Vietnamese Coffee.com

It's been a busy Fall

2011-12-30T17:40:00.000-05:00

Things are finally settling down after the holidays... we hope all our customers had a great holiday season!

Here is an update on new coffees and specials:

In 2012 we will be launching our new Home Roaster page... we will have fabulous green, unroasted beans from some of our best sources in Sumatra, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Watch for Kopi Luwak specials this week to celebrate the New Year.

We are working to bring in some new brands from Vietnam, new coffees and brands that are making waves.

We will be expanding our selection of Philippine coffees and blends. We continue to be impressed with the quality of our Philippine coffees and have asked our suppliers to bring us more. We will have a new Excelsa that we will be blending, and some other high-altitude coffees to share with you during the next three months. The harvest for the 2012 crop happens in January, so by February we hope to have some exciting new coffees.

Happy New Year!

Update October 2011

2011-10-18T00:50:00.000-04:00

We are settled in to our new digs at 9 Jerome Street and have resumed our Brewology Seminar events.Our seminars are being successfully promoted on Groupon, Google, and other coupon companies!

The Sumatra Lintong and our own blend of Philippine Liberica and Lintong (Lenberica- ouch!) have exceeded expectations on how quickly people have been adopting these coffees. The Lintong has an amazing aroma that brings exclamations of "I want you to bottle that aroma!" We don't know if the Lintong itself is totally responsible or the really fine roasting job Mystic Coffee Roaster is doing for us on this coffee. We are running down on our initial supply of this coffee but we have reserved 10 60-kilo sacks of green from the new harvest that should be arriving in November.

Lately you may have noticed we have been out of many coffees. During the move we did not make any large orders, and we assumed that the usual summer slowdown would kick in. Instead, August and September kicked up gangbusters and orders were running 200% of the same time last year, quickly depleting our supplies of some coffees. Some people, when they see these shortages, make large orders to avoid the expected next shortage, but we want to advise everybody that we do have a lot of these coffees on order, and we also expect that in December there will be some price reductions on favorite items due to much lower shipping costs. Apparently there is a dearth of international shipping right now and rates are at almost a record low, so since high shipping costs have been driving our recent price increases, we will see improvements. So don't feel the need to stock up, the trends are improving.

We are excited to be receiving new week our first shipment of Indochine Estates prized Dalat Bourbon Arabica in green unroasted beans. We will be experimenting with special fresh roasts using these high-body, low-acid, rich-tasting Bourbon Arabica beans, so watch for some new blends and announcements.

We are moving!

2011-07-14T18:08:00.000-04:00

Our mixed-use office building at 200 Boston Ave in Medford, MA has never been ideally suited for what our company needs, so we are proud to announce that we are moving to a free-standing building about a half-mile away at 9 Jerome Street in Medford as of July 30, 2011. Other than a street address change, all contact information will remain the same.

The new building will allow us to have more control over our own space, so we can customize our seminar room and create workspaces that meet our needs better.

We hope our customers and friends local to our MA home office will come by to visit us after the move and try something special, brewed just for them. In the meantime, the disruption from the move might result in some later deliveries, and we will be allowing our stock on some coffees to drop off because we have limited our incoming stock. We hope that everybody will be patient with the changes during this time. Thank you!

Sumatra Lintong is in!

2011-07-14T18:01:00.000-04:00

We have just received three 60-kilo bags of Sumatra Lintong from the same supplier as our Sumatra Kopi Luwak. This is an incredible coffee, with all the characteristics we search for and love: Heirloom stock, long history, unique regional practices, and rich, full-bodied taste. We have been disappointed by some Sumatra coffees we have sampled over the years, but we fell in love with the Lintong immediately. We put it on the July email circular and had to roast it three times to meet the orders! We hope everybody loves it as much as we do.

We will have it up on the main site soon, after the initial rush is over.

Product and Pricing Update

2011-04-28T12:30:00.000-04:00

We have some great new products. Some are on the site now, others will be posted shortly.

Highlands Traditional Blend - This is one of Highlands 5 blends, and the only one we did not buy from the start of our distributorship. Highlands has 4 espressos and 5 ground coffees, and we thought that was too may options to spring on people in a new product line. However, when we sampled the Traditional Blend recently at our open houses, everybody was very enthusiastic, so we have just gotten in a new shipment that includes the Traditional Blend. This is a Robusta-based blend that is roasted in the style of small cafés and roasters as you might find in the countryside in Vietnam, a product tradition extending back almost 100 years. Very nice!

G7 Passiona Instant - Yes, it's true, Trung Nguyen has finally created a sugarfree and lower caffeine instant coffee with the same fabulous taste as traditional G7. They envisioned this coffee as the perfect "alternative" coffee with a health-promoting twist. The ingredients are famous G7-dry-process naturally low caffeine coffee, non-dairy creamer (vegetarian), "dietary sugar" (sugar alcohol, most likely Erythritol or Xylitol - we are waiting for the exact translation), and a small percentage of artichoke and chrysanthemum, included for their mild health benefits and relaxing properties. Why drink this coffee? The taste is simply amazing. Dark and deep, yet substantially guilt-free (if sugar or caffeine makes you feel at all guilty!), it's a fabulous taste experience you can get from just an instant packet that you can take anywhere and enjoy with just hot water and a cup. We will be including a free sachet in our G7 sampler pack, but really, spring for the cost of buying a box if you have any interest at all in this type of product. You will NOT be disappointed. And if you ARE trying to cut your caffeine or sugar, so much the better.

