[Salon] Where the bitter turns sweet: The story of Vietnamese coffee

Obviously, Lam is expressing a little whimsy below, but it is worthwhile to remember that Austria, Italy and France did not need to be colonized by Arabs or Turks to develop coffee culture even if attempted Ottoman expansionism is responsible for introducing coffee to the Hapsburg empire as one story claims.

Where the bitter turns sweet: The story of Vietnamese coffee

Colonialism had its discontents, but this is worth keeping around

By Francis Lam

Salon/Francis Lam

My 20-year-old self would give me an open hand across the face for saying this, but: You know, colonialism wasn't all bad. It gave rise, for instance, to Vietnamese coffee.

I understand if you need to walk away right now to get a cup, because even just the mention of this stuff has that effect on people.

But for those still with us, imagine a short glass with a hard dose of sweetened condensed milk, the color of ivory and the texture of hot fudge. The glass wears a metal top hat, a filter with grounds and water, which dribbles in drops of thick coffee, crude-oil black and nearly as bitter. They sit, stacked in two layers, until you take a spoon and give it a turn. For a moment, the coffee and milk swirl around each other, hesitating before coming together, a phenomenon smarter people than me call sensitive chaos. You take a sip, and the sweetness hits first, full and rich. Then your mouth dries a bit, like the tide pulling back, and coffee leaves a mellow bitterness. You take another sip, and suddenly everything is right with the world.

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