Coffee Analysts Goes to Vietnam

Spencer Turer, Vice President of Coffee Analysts, was recently invited to attend the Tea & Coffee World Cup Expo and Conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  Here are some of his observations after visiting the world’s largest producer of Robusta coffee.

“I first became aware of Vietnam as a coffee producing country in the mid-1990’s when I was the Manager of Coffee Development at Melitta.  The United States had recently opened trade relations with Vietnam and we were in the market for Robusta coffee to use in our private label business. In those days, the coffee was small bean with strong earthy and rubbery characters and even though the coffee was very inexpensive we opted to source our coffee from other origins that offered a more neutral character. Since that time Vietnam has increased both production capacity and overall coffee quality, with expected production in the 2015/2016 harvest year to be at 28.7 million 60/kg bags.  Vietnamese Arabica production is now over 1.1 million bags annually.

Our first business meeting in Ho Chi Minh City was with Mitsui, to see their quality control laboratory and learn more about our host country. We cupped Vietnamese Robusta and Arabica coffees, and also sampled Robusta and Arabica from neighboring country Laos.  Today’s coffees are not like they were 20 years ago; now we were finding neutral taste characters with a nutty sweetness for Robusta, and the Arabica coffees were clean and sweet, with slight acidity and a mild-to-medium body.

I was invited to the Tea & Coffee World Cup Expo and Conference by show organizers Tea & Coffee Trade Journal and was scheduled to lead 6 classes at the trade event in Ho Chi Minh City, and I arrived prepared!  My schedule included 3 lectures: Sensory Analysis, Quality Operations and Product Development; also scheduled were 3 hands-on classes: Beginner Cupping, Advanced Cupping, and Green Coffee Defect Identification.  All my classes were based on Specialty Coffee considerations, referencing SCAA standards. Each class was standing room only, with more students joining the classes while in session.   The students were a wide range of coffee professionals, all from Vietnam, including traders, roasters, roaster-retailers, and baristas.

While touring the city I saw many recognizable brands, such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Cafe Bene, Highlands Coffee, Trung Nguyen and Starbucks.  I was very pleasantly surprised to see many local coffeehouses and small roaster-retailers throughout the city’s many districts.  My favorite local specialty coffee café was The Workshop in district 1. This company was importing specialty grade coffees from traders in Singapore and using several pour-over methods and cold brew processes to prepare refreshing and delicious coffee beverages.

I learned that coffee was still considered an out-of-home beverage in Vietnam, thus explaining the popularity of coffee café’s and the wide range of coffee beverages on their menus.  Due to the hot and humid climate, many coffee drinks are served over ice which helps minimize any earthy, rubbery, or harsh taste characteristics, and the coffee is usually mixed with thick, sweetened milk.  Many drinks were similar to a cold melted coffee milkshake.

As a special treat, I arranged to use specialty grade coffees from Hacienda La Minita/Distant Lands Coffee Roasters in the cupping classes.  For many students this was their first opportunity to taste coffee from Costa Rica, Colombia, Brasil, Indonesia and Ethiopia.  It was amazing to watch the faces and expressions of the students when tasting these fine coffees for the very first time, especially the tart-fruity characters of the Ethiopia Yirgacheffe.

I enjoyed my time in Vietnam, meeting many specialty coffee professionals, touring the city, and learning about the history and culture of Saigon.  The traditional Vietnamese food was delicious, even the jumping chicken! I certainly hope to have the opportunity to return to Vietnam soon.”