G7 newest shipment - we are buying G7 "domestically" from our agent in Vietnam because we can place smaller orders more frequently, and get some variations of the product that we can't get through the export channel. One example is the new 24-sachet bag of G7 3-in-1. The bag is the favorite package among our customers, for reasons we don't quite understand... probably a slight preference for sachets over café sticks, and the flexibility of the packet for carrying in purses or storing at work. But in 2008 Trung Nguyen dropped the 24 sachets to 22 sachets in the bag. Now, we are able to get the original 24 sachets again on the domestic market. People who love the bag will rejoice! Watch for the return of the 24-sachet bag.

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Prices! Everybody expects coffee prices to skyrocket. We heard reports of local diners here paying 50% increases for their coffee service. Well, they should be buying from us, or other contract grower representatives, because this is case when contract growing can actually save the consumer money. We buy 90% from companies using contract growing agreements with their producers, and we never use middlemen or commodity brokers, so in fact, the recent increases in coffee prices have not affected us. Our producers pay their growers the price they ask for, and the coffee is not placed on the open commodities market, so it is not subject to speculation due to shortages in countries that are not relevant.

We do not expect increases in our ground coffees for several months. We have had to pay increases in whole bean Trung Nguyen coffees because we buy those on the domestic market, and transportation (yes, the price of oil) has caused a 15% increase. Also, the devaluation of the dollar versus the dong has caused another 12% increase. So, you will see whole bean prices going up, but less than what is being experienced on the average international level.

Note that many branded retailers will simply buy lesser grades of coffee and pass them off as their usual blends, which results in poorer taste and quality. This is the standard response to sudden spikes. We do not do this. Because we do not buy coffees traded on the commodities markets, we are fairly immune from speculators and artificial pricing hikes. So, aside from an increase in whole bean due to transportation cost increases and the dollar situation, we will be holding the line for the immediate future.

Try a new Gourmet Instant Coffee!

2011-03-15T11:51:00.006-04:00

We are always looking for new products in the Instant Coffee class. Instant coffee in Asia is nothing like what we grew up with here in the States (move over, freeze-dried Sanka!). It is actually possible to create a gourmet instant coffee that is not brewed and dried and doesn't get bitter and flat-tasting.

G7 was the brand created by Trung Nguyen years ago, using a totally dry roasting process similar to the way Macha Tea is made. The green, unroasted coffee beans are powdered and roasted in the same operation, meaning the coffee does not go through the depleting process of brewing before being made into powder.

The process is now being imitated by makers like Starbucks in products like Via, but of course, they are charging 6 times or more what the original costs. Many people feel that G7 is still the landmark and best gourmet instant coffee in the world.

However, some people do prefer the taste of 100% Arabica in their instant. G7 is primarily Vietnamese gourmet Robusta, which for decades has been considered to be the best base for instant. Arabica tends to get tangy and bitter when you try to convert it into instant. However, new dry processing methods have greatly improved results with Arabica coffee.

Q Cafe is a brand produced by one of the largest coffee companies in Vietnam, Nhan Minh. We enjoy dealing with the people at this company, they are super. Q Cafe is a second-generation gourmet instant that really has nailed the process of eliminating the bitters in Arabica instant.

It's very hard to describe the differences between G7 and Q Cafe or any gourmet instant in words. You really have to just taste it. To make that possible we have purchased a starter quantity of Q Cafe 3-in-1 (coffee, sugar, non-dairy creamer), brought in by air cargo, for our customers to try. It's available in small trial packets of 4 sachets of 20 grams each for just $1 . Each sachet makes one 7-ounce cup of coffee just by adding hot water.

There are two blends. "Good Morning" is milder, sweeter and creamier. "Strong Taste" is bolder.

Try some today!

Coffee prices going up?

2011-03-15T11:38:00.002-04:00

Most of us who follow such things know that coffee futures have hit record highs and that price increases are expected across the board. Starbucks and other coffee service companies have raised their prices substantially.

We have seen the costs go up steadily over the last year also but we have managed to talk our suppliers into not hitting us with any significant increases yet. It's likely that we can continue the current pricing for several months. Beyond that, we can't say.

We have had to inch up a few prices on single bags/boxes of coffee, such as the Gourmet Blend. But these tend to be coffees that we have artificially maintained a low price on for some time. We try to keep the Gourmet Blend as reasonable as possible because so many coffee shops and homes drink this coffee exclusively. It is the lowest margin coffee for us, though.

In most cases if we raise the price a little on a single bag or box, we also create a 3-pack or 4-pack in which the price per bag has actually gone down. This allows people who have a favorite coffee to buy a little more at a time and get an "efficiency" price benefit. When we pack and ship multiples, it's cheaper for us and we can improve the price for you.

We are going to be watching things carefully over the next few months and there are not going to be any substantial price increases.

We love the Regional Rate boxes!

There is also a wonderful development on the shipping front. The Post Office has created new Regional Flat Rate Boxes. As a result we have been able to lower shipping prices to more than 30 states by an average of 12%. So in fact, an average purchase on our website costs less today than a year ago. We take pricing seriously during this recession and we want you to know that we are always looking for ways to reduce our costs and keep your prices as low as possible. Enjoy!

Holiday Season

2010-11-18T18:41:00.006-05:00

We have been working to come up with some incredible Black Friday specials. If you want to see our best deals, be sure to be on our email newsletter, which mails only once a month. We respect your email and never share the info with anybody else, nor do we mail you more than once a month, with our special savings that are not viewable by the general public.

Just a preview:

We are launching the Kopi Luwak Stocking Stuffer, a 2-ounce package of Bantai Civet Coffee in an organza bag package that is great as an economical way to send somebody a few servings of the world's best and rarest coffee.

