06/10/2019
*In a city where filter coffee shops dominate almost every street corner, it’s not every day that a café conjures up a sense of wonder without a gimmick. Tourists can’t get enough of Vietnam’s lively coffee culture. But unlike the coffee scenes in Korea and Taiwan, this phenomenon is not some overnight occurrence.
*Coffee is something ingrained in the everyday life of the average Vietnamese. From all that experience, it seems that everyone in Vietnam is a coffee authority to some degree. But for guidance on the subject, I turned to self-proclaimed coffee fanboy, Vu, to put his coffee expertise to work.
*Thirty minutes zigzagging through District 1 and 3 in bumper-to-bumper traffic brought us to Phu Nhuan District, one of the original urban neighborhoods of Ho Chi Minh City. Numbers distinguish the newer districts from the older districts of Saigon.
*The café, owned by Dan Trang Con (Mr. Ba) and his wife Tuyet, has been open for the past 60 years and shows no signs of stopping. We found Ms. Tuyet busily brewing up coffee for the dozen or so customers on their mopeds waiting for their morning takeaway, drowning herself in cup after cup a black coffee with sugar. Taking time and following us on SAIGON CORNER to drink this delicious coffee!
