Vietnam is known for its coffee culture and for its powerfully caffeinated iced drinks made with sweetened condensed milk. But the Southeast Asian country is also the second-largest coffee exporter in the world — behind only Brazil — sending more than $6 billion worth of beans to tired people in more than six dozen other nations, according to the World’s Top Exports data website.
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And yet, you won’t taste a drop of it at Starbucks, Peet’s, Dunkin’ or thousands of other coffee shops — from the largest chains to the coziest cafes.
Why? Because Vietnam primarily grows and roasts a variety of beans called robusta, while connoisseurs favor a different variety, arabica, grown in countries like Brazil and Ethiopia. Robusta is known for having a deeper flavor and for being more bitter. It also packs around twice the caffeine as arabica. Some coffee roasters, like Lavazza, use it in Italian espresso blends because robusta beans “add body, intensity, and a thick crema,” or foam, when a cup of espresso is brewed, Lavazza explains online.
But Lavazza favors arabica, as does Starbucks, which says on its website that arabica is superior, “offering a refined flavor with high acidity and more complexity.” Robusta beans, it claims, “have a harsher taste that is often compared to burnt rubber.”
Ouch.
Tuan Huynh, the owner of Cà Phê Vietnamese Coffee & Bánh mì in Thornton, thinks it’s time to change that perception. So, he recently began importing Vietnamese beans, roasting them himself and serving coffee that is proudly robust — and robusta.
His brand, Second Origins, is three years in the making, and he’ll begin selling beans on a retail level next month and on a wholesale scale later this year.
“Robusta has always been viewed as lower quality. A lot of roasters use it for instant and super dark coffees, roasting it very dark to hide the imperfections,” he said. That bitterness is partly why Vietnamese coffee is served with so much sweetener.
But in the last five years, a small group of farmers has begun to focus on high-quality, specialty-grade robusta beans that are harvested and selected for their size and flavor.
“We want to spread the word on high-quality specialty robusta. With this, you don’t really need to add condensed milk. We want to show people that there is more to Vietnamese coffee than that.” Huynh said.
Banana, ube and coconut
Most of the coffee at Cà Phê, 3911 E 120th Ave, Thornton, is brewed in the traditional Vietnamese way: slowly pouring hot water over the ground beans so it drips, little by little, through a small metal filter called a phin.
Because the process would take too long for individual coffee orders, though, Huynh and his staff pre-drip at least 10 large urns of coffee every morning, and another 10 in the afternoon so that it will be ready for customers.
It’s then served in a wide variety of fashions.
You can get it straight-up on ice without any milk (Cà Phê Da), or served hot, in either a strong form or lighter roast, with house foam. The perfect recipe for this is 20 grams of ground coffee, 60 ml of condensed milk and 120 ml of hot water.
You can order the classic Cà Phê Sua Da, which uses condensed milk, coffee and ice. Vietnamese coffee is typically served over ice, in part because of the country’s primarily hot and tropical climate, and partly to help dilute the strong brew.
Or you can try one of the many flavored versions, which include matcha, ube and pistachio lattes, as well as egg cream coffee and coffee blended with a variety of creams, like banana, ube and coconut, which are made in-house with real ingredients, Huynh said.
The food menu consists of a succinct list of seven or eight banh mi sandwiches, including BBQ pork, grilled lemongrass beef, and vegetarian egg white.
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The true standout, however, is the signature bun bo hue banh mi, which turns the traditional dish of bun bo hue, a beef and noodle soup, on its head. While Ca Phe still uses pork roll steamed in banana leaves, onions, mint and cilantro, they are inside a sandwich rather than in a soup. Marinated beef brisket, pate spread, garlic butter and lemongrass chili oil complete the banh mi, which customers then dip into a bun bo hue broth like a French dip.
Huynh’s wife and co-owner, Nhu Tran, does the cooking — and bun bo hue is her favorite dish.
“Usually, most Vietnamese restaurant menus are like a book, but we spent a lot of time developing each one of these,” Huynh said about the sandwich recipes. “We wanted to offer something unique while staying true to our Vietnamese heritage.
“The funny thing is, my parents thought it was the craziest idea since they’re very old school, but now our BBH banh mi is one of the most popular sandwiches at Cà Phê,” he added.
Taking risks
In mid-July, Huynh temporarily closed his shop — a risk for a business that relies on regular customers — so he could take a two-week trip to Vietnam’s coffee-growing region, connect with his suppliers, and gain a deeper understanding of brewing methods and styles.
“We have regulars who come to the shop every single day, so hopefully they come back afterward and don’t find somewhere else to go,” he said before the closure, with a nervous laugh. (Cà Phê reopened on Aug. 3.)
But taking risks isn’t new in his family. When he was 7, Huynh’s parents left Vietnam, where they lived about an hour from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), and traveled first to Thailand and then to the United States, where relatives in Colorado sponsored the family. His parents worked in a convenience store and later for bakery and landscaping companies.
After college, Huynh spent 20 years working in the finance industry before deciding to become an entrepreneur.
“It is a typical immigrant story. We work very hard. In Vietnam, even if you work hard, there are no opportunities. But here there is. I don’t want to stand still.”
His decision to open Cà Phê in December 2024 was driven by visits he took to Vietnam to see friends and family, who enjoyed the lingering process of preparing and drinking coffee there. In Vietnam, it’s common to pull up a small plastic chair, sit down to some conversation and watch as your coffee drips down through a personal-sized phin and directly into your cup or glass.
“When it is done, you have this amazing coffee flavor. There is nothing like it.
Back in Colorado, he said, “I realized something was missing … everyone is in a rush, and the coffee is watery.” Not only that, but because robusta beans aren’t readily available in the United States, most Vietnamese restaurants have used New Orleans-style chicory coffee from Café Du Monde for decades since the earthy, slightly bitter flavor is the closest they could get to home.
Huynh believes Second Dawn is the first company in Colorado to roast robusta beans commercially, and as such, he hopes that the Vietnamese restaurant community will embrace his roasts (he will have three different ones) and use his beans.
Oh, and he has a response to Starbucks’ thoughts. “The arabica gets overwhelmed,” he said. Starbucks tastes like just milk.”
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