We have sourced some mini-milks, the La Lecherita sweetened condensed milk in the 3.5 ounce can, making it possible to bring back a perennial favorite gift: The Vietnamese Coffee Mini-Kit!

We just got in the new harvest shipment of Philippine Liberica. This was a good season and this endangered coffee is in good supply. We will be running some nice specials on Liberica shortly.

We have been testing an heirloom coffee from Costa Rica. It's a little outside the usual for us, since it is not a Southeast Asian coffee, but it has an impressive history and meticulous cultivation, plus the owner/grower/producer of this small farm uses his business to provide charitable funds for a number of causes. One item we snapped up: Chocolate-covered coffee beans! We couldn't resist these beans, made from peaberry Arabica Catuai instead of the usual espresso. We expect these in around Thanksgiving.

We are also initiating a "Stocking Stuffer" page. Yes, it's politically incorrect, so just call this the "cute products page". We will have a number of items selected for unique and fun appeal and all priced at or under $3.00 (except for Bantai Civet Coffee!).

It's the season for silly bar drinks

2010-07-27T12:03:00.003-04:00

I love summer. It's a time of magic and solace, celebration and nature, and a time to be laid back simply because we need the break and this is the time to do it. It was the time to hide away under the trees somewhere and read a really good book that took you to India or Africa on an adventure.

For me, as a child , it was a time to get on my bike and explore places that couldn't be reached any other way. I wound up in more obscure paths in the woods, parks I never knew existed, cliff walks by the sea, and I think I even managed to find my way to another planet or two and back. In summer, with that balmy breeze blowing even at nightfall, anything was possible.

I have invented a drink for those special moments. Mix it up in secret and find a place where nobody can find you and let the summer breezes blow by while you brood and sip on the Heart of Darkness. "The horror, the horror!" You might want to mix up enough for two or three of them and hide a little longer. It's a black martini, of course...

Heart of Darkness

Ingredients:

1.5 oz RTD Black
3/4 oz Jose Cuervo Black Tequila
1 oz Vodka
Dash of Cherry Brandy
Maraschino Cherry

Equipment: Shaker and ice

Directions:

Use 1 cup ice to chill the mixture quickly (coffee should
be cold to start). Add ingredients, shake furiously and pour
through strainer. Pour into chilled glass. Add Maraschino
cherry (the heart). Optional: Garnish with orange slice.

Ready To Drink Vietnamese Coffee

2010-03-30T17:45:00.005-04:00

When we first were told that this product was in development our response was, loosely summarized, "that's not going to work." Highlands told us that their goal was to actually brew Vietnamese-style coffee into cans and somehow approximate the process of brewing through the small Phin filter like a traditional sit-down Vietnamese Coffee in a coffee café.

They had spoken with a lot of experts who no doubt told them that it couldn't be done and they would be better off doing what the other coffee companies had done, buy a commercial coffee extract and some commercial creamer and sugar and mix it into a bottle like a Yahoo milk drink. But they persisted with their goal of capturing fresh-brewed coffee in a can, in high production volume. The end result was worth two years of R&D. It led to the almost universally liked RTD (Ready To Drink) Highlands Vietnamese Coffee which is now, since its intro in December 2009, been snapped up in 21 countries as a "blockbuster product" (to quote the Australian RTD distributor who also distributes Red Bull).

Why is the RTD Vietnamese Iced Coffee such a likable product? Several reasons.

Taste. It's just not like any other coffee drink you have ever tasted. It's better and fresher by far.

Convenience. How could anything be more convenient than popping the top of a can for a fresh glass of iced coffee?

Portability. Unlike most coffee sources, RTD cans go almost anywhere. And even though they are "Iced Coffee", they can be enjoyed at any temperature. They require no other equipment to brew, mix or enjoy.

Versatility. We didn't appreciate this until we finally had the full shipment (didn't want to waste our precious advance samples on tests), but the RTD cans are not only a perfectly balanced coffee drink as they are, but they are a perfect base for smoothies, shakes, bar drinks and many things we probably haven't even tried yet.

We expected the RTD Iced Coffee to be a product we would sell to the commercial and wholesale market, but consumer reaction was so strong we put it on the web as a retail product and the response has been overwhelming. Then we thought people would buy single cans, but the first question always is, "How much is a case?". So we created a case price (24 cans) and a reduced shipping price compared to the singles.

We could go on and on about the RTD coffee, but after all, it would just be us enthusing about a product we tried ourselves. That never does much for anybody over the web. So first we made free samples available to the emailing list (preferred and repeat customers) and now we will offer it as one of our free samples to new customers, as soon as we can get the item programmed into the website.

We worked hard to obtain an exclusive distribution of this great new product in the USA. Give it a try and tell us what you think.

Here is a bar drink recipe from the new drink selection we have been working feverishly to perfect for that segment of the market (creating and sampling bar drinks is a rough job, but somebody has to do it! Volunteers are welcome, give us a call!) We intend to have a full recipe gallery for the RTD coffee as soon as we can manage it - bar drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, cooking recipes and more. Send us your own recipe, and if we use it we will pay you $50 and give you a gift certificate you can use on the website.

HappyMouth

This drink needs a better, sexier name, but was given this moniker because drinking it gives you a serious case of HappyMouth and a smile that survives the worst afternoon or evening (even Mondays).

Ingredients: Highlands Iced Coffee, Bailey’s Irish Cream, Creme de Cacao, Kahlua Mocha
4 oz Highlands Black
1 oz Bailey’s Irish Creme
3/4 oz Creme de Cacao
1/2 oz Kahlua Mocha
(shake through ice and pour)

The secret to a good drink recipe is finding that perfect balance that allows the flavors to all be perceived without anything being overwhelming. This drink has the kind of magic that leaves you wondering what the dominant flavors are, but not really caring because the balance is so pleasing to the nose and palate.

