Portland’s Vietnamese Cafe Renaissance Is Peaking

Plastic cups of cà phê sữa đá, iced coffee with condensed milk, and cà phê đen, black coffee, have dotted tables at banh mi shops and pho restaurants around Portland for decades. For much of that time, Vietnamese coffee was synonymous with strong brews made with slow-drip metal phin filters. Now, the city’s Vietnamese coffee scene is evolving: a renaissance kicked into high gear in 2021, when Kim Dam opened Portland Cà Phê.

At the time, Dam didn’t see any other Vietnamese cafes in Portland’s robust coffee scene. “[I thought,] ‘I can’t wait for the day that I start seeing more people represent our coffee culture,’” Dam says. “We have such a big coffee culture back in our motherland that it was mind blowing to me that we didn’t showcase that here in the States or in Portland.”

It seems that day has arrived. Three years later, Vietnamese cafes are appearing all over the city — Phin Caphe & Boba serves Beaverton and East Portland, Cafe Ume and Gạch Viet Teahouse have arrived on the scene within the last year, and the Beans to Phin pop-up appears at markets around town. Dam herself has two new projects in the works: Mémoire Cà Phê, a brunch spot in partnership with Matta’s Richard Van Le and Heyday’s Lisa Nguyen, and Better Days Cafe, which she plans to open with Portland Cà Phê day one employee Melody Rin.

Christine Dong

In contrast to the United States, where drinking coffee for many Americans is a solitary practice — often brewing a quick cup at home or the office, or ordering at a drive-thru — coffee culture in Vietnam is communal and an integral aspect of the country’s broader identity. Coffee was introduced in Vietnam by French colonialists in the 19th century. Today, Vietnam is the second top producer of coffee in the world and largest producer of robusta beans. While coffee has become fixed into many Americans’ morning routines, in Vietnam, people drink it all day long: congregating at old-school and more modern cafes that line the busy streets and narrow lanes of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

“In Vietnam, people get up really early to work, but then they take breaks during the day,” Dam says. “Businesses close down, everyone goes home, they take a nap, and they reopen at night. Drinking coffee helps [people] get up early and stay up late.”

Phin Caphe & Boba

Ann Duong was working a corporate job and her sister Chloe Duong was in school when the COVID lockdown forced cafes and restaurants to temporarily shut down. The sisters, stuck at home, started making Vietnamese coffee drinks and snacks for themselves and family. Soon, friends began to stop by and ask if the sisters had made anything they could take home. “One day, we were just like, ‘Why don’t we just make it big and open a business?’” Ann says. “To introduce more people to Vietnamese coffee and tea.”

The organic development of the Duongs’ business Phin Caphe speaks to Portland’s growing demand for Vietnamese drinks and snacks. It’s also emblematic of Vietnam’s coffee culture, which serves as a social pastime and medium for community connection. Growing up in Nha Trang, Ann Duong had always been aware of coffee’s popularity throughout Vietnam, but she fell in love with Ho Chi Minh City’s cafe culture while attending university there.

“[Vietnamese] coffee is made with a phin drip, not a machine, so it’s really bold and strong,” Ann says. “You’re sitting on plastic chairs on the sidewalk enjoying coffee and chatting with friends and family.” It was essential for the Duongs to have outdoor seating areas at their cafes for customers to hang out while enjoying drinks like pistachio cream-topped coffee and taro milk tea.

Phin Caphe hosts occasional events that are designed to introduce Portlanders to the nuances of Vietnamese coffee and cuisine. The cafe’s Ăn Vặt snack night serves Vietnamese street food, like bắp xào (stir-fried corn) and tàu hủ đá (tofu pudding), that isn’t available on its regular menu, which offers dishes like bánh tráng cuốn (rice paper rolls) and bánh tráng trộn (rice paper salad). Coffee tasting workshops provide a chance to try different beans from Lam Dong, the province where the cafe’s beans are sourced.

Gạch Viet Teahouse

Gạch Viet Teahouse bridges Vietnamese design with food and drink — the cafe is a project of Harmony Design, the local architecture firm behind the interiors of Ba Mee Noodle House and Mirakutei’s Clackamas location. As Gạch’s manager Duy Mai explains, the team chose to open the cafe on the Portland State University campus because it “mimics the vibrant life of Vietnam, where you always see a lot of people walking around and sitting outside in the sun.” Inside, ornate tilework highlights Vietnamese craftsmanship through handmade tiles from Ly Minh Thanh. “It’s a space for us to showcase Vietnamese culture and the beauty of the cuisine,” Mai says.

Gạch serves light fare like sticky rice and spring rolls, dishes commonly found at Portland’s Vietnamese restaurants, but the cafe also makes the harder-to-find sữa chua, a tangy Vietnamese-style yogurt. “Yogurt has always been around in Vietnamese communities in the U.S.,” Mai says. “But it’s usually an auntie who makes it and sells it [to people she knows].” It’s eaten as dessert or a snack — Gạch’s is served with fresh fruit or black glutinous rice.

Analy Lee

Similar to Portland, Seattle’s Vietnamese cafe scene has seen a boom in recent years. Duong has noticed Vietnamese coffee trending in cities on the West Coast and in states like Texas, parts of the United States that have a large Vietnamese population. “I think people want to discover new flavors,” Ann Duong says. “We get creative with flavors because I think it brings a broader audience to us.”

Dam has noticed the uptick, too, specifically while attending the Specialty Coffee Expo. In the past, the industry event didn’t have many Vietnamese vendors; but at the 2023 expo, which was held in Portland, she was able to connect with Vietnamese farmers, roasters, and baristas. “I think folks in Vietnam are noticing us,” Dam says. “You talk to them and they say: ‘It’s really cool that you guys are championing this and putting Vietnam on the map in the specialty coffee world.’” In contrast to using the traditional phin filter to make Vietnamese-style coffee, Dam serves specialty coffee at Portland Cà Phê, roasting beans sourced from Vietnam’s Central Highlands region.

Dam says the coffee world grapples with the concept of authenticity in the same way diners approach food; some customers come to Portland Cà Phê and express annoyance at aspects they perceive to be inauthentic. But for her, coffee is subjective. “Wherever you go, you’re going to get something a little different — and whether that means it’s authentic to you or not doesn’t really matter, because it’s authentic to the person who created that product,” Dam says. “All of us are doing something niche: highlighting Vietnamese coffee, whether that’s a brewing method, flavors, or the bean itself.”