Coffee on the sidewalk
Imagine this. You wake up early in the morning, go through your bathroom routine and get changed before you start your day. You leave your home, exchange greetings with the neighbours, then pop down the road to your local coffee stall on the sidewalk. The stall has a few tiny wooden tables, often with a box of tissues and astray on top, and small plastic chairs. Each table has enough seats for two, maybe three people to sit around. You say hello to the owner and order cà phê sữa đá (Vietnamese iced coffee) which typically costs no more than one British Pound. The coffee is served - a glass with condensed milk, crushed iced, a metal phin drip filter with strong Robusta coffee inside and a lid on top keep the coffee warm. The coffee continues to drip, few drops at a time, trickling through the maze of broken ice, eventually hitting the bed of condensed milk at the bottom of the glass.
You sit and wait. It is like time has slowed down and you really feel like you are in your own space. Sight and sound of mopeds driving by, chatter from people sitting on the tables next to you, footsteps of people walking past on the pavement. All the noise is like background music. The phin coffee stops dripping. You take the lid, place it on the table and place the phin filter on top of it. You stir the coffee, crushed iced and condensed milk together changing the colour from a black hue to milky brown. You take that all-important first sip. Phin coffee is to be consumed slowly, few sips at a time. Caffeine from Robusta kicks in pretty quickly and is quite intense.
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When I was living in Hanoi from 2019 to early 2021, this was pretty much my morning routine. As I write this, I reminisce my time there, my friends and family whom I would sit with at the stalls enjoying each other’s company as we drink cà phê sữa đá. One particular stop was right across from my house and my father and I would pop over the road, have a chat and good laugh with the owner. Phin coffee is a culture, one I hold close to my heart. Anytime I make one at my home here in London, I think of home in Hanoi.
This one is for you, Vietnam.