If you don't have the ingredients above and don't want to rush out to the liquor store, and you have some Kahlua (coffee brandy) and Vodka (optional), try a Sombrero using a little Vodka and Kahlua with your RTD Coffee (Milk) over ice... 4 ounces Highlands RTD Milk, 2 ounces Kahlua, 1/2 ounce Vodka over ice. It's not the classic recipe of a "Kahlua & Cream", but its a lighter and more refreshing drink for upcoming summer weather.

For a non-alcoholic smoothie/shake, use the RTD Coffee (Milk version) as the base for your next protein shake. We suspect it also a good base for righteous coffee ice cream, but we haven't gotten there yet.

Enjoy!

Battle of the instant(s)

2010-02-03T15:10:00.003-05:00

A few years ago, Starbucks attempted to displace a number of indigenous coffee shops and brands in Vietnam and other regions of Southeast Asia. Due to a number of economic and societal factors, they were mostly unsuccessful. Not to be outdone, they decided to copy the success of the indigenous coffee companies and try to beat them at their own game. One result: Starbucks Via, the new instant that "tastes just like our brewed coffee". As to whether that is a good or bad thing, we will leave it up to Starbucks fans.

We purchased some Via to see what it was all about... reviews are really not enlightening because people don't usually understand the process technology or have much frame of reference for instant coffees.

Basically, the process uses roasted beans, and they simply powder them to make them soluble. That is why they really can claim that the instant tastes like their brewed coffee, to some extent, it's pretty much the same beans, just powdered.

They have an Italian Roast, which is totally mislabeled. It claims to be "Extra Bold" but it's actually much milder than the Columbian, which claims to be "Medium". In short, the Italian Roast is quite good, to my tastes, but the Columbian had all the worst that Starbucks has to offer -- it tasted like charcoal, and even a few sips produced indigestion in our tasters, due to the acids and indigestible burnt elements. They need to go back to the drawing board on the Columbian, at least, in the samples we tried. Who knows if the formula changes from batch to batch (another Starbucks specialty!)

Why is G7 Instant different from Via? It uses a proprietary technology to create powder from green coffee beans, roasting them in the process. When you capture the powder at the same point as roasting, apparently you eliminate loss of flavor and aroma and create an instant free of the typical bitterness and acidity of instants made from brewed coffee, as most are.

In our taste tests here at open coffee hours, people preferred the G7 to Via by a sizable margin. Many found the Italian Roast Via to be a good cup, but found it weak or too light a roast for their tastes.

Considering that the cost of a serving of G7 Black is about 1/6th that of Via, well.... what can we say. Pick your best value.

We also have brought out a new entré in the 3-in-1 genre, a brand called MaqRoma. We did this because we have learned through all our testing that some people really do have a palate taste preference for Arabica freeze-dried, as long as it is not bitter. There is a "tang" to it that is not in the G7, which could be better described as rich and mellow.

The MaqRoma is a very high quality coffee mix produced by Reviva, one of Southeast Asia's leading manufacturers of coffee for dispensing machines. In these countries, dispensers deliver truly gourmet quality. Some of the machines actually grind and brew a cup of coffee from whole beans while you wait! And the instant machines do not get a following unless people really like the cup they get. MaqRoma has been very successful, so we tested it here and liked it, and now offer it as the best Arabica freeze-dried instant we can find (out of over 40 brands).

Here's a fun thing to do: Mix a packet of G7 with a packet of MaqRoma and get a Robusta/Arabica mug-size brew that has the best of both worlds. Many people in our testing declared this truly the best instant cup of all.

Watch for a whole plethora of new instant coffees as the world discovers the potential of truly gourmet instant coffee!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T10:50:00.002-05:00

As we glide into 2010 we wish everybody a happy and prosperous New Year!

2009 was a difficult year for most people, a year in which most of us had to adjust our expenses and reassess our purchases of those things that bring us pleasure... coffee included! On our websites, we have done our best to freeze our prices and offer as many savings as possible on our sites throughout the year. Now we are getting a little help from vendors, whose costs have gone down in 2010 and thus there have been no price increases from them.

Shipping costs have continued to rise but we negotiated a slightly better discount from UPS for our Ground shipping, so we do not have to adjust our shipping costs for 2010, which is the first year that we have not had to increase costs for shipping (Post Office went up 40% in the last 18 months! And they just went up another 5% for Priority Mail but they promise no more increases for 2010.)

In 2009 we tripled the number of coffees we carry. It has been a great deal of fun to seek out the best vendors of the world's best Heirloom Coffees from Southeast Asia, a quest that led us to Sumatra, Thailand and the Philippines as well as to other producers from Vietnam. We also added 4 different versions of Kopi Luwak (civet coffee), which makes us the only reputable vendors in the world to carry more than one brand and origin of certified Kopi Luwak.

We await the new season for production of Liberica in the Philippines, a fabulous "lost" species of coffee that is making a comeback. We are looking forward to having the 100% Liberica back on the site. At the moment we have a wonderful blend of Liberica and Excelsa, which has been getting rave reviews from customers, but we do hope to have the 100% Liberica back soon.

In 2009 we also developed our own ESE pod, a joint venture with Indochine Estates, featuring their fine Bourbon Arabica and Excelsa blend of espresso in a 45 mm ESE pod. Pods are not just for brewing in pod machines, they are also a perfect serving for use in any espresso maker, just tear open the pod, pour it in and tamp and brew. Perfect espresso every time.

