time to
watch the coffee drip through the filter.
Sipped slowly with ice, the sweetened
coffee has a mellow, caramel flavour,
making it a wonderfully cooling drink
on a summer afternoon. A Hanoian cof-
fee is normally chased with a free cup
of green tea, which is said to cleanse
the mouth.
Rich variety
You won’t find a Starbucks in Ha-
noi; instead there is a huge variety of
individual cafes. Taking a seat on a
small, low chair on the pavement with
a cup of ca phe den nong (hot black
coffee) or a glass of ca phe sua da (iced
coffee with condensed milk) is still the
most popular choice here, despite the
boom of luxurious air-con and wifi cof-
fee chains run by local companies such
as Vinacafe and Trung Nguyen. The
pavement cafes draw a diverse crowd,
from office workers to students.
The typical Hanoi cafe is tiny, of-
ten just a storefront with a beaded
curtain separating it from the street.
If you are staying in the Old Quarter,
there are many tiny coffee shops on
most streets, but Ta Hien and Dinh Liet
streets are the most popular as they
THE COFFEE CULTURE
Coffee Capital
Hanoi is a city of coffee fanatics, with a café on every street.
Nhat Ha
reveals
some of the capital’s best places to get your caffeine hit.
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