Hà Nội’s coffee culture, like no other

The Hanoians drink a lot of the dark, caffeinated beverage and prefer sipping their stronger blends outside in front of a small shop with some sweet milk and a spoonful of sugar.

Every morning, on hot days of summer and cold and dull days of winter, you can easily see some here with a cup of coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other.

For many Hanoians, the most important factor of a café is not its luxuriousness but the quality of the product.

Old people love cafes which have been around a long time, located in old streets or inside deep alleys. Office workers like cafes with romantic and quiet styles like those in Phố Cổ (Old Quarter). Young people prefer the noisy and busy atmosphere of modern and luxury or pavement cafes.

Street Coffee…

Soaking up the rhythms of the street and embracing Hà Nội from all of its sides, from old to new ones, and from traditional to modern and quirky ones, you will tenderly recognize that, nothing can better refresh us after hardworking hours than a cup of coffee on a street near the Sword Lake (Hoàn Kiếm Lake).

Though you won't find a Starbucks in Việt Nam, there is no shortage of a variety in Hà Nội's cafes. Besides the standard four coffee drinks --  hot black coffee, iced-black coffee, hot coffee with milk and iced coffee with milk -- available in any cafe, there is  hot coffee with a raw egg beaten into it, with or without milk, which tastes a bit like flavored meringue. With sugar, it is practically a meal.

Basking with sunshine in the afternoon when there’s less noise from automobiles, Hà Nội ends a day and opens a new paradise for culture experiences.

Taking over a legacy from bygone years with the involvement of an irresistible French factor, the Vietnamese have embraced café culture in a great way. There are so many famous coffee shops in Hà Nội, like Năng Café (No. 6 Hàng Bạc Street), Nhân (No. 39D1 Hàng Hành ), Quất (Quán Thánh), Quỳnh (Bát Đàn) and Lâm (Nos. 60 and 91 Nguyễn Hữu Huân) and so on.

These places are ideal for having gossip, meeting old friends, talking to pass  time of day, stealing precious moments for romantics…

It's a restrained sort of cafe culture: no flamboyant umbrellas, no tables spilling out onto the sidewalks. People-watching isn't really what it's about.

The typical  Hà Nội cafe is a tiny space, often just a storefront with a beaded curtain separating it from the street. Hà Nội residents come to cafes to escape the heat of the day, to relax, and to sip a cup of a grainy, bittersweet local blend.

For many people, a cup of coffee is simply a crutch for the sleep-deprived but Vietnamese coffee, on the other hand, can teach you the feeling of linger.

Coffee drinking from another approach

The resurgence of tourism to these fragrant shores has led to the resurrection of the wonderful old ambience of former colonial times in many Hà Nội cafes. Delightful cafes are now housed in elegant French-style villas with exquisite silk prints, meticulously polished wooden floors and pot-planted courtyards or serve delicious food all day and evening. Street cafés like the La Terrasse du Metropole on Ngô Quyền Street and Lệ Phụng Hiểu Street or Highlands Café, 84 Nguyễn Du Street are the typical examples!