We hope you enjoy our new offerings and your old favorites in 2010 as we forge into the future trying to bring you a little more "coffee nirvana" all the time!

Shipping times

2009-12-06T18:35:00.002-05:00

This time of year people seem to expect major shipping delays when ordering online. This may be true for some of the huge brick-and-mortar stores and their online sites, but generally online shopping runs no more than a day or two behind the usual schedule.

People ask us "Can I get this by December 19th?" when they are ordering on the 5th... well, we pack orders Monday through Friday and generally we ship within 24-48 hours of receiving an order. Most orders go by USPS Priority even if we quoted UPS Ground rates, because we use the USPS Priority Flat rate box whenever possible. So yes, if you ordered on the 5th (a Saturday) you will probably get your order by the next Wednesday (the 9th!). Exceptions would be very bulky or heavy orders sent out by UPS Ground, which can take up to 5 business days. We ship from Massachusetts, so West Coast orders could take 7 calendar days to arrive. However, 80% of our orders to the West Coast are sent in a Priority Flat Rate box, if they fit.

When in doubt, just ask us. Put the date you need it by in the message field of your order form. We usually will reply within hours and tell you when it will ship and when it should arrive.

We want everybody to get their coffee and tea on time. If you have any unusual requirements just let us know!

The best gift under $20 for coffee lovers?

2009-11-20T09:26:00.012-05:00

We have been the exclusive authorized distributor for Trung Nguyen Coffees on the web since 2005. In all that time, we have never seen a coffee that has such a universal appeal as the Legendee Gold. Every type of coffee lover, whether already a fan of Vietnamese coffees or even a Dunkin' Donuts or Peet's lover, is always impressed by a cup of Legendee. Even people who say they don't like coffee seem to be impressed.

Throughout Southeast Asia there is no more single respected brand and blend than the Legendee, served in thousands of coffee shops and sold in 17 SE Asian countries

Here in the USA the fan base grows everyday. The Legendee Gold simply has a lot to love-- created from the most select Arabica and Excelsa, and treated with the natural enzyme soak that simulates the action taking place in civet (weasel) coffee, the result is described by aficionados in many ways:

"I love to sneak a little bit from the early drip from my coffee machine into my cup for a concentrated hit of the most incredibly bitter-free and intense coffee experience" (D.M., MA)

"I have two favorite coffees, the Liberica and the Legendee. Some mornings my biggest dilemma is simply which to brew. Other mornings, my infant sun creates more fundamental dilemmas..." (D.Y., MA)

"I couldn't get the Legendee to equal the experience I have had with civet coffee until you told me about the low-temperature brewing. I put water at 185° in my Phin this morning and said 'Yes, there it is!'" (W.B., WI)

These and thousands more fans find the Legendee to be among the best, if not the best, of the coffees they have ever had. So that is why the Legendee makes such a perfect and simple gift for any coffee lover. This year we came up with a very easy way to present a gift of Legendee. We found these wonderful gold lamé bags that fit a Legendee (and many other of our coffees) perfectly. It's a simple and elegant presentation and a perfect gift under $20 for every coffee lover. Spread some Legendee Gold happiness this holiday season!

Highlands Coffees are here!

2009-10-28T09:56:00.007-04:00

In our quest to bring you all the best coffee that can be exported from Vietnam, we are proud to announce our new distributorship in the USA for Highlands Coffee, the fastest-growing producer in Vietnam.

Highlands Coffee shops (~60) are found mostly in the central business districts, tourist destinations and waterfront locations. Highlands is a progressive company with the mission of bringing traditional Vietnamese coffee roasting and serving techniques to the modern world, in vital areas of Southeast Asia and now to the USA and Canada.

We are carrying two coffee ranges from Highlands, including 4 popular roast & ground coffees and 3 truly incredible espressos. The Full City Roast Espresso (Italian style) is our own personal favorite! And the natural water-process DeCaf is exceptional. When we serve it in our test kitchen people agree that it could pass for good non-decaf espresso in most coffeehouses.

We are featuring the coffees also in a Highlands version of the Ultimate Coffee Kit (in samples and gifts) and in a discounted sampler on the main Highlands shopping page.

Highlands is great coffee-- if you love the taste of cafe coffee in Vietnam, you should try it! And if you are an espresso fan, these espressos may become your new favorites.

New coffees arriving

2009-10-12T22:59:00.002-04:00

We are excited to see so many new coffees arriving this week and next.

We have flown in a new shipment of Liberica, Liberica/Excelsa Blend, and Coffee Alamid from the Philippines, arriving tomorrow on October 13th. Finally, this long-awaited coffee will be available in quantities for general sale on our website, ultra-fresh due to air freight expediting. We had an advanced shipment of the Liberica, a once-vanishing coffee species, in-house last month and it sold out in two days through our exclusive customer mailing list. We hope to have the coffees up on the website in the next couple of days.

We have ordered 30 ESE pod brewing machines for test marketing of our new office/bakery/restaurant coffee service and these are also arriving this week, along with Splendour Coffee's exeptional Classic Blend of Indonesian Java Highland Estate mixture of Arabica and Robusta. This is one of the company's "house coffees" that is supplied with the state of the art coffee vending machines that actually grind a fresh cup and brew it while you wait. This blend scored very high with our test group in open office hours and we had many requests to carry the coffee, so we have purchased several cases to make it available to our general market.

