Coffee and Vietnam go hand in hand. And for the millions of foreign visitors coming here each year, a real taste of Vietnam can be found on pavements in cities nationwide.
There are thousands of cafés serving endless cups of coffee each day. And forget about your instant brew, if you want to really experience Vietnamese coffee culture, you must delve into its history.
One establishment in the capital city may not be on the tourist trial, but foreign visitors should certainly seek it out because here, unlike most other shops, coffee is really brewed the old fashioned way - with beans roasted on a wood fire.
Local coffee lovers are all too aware of Trieu Viet Vuong street.
Café Thai roasts beans on a wood fire just as they did when they first opened in 1926. The café is run by the fourth generation of the original owner.
According to Nguyen Van Thuan, grandson of the café's founder, said: “The quality of coffee has been maintained in the traditional way of Hanoians and has been increasingly enhanced from stages of selecting materials, processing, roasting, grinding, and serving.”
Although the type of coffee bean has changed over the years the method remains the same.
“To this Café Thai brand name, we still keep the traditional way of roasting and grinding coffee beans like that since the first days we opened,” he said.
“In the beginning, my parents roasted coffee beans in a saucepan on a wood fire.
“Then they roasted coffee beans in a cylindrical metal coffee roaster. Now we use a coffee roaster machine that can automatically change the spinning speed on a wood fire.”
Thuan said the shop now has secured stable material sources from Buon Me Thuot, Nghe An and Son La provinces.
“We select the best coffee strains from these regions to process into this drink,” he said.
He also said the shop uses pure coffee beans with a certain proportion of Robusta and Arabica to offer the best-balanced flavour.
Coffee beans are roasted on wood fire and they absorb the wood’s scent to create an unforgettable taste. Coffee aficionados are loyal to this shop.
Le Van Hung, in his late 70s, said: “I drink coffee here every day since the owner’s great-grandfather ran the shop.”
He said though he lives far away, he is addicted to coffee here.
“I have many friends here, more than 10 of them have passed away,” he said.
“The shop has been keeping us with its long-history coffee strain. The owners even know what kind of coffee I like to drink and bring here for me.”
Architect Nguyen Tran Bac, another regular, said he often takes hot black coffee as it tastes strong. “I feel more excited, and happy and have good energy for a working day,” he said.
Bac said the strong coffee taste here reminds him of the coffee he tasted when he was a teenager. “It tastes something a long time ago,” he said.
Nguyen Thanh Cong, also a regular, said the coffee here tastes suitable to him.
“I like the atmosphere of this shop and I have many friends here. I meet them every morning,” he revealed. Cong said sometimes he drinks coffee with my friends in other shops.
“Each shop has its special taste,” he said. “But I think roasted coffee on a wood fire here is something pure with its true material.”
As this coffee is a success there’s no real need to make many changes. Instead, tweaks have been made to the growing process to ensure the best brew.
The first initiator of the café was Nguyen Van Den in 1926. But till when his son Nguyen Van Thai took over the shop, he designed a sign for the café and expanded the business into neighboring houses in Trieu Viet Vuong street. Then came Thai’s son Nguyen Van Tinh, who continued to develop the family heritage.
The present café owner Nguyen Duc Hieu, the fourth generation owner, has his own way of maintaining sustainable business. “The first thing I did when I took over the shop was to go to Son La to buy land and grow coffee,” he said.
After he had all the experiences to understand the coffee plants, he knew what he should affect.
“All of these stemmed from my thinking that I should do things better, I should have the responsibility to keep this cultural heritage,” Hieu said.
“It’s a small family heritage but it’s priceless to frequent customers. Not only four generations in my family have been selling coffee, but many of our regulars have enjoyed coffee here for four generations.”
If you visit Hanoi, come to savour coffee at Café Thái once.