Odds n' Ends

My Daily Grind 

Each morning, weather permitting, I try to walk about 3-5 km and find a random coffee house, enjoy a java and then walk home. I have several fave spots that I do revisit from time to time. Coffee does not come quickly when ordered, even if it's straight up Vietnamese black coffee. Strangely enough, every establishment I've visited starts you off with a free glass of warm Vietnamese tea. More on that below. One orders many coffees as either hot or cold on ice. 

My area of Hoi An is fairly rural so the coffee spots are constructed 100% of wood, no walls and lush with greenery. Coffee is to be experienced. No Timmy's or McDonald's quick pick up and go. Snapshots of coffee houses below:

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Not Your Average Joe

Weasel coffee is a delicacy here. Civets, a raccoon sized mammal, eats coffee beans. Over 3-5 days, their digestive juices partially ferment the beans changing their chemical composition. The beans are gathered after being pooped out, washed, roasted and ground. A kilo costs a minimum of $200 US dollars. A cup of weasel coffee contains more antioxidents than a cup of açai berries and is used medicinally as a natural cure all. Many diabetics here drink it frequently as it does help in controlling blood sugar. So Pam Milroy, when Pete opens his dental practice here you can hang out your shingle, "Be a civet-minded citizen-Weasel coffee sold here."

 I ordered a cup. It tastes earthy and musty. Not terrible, but a definite hint of steeped used socks. A company in Hanoi has developed a factory made version that mimics the civet gut bacteria to create a much less expensive version that has the taste and health and benefits of the real deal.

Real Men Drink Coffee

No that's not the effects of me drinking weasel coffee. I took a Vietnamese Coffee Culture and Coffee-Making Seminar this morning. I lucked out as many of the guy's aprons were bustiers with cleavage. 😅

My partners in sharing the ingredients were Karen from Perth, Australia and Jordan from Liverpool. 

Coffee drinking here is a way of life, a philosophy. Coffee orders are not grab and go. The process takes time and the drinking often lasts several hours. It is a drawn out face-to-face form of social media, no short cuts or acronyms. Coffee shops open at 6am as locals gather to socialize before work. Lots of gossip and news and opinions lasting at least an hour before the work day starts. Most businesses are small and family owned so there is no "meeting at the water cooler" culture at work. You are probably never more than a 2 minute walk from a coffee shop anywhere in Hoi An. 

French missionaries introduced coffee to the Vietnamese in 1857. The country is now the second largest exporter of coffee on the planet. Most grown here is some form of Robusta beans. It is stronger in taste and caffeine percentage than the more common Arabica style. Vietnamese coffee is hand picked, hand washed and hand ground to ensure the highest quality. 

Tea is always consumed first as it clears the throat so the coffee taste can be totally savoured. Kind of a palate cleanse. We drank tea between sipping samples of our creations. We were warned not to drink all of our creations as the shop has only 1 urinal and 1 toilet for the 27 in the seminar.  Plus they did not want us charging blindly into traffic after the seminar as a focused approach is required on the crazy streets; and to lessen the incidence of heart attacks. 😉

We made 5 coffees in two hours and were always busy or waiting for coffee to mellow out. 

Phin coffee - a straight espresso. The Phin is a mini French press affair. Takes about 10 minutes to make. 

White coffee - A mixture of black coffee whipped (Phin coffee), condensed milk and ice cubes. 

 Egg Coffee - an egg yolk mixed with very specific amounts of vanilla, honey, rice wine, condensed milk and black coffee, with a sprinkle of cocoa on the top. Hot water in the saucer cooked the yolk bits. Note that Canadians are not yokels, Trump. 

Salt Coffee - created by a Vietnamese sailor after two months at sea. The ship ran out of fresh water so he distilled salt water. Not all the salt was removed but the crew liked it. The sailor played with salts on land and voila, a new coffee was born. Salt, whipping cream, fresh milk foamed, condensed milk and black coffee topped with cocoa. Our seminar leader Ling standing beside Karen and I said it was Himalayan salt delivered yesterday. Karen asked him, "The Himalayas in India or Nepal?" He replied sotto voce, "In my dreams," and winked. 

Coconut Coffee - coconut bits in a glass, whipping cream, condensed milk and coconut milk shaken 50 times in a cocktail shaker of ice, poured into the glass, add black coffee whipped into a froth. 

I liked them all, egg and coconut my faves. Excuse me while I visit the washroom yet again and take  a beta-blocker to stop the shakes. 😉 Hope you java nice day! 👍