Next we have the new shipment of Nacha Thai coffee, the incredible rich and fragrant Arabica Typica-based Original and the Typica/Catimor blend called Classic. These coffees are the new production of the coffee that won Best Asian Coffee in Long Beach in 2007, beating Kona and other competitors for the title. A little darker in roast than the original coffee, we have tested the new lots with our local fans and they are thrilled with the new blends. Nacha is also supplying the popular Souvenir Canister that we carried briefly last spring, which sold out quickly.

Finally, we are getting in a new shipment of Trung Nguyen whole bean along with our new line of Tam Chau teas and 4 styles of Phin filters. For years we have looked for a wholesale supplier of larger Phin filters, for our customers who want to brew a cup of 8 or 10 ounces instead of the standard 6 ounces, and now we will be carrying all three sizes. We also have a new shipment of the screw-down filters for those who prefer that type.

Now we just have to try to keep from being totally over-caffeinated as we sample all the new coffees... it's a rough job, but somebody has to do it!

Be a "preferred customer"

2009-08-30T23:43:00.003-04:00

Once a month, approximately, we mail the list of our customers with news about special pricing on new products, or unusually good pricing that is a temporary special that we want to reserve for a limited number of customers. If you love unique, fabulous, gourmet coffee and tea and want to be on our mailing list, you can use the Contact Us form and simply enter the message "Please add me to your Preferred Customer email list."

http://www.vietnamese-coffee.com/contact_us.php

Upcoming products

2009-08-30T23:11:00.003-04:00

We are excited to be featuring several new product lines coming up this fall.

We brought back our first shipment of coffee from the Philippines and sold it out through the newsletter in two days, except that we saved a few Coffee Alamid bottles for sale on the web, which should be appearing on the site around September 1. The Liberica was an overwhelming hit and we have a lot of reserve orders for more. We have placed our next order with Arengga and we will keep you posted.

Sometime in mid-December we will be receiving our initial supplies from Highlands Coffee, Vietnam's second-largest coffee producer and coffee shop operator. We will be launching a new site at www.highlands-coffee-online.com, and will feature the coffees through our newsletter. Highlands makes some very superior espressos, and we will have them in ground, whole bean and ESE pod form. We are featuring their Full City Roast and their water-process DeCaf, our first DeCaf coffee.

We have finally found a new tea producer as well. Tam Chau, a well-know producer in Vietnam, features the only Green tea and Jasmine scented Green Tea that we have taste tested and found equal to, or better than, the discontinued Tra Tien teas, which we cannot buy any more. They also have whole leaf tea bags!! Now everybody can enjoy some of the finest tea in the world, by the cup using a teabag or brewed with loose leaves.

Tam Chau is also famous for their Oolong teas... they feature several of the rare, numbered Oolong teas, and we will be trying two of their products on the Vietnamese Coffee site.

Here comes the Philippines!

2009-08-09T10:51:00.004-04:00

We have been trying for years to find an exportable supply of the indigenous Liberica coffee, known locally in the Philippines as kapeng barako, that is grown in the Batangas region. This threatened species of coffee is one of the last 4 "great" species of coffee left in cultivation of any significant volume. The original stocks were brought to the Philippines as early as the 1500s.

Almost extinct at one point, the kapeng barako has been saved partly by government initiatives and local efforts, both economic and environmental. Liberica coffee grown in the Philippines is somewhat distinct genetically from the few known sources elsewhere in the world. Like all non-Arabica species, it is quite misunderstood by most self-appointed coffee experts, most of whom have never traveled to the Philippines or tasted a fresh cup.

Liberica has long been enjoyed as the only coffee in the region, until recent times. My Filipino wife grew up seeing the large, oddly shaped Liberica beans selling in the local open markets by the scoopful. The coffee is extraordinarily stable and survives many types of brewing... a version of "campfire coffee" is the most traditional method of preparation... the coffee is boiled in water and then strained into a cup. But the coffee brews optimally in a French Press or cone drip.

While many people rate Liberica as having a strong, earthly, almost objectionable taste, these reviews usually come from coffee that is stale. When fresh, the Liberica resembes very much the earthly tones of Sumatran Arabicas. It has a unique characteristic of "ripening in the cup". The taste is superb and smooth, almost free of bitters and very easy on the stomach. Yet you can step it up by brewing it stronger to get an entirely different experience. It's a fabulous cup!

We have recently brought back a small supply of the Liberica from the Batangas region, produced and roasted by Arengga, a very enlightened coffee company that is single-handedly revolutionizing much of the coffee industry in the Philippines, or at least, the production model and environmental manifest. Liberica coffee is not only the world's most unique coffee in terms of physical characteristics (huge beans grown on tall trees), but stands poised to effect great economic and environmental changes in the Philippines and beyond.

We have become a distributor of this coffee, and are now the only known exported source in the USA, and we will be able to offer it in higher quantities starting in late September. Stay tuned for more stories and news on Liberica coffee!

That Good Ol' Legendee

2009-05-28T10:58:00.002-04:00

In 1996 Trung Nguyen made a serious investment in creating some coffees and coffeehouses that set new world-class standards.

One of their major projects was to hire a team of German scientists to learn why Kopi Luwak (weasel/civet/chon) coffee tastes so incredibly different and good. Trung Nguyen knew they could never service 800 coffeeshops and the mass market with Kopi Luwak, which is a painstaking and slow coffee to process. So they reasoned, why can't we duplicate what the furry little beastie is doing to the coffee beans when they are in his stomach?

The German scientists, being what they are - the world's top coffee scientists in R&D - were successful in isolating six natural enzymes that are responsible for the partial digestion of the bean cellulose structure, bringing the release of flavor elements that were previously unavailable, and also neutralizing any bitterness in the bean.

