Bring Back Normal Coffee!

It’s no great secret these days that Vietnam is considered one of the World’s coffee capitals; unlike many parts of Asia where tea is more commonly consumed, coffee is king here. Then when it comes to Da Nang in particular, you add rapid economic growth and the Korean influence to the equation. What are you left with? What might be one of the world’s most competitive markets for cafés that you’ll see anywhere in the world. In my experience, there seems to be more coffee shops per square kilometre in Da Nang than in Hanoi; I may not have the statistics at hand to back up my claim but one only needs to go for a short walk to prove my hypothesis to be correct.

This does of course lead to innovation as each café will seek to differentiate itself from the competition. Some take the standard path of offering a different kind of seating environment or decorative theme; specialist cafés such as those intended for people who are studying may exist; for example.

It can mean that one often lacks a favoured, preferred local coffee shop as they are able to rotate their choice of venue quite frequently. Great, if you are one of those naughty boys that has mutiple women to date at the same time, perhaps. For me, committing to a regular coffee drinking spot is usually much more difficult than staying loyal to a woman though.

Certain places just do certain drinks better than others though. If I want a black iced coffee with absolutely zero sugar, I’d probably go to The Local Beans on Le Hong Phong. For a HOT coffee with condensed milk, I’d probably go to Mint Coffee on Pasteur Street. A regular hot egg coffee? Han Coffee on Tran Hung Dao on the East side of the river. Then there’s one or two secret places that I will go to because I know that nobody who I know will be there.

In order to appear unique, many other places simply try to offer a unique drink that nobody else has, rather than a concept or a great environment to relax in. Golem has their ‘Dirty Coffee’ (featured in the headline pic) for example. It tastes good at first, but you are ultimately left thinking that it was intended for a child who has never drank a coffee before, such are the enormous amounts of sugar and cream involved in the creation of that signature drink.

Tourists may go wild at the sight of an egg coffee or an iced coconut coffee, but for anybody who has been to Vietnam more than once, these are now considered to be rather mainstream drinks that could feature on many a regular café’s menu. To stay ahead of the pack, there’s some really strange creations popping up.

Imagine a coffee with activated charcoal inside. That exists at ‘Espresso Station.’ Or a ‘Dirty Matcha Latte’ in which coffee is used to defile what would have been a decent tasting matcha drink. Then there’s the one that I daren’t try. Avocado coffee can still be found, but another place (that has thankfully been replaced by a seafood restaurant) once offered a ‘Black Garlic Coffee.’

Monthly specials have long been a thing; it was a ‘Mango Coffee’ at Gemini Coffee that inspired me to write this. However, I am ultimately left wondering if it would actually be better just to drink regular normal coffee again? Maybe it would. So, today, I’m starting with a Double Espresso, none of this fancy rubbish for me…