Shipping times

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?

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!

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

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"

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

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!

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!