When TN first applied this process to their coffee, they chose a mix of beans that was popular in the cultivation of Kopi Luwak, a mix of Arabica, Robusta and Excelsa. This bean mix creates a bold profile underlying the smooth and bitter-free nature of the Kopi Luwak process.

However, as time went on and the world embraced more and more an all-Arabica fetish, many Kopi Luwaks were produced by feeding civets 100% Arabica. This creates a Kopi Luwak that has incredible high tones and a wonderful aroma that permeates the room upon opening. Arabica enthusiasts were pleased, but many people felt that the brewed coffee was not bold enough.

Trung Nguyen created the new Legendee Gold in ground format to approximate the taste of 100% Arabica Kopi Luwak. This was fine and wonderful, but they also stopped exporting the original, bolder formula. Since 2007 we have not been able to get the "Classic" Legendee, but recently we were able to buy it from the factory in Vietnam and have it shipped to us here.

So, Classic Legendee is back! At least, in the bean form. We celebrated by hosting our coffee social at our warehouse with Classic Legendee "on tap" and drank ourselves silly and hyper on Legendee.

We hope you share our excitement in the return of this Classic.

Today's coffee prices

2009-05-02T19:25:00.005-04:00

I have been surprised to see the grocery store prices of many coffees coming down. Importing costs are incredibly high right now, and Customs and the FDA are requiring more paperwork from originators than ever before. There was a day long ago (4 years) when paperwork was simple and customs saw its job as to catalog everything that came in and watch out for specific problems. Now, customs' job seems to be to prevent all importing. Between multiple exam fees and two extra rounds of paperwork and double fees, it is obviously either a hidden tariff situation or simply a bald attempt to put small importers out of business by making the importing cost exceed 300% of where it stood 4 years ago. More on that another time...

So, with all coffee importer prices going up, why are we seeing bargains at the grocery store?

Take one example that I decided to follow through: New England Coffee placed a huge stand in all the Market Baskets in our area with 10-ounce bags of coffee selling 2 for $5.00. 2 for $5.00??? That wouldn't cover the cost of decent beans, much less packaging and marketing and the store's markup. What's up?

First, when coffee sales are down, coffee companies try to offer themselves as sacrificial lambs to the supermarkets. Coffee is one of the time-honored "loss leaders" that supermarkets use to pull customers in. That means, they sell the coffee on promotion for a small loss and hope to make it up on the grocery bill.

Second, coffee producers often target a special blend or different coffee for these promotions. Often, these blends will use inferior beans or have some other issue. To whit:

I picked up several of the sale coffees and turned them over to look at them. They looked like the usual New England Coffee product but they weren't. Nothing written about the coffee... just the flavor. Yes, they were all flavored coffees. I noted the one-way vent and squeezed the bag to sniff the aroma. Nothing happened. Thinking the bag was defective I picked up another and squeezed. Pop! The bag exploded all over me. Oops, time to hang the head and look contritely at the stocker down the aisle until her wan smile tells me that it's okay, it happens, and they will clean it up.

But now I look down at my coat. It is covered with fine brown powder that does not resemble coffee grinds. I try to brush it off with no success; it has permeated the fabric. I note that the grind of the coffee is totally uneven, much of it simply a fine powder. Other coffees brush off my clothes, this clings. What's more, it reeks of artificial caramel-vanilla fake hazelnut flavor. I smell like a bad room air freshener.

So now we see what is going on. I look closer and see that the apparent one-way-valve is a fake, it is not a valve, it is a sticker that looks like a valve. It's flat. Or else, it's a new cheap type and none of them are working. And the quality of the coffee and the overwhelming artificial scent tell me that we have cheap coffee poorly ground, loaded with artificial flavor to cover up low quality.

Now I understand the 2 for $5.00 special, it is just a specially-developed loss leader. None of the coffees on the stand are part of the company's regular line at all. It saddens me to see things like this at the market and I wish companies would not sully their names with this sort of thing. But I move on, embarrassed to be the dodo that spilled the coffee at the store, but at least secure in understanding how this special price can seem to buck the trend of coffee pricing.

Kopi Luwak - poor misunderstood civet!

2009-05-01T15:16:00.006-04:00

Like most gourmet coffee information available on the web, there are many conflicting stories and information about this gourmet delight. It always amazes me how little effort many reporters, for instance, will go to to verify their information on a story.

Kopi Luwak coffee is "processed" by the palm civet, a shy cat-like creature who hunts at night and likes to dine on the ripest of coffee berries (coffee comes from the bean, around which are the berries, or "cherry" fruit. The (relative clean and vegetarian) animal leaves the coffee seeds in their droppings, which are collected, thoroughly cleaned, and roasted. The digestive enzymes of the civet break down coffee's typical acids and structures in a way that no other processing can duplicate, accomplishing two things: Creating the world's smoothest coffee and releasing flavors that cannot be accessed by normal roasting or handling.

The result is truly the world's "best" coffee by many definitions. The aftertaste is haunting and persistent, and one cup calls after another... which would be a terribly expensive thing if one was to believe the hyperbole about $60-a-cup coffee.

In reality, we recommend people carefully measure out their beans before they brew, allotting about 50-55 per cup, and if brewed a cup at a time, Kopi Luwak comes down to about $2 a cup. That's less than a latte at Starbucks. So, while people like to conjure images of tycoons burning $100 bills and drinking $60-a-cup coffee, that's just a fantasy.

Some Kopi Luwak myths:

Myth 1: All Kopi Luwak is similar in taste. Not true - the civets can dine on any number of coffee species and the resulting brew will be quite different. What is consistent is the smoothness and hidden aromatics that are released... but the basic flavor of the coffee can change quite a bit.

