On the coffee farms that hug Vietnam’s lush Lang Biang Mountain, there’s not a bearded hipster or Starbucks addict in sight. Rolan Co Lieng, who hails from the remote tribal minorities of the highlands, brews my cup of coffee from beans fresh off the tree, handpicked with the same tenderness with which you would caress a baby. The sweet, silky smooth Bourbon Arabica coffee I’m drinking — or, rather, guzzling with gusto — is her labor of love. I make the mistake of asking for sugar. That’s sacrilege, says Co Lieng.
Bow down, Seattle. No longer the scorched earth of Agent Orange, Vietnam is the new Mecca of high-class coffee and, boy, are the pilgrims lining up. According to the International Coffee Organization, places like East and Southeast Asia are getting hooked on coffee faster than anywhere else: The number of coffee drinkers in the region has nearly doubled since 1990. You see, the Vietnamese have long slurped down crappy cups of instant coffee in sludgy, rubbery Robusta form, often loaded with condensed milk and sugar to mask the burnt-tire bitterness. But the caffeinated tides are quickly turning in the East, and java junkies who reside in Vietnam’s sprawling, shiny urban core are now pining for bougier beans — much like the ones you might find brewed in posh cappuccinos and fancy Italian espressos. We’re not talking about industrial agriculture — that’s not new. We’re talking about the small-scale, boutique agriculture of craft coffee. It’s like crack: “You can’t go back,” says Co Lieng.