Myth 2: All Kopi Luwak comes from Sumatra. The civet palm and its close relatives are found throughout Malaysia and certain regions of South East Asia, plus the Philippines. The Philippines offers up a notable version of their civet coffee, called Cafe Alamid (Civet Coffee), which typically comes from a civet feeding on mixed coffee species of Liberica, Arabica and Robusta. This civet coffee has a totally different and bolder flavor profile than Sumatran Arabica. But it still "tastes" like Kopi Luwak. It's hard to explain, but even though the coffees are different, you know it's Kopi Luwak each time. It's almost like recognizing a particular roast, like French Roast. The coffees may be different but French Roast has a particular characteristic you can't miss.

Today I tried an experiment. We have been carrying the My-Kap product that allows people with Keurig K-Cup brewers to brew any coffee in re-used cups. It was painful, but I measured out 55 or so beans in a scoop and ground them relatively fine, then put them in an empty K-cup and snapped on the My-Kap and brewed myself a cup of Kopi Luwak coffee. Sacrilege, perhaps. But I had to know.

The result was somewhat to be expected. There was nowhere near the bright, fresh flavor of brewing in a Vietnamese Phin Filter, Melitta one-cup or French Press. But the cup still tasted like Kopi Luwak and it still carried that incredible aftertaste that stayed with me for a half an hour after enjoying the cup. I wouldn't recommend this as a way to optimize Kopi Luwak, but it did produce a cup of coffee that most people would have found exceptional, and it told me that people who buy the coffee and brew it in their Keurig will probably not be disappointed.

Sweeteners

2009-03-31T14:56:00.003-04:00

I'm not a big fan of good old table sugar. The flavor is ...boring, and not worth the calories, not to mention the headache I get from it. I don't know if it's the sugar itself, or the chemicals involved in processing and refining it, but sugar = headache within about 15 minutes.

As a result, I usually use one or another sugar substitute to sweeten my tea and coffee - either Splenda or aspartame (Nutrasweet), not Sweet-n-Low, which has a funny aftertaste. But I'm always open to trying new things, and in moderation, other sugar alternatives don't bother me.

So when my local Market Basket started carrying a xyltiol-based granular sugar substitute that looks just like sugar, doesn't degrade with heat, is all-natural, and has been shown to reduce tooth decay by up to 70% (just ask Wikipedia), I was pretty excited. Check it out - it's sold under the brand name Ideal.

There's also the old standby, honey, for tea; it adds flavor and sweetness. It's no so great for coffee, though; the flavors don't agree, in my opinion.

Instead, I've started using Agave nectar, a syrup becoming more available as it appears in Stop and Shop and other large grocery stores. Agave is the cactus originally used to make tequila, but its juice is a rich and delicious source of a soluble fiber called inulin, now used as a supplement in products like Fiber One's granola bars. The juice's fiber breaks down into sugars as it is processed into syrup for sweetening. It's pretty affordable, and adds a caramel-like flavor and enhanced body to any coffee. It's also got a gram of fiber in every spoonful!

So check out your local grocery store; you might find some sweet surprises!

I'm looking forward to Espresso Pods!

2009-03-09T10:53:00.003-04:00

I have to admit, I'm lazy. Any mess I DON'T have is fine by me. The idea of getting my favorite espressos in a portion-sized, no-cleanup Pod is pretty exciting. And, once we get these Pods, not only will I not have to clean up coffee grounds anymore, but I won't have to worry about using the bag up in time, either, since the Pods are in sealed packaging.

Espresso is one of my favorite coffee types because I don't usually drink coffee black or American-style, but instead prefer iced lattes, blended drinks, espresso mochas, and so forth. I love getting the flavor of a full glass of coffee with the richness of the milk - and, as an iced coffee fan, espresso works for me because it's easier to keep the ice from diluting it.

By the way, look for new ice cream recipes soon: I got an ice cream machine and I'll be experimenting with recipes for a while. Espresso's great for ice cream for the same reason it's great for every other specialty - all that flavor in a tight package!

New item: My-Kap for Keurig K-Cup Brewers

2009-03-04T10:36:00.005-05:00

The new My-Kap is an exciting new invention that fits over the top of an existing K-Cup, enabling you to re-use the Cup several times. Each time, you can fill it with your choice of coffees, including our delicious Vietnamese coffees.

Each My-Kap comes with detailed, illustrated instructions on using, storing and cleaning it, but after using it once, you will find it delighfully intuitive and simple to use. Also included is a little tool that helps get the My-Kap back off of the K-Cup after using it.

While Keurig's own My K-Cup does not require the used K-Cup and many customers like it, we have found the My-Kap easier to use, store, and clean, and we prefer the flavor of the coffee brewed with the My-Kap.

To learn more about My-Kap, visit our store.

Coffee Hours in Medford, MA

2009-03-04T10:29:00.002-05:00

We're happy to tell you that we will be hosting coffee hours in our Medford, MA office every weekday. Our office is at 200 Boston Avenue in the Cummings Properties office building, on the bottom floor - just go in the front door, down the stairs, and turn right.

This coffeehouse is open to everyone, and is especialy convenient for other people who work in the Cummings Properties network. Fresh-brewed cups of coffee are free, and so are the delicious homemade pastries that Pearl bakes for us. Bagged coffee is available for purchase as well.

This is a great way to try new varieties of Vietnamese coffee, and probably a big step up from whatever coffee is in the break room - and the price is right! (Yes, it's really free!)

Our hours are 8:30 to 10:30 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and 8:30 to 5:30 on Wednesday.