Coffee is HUGE in Vietnam, and its capital has a cafe on every corner, it seems. Sometimes, it feels like the cafes are stacked on top of each other. In a city like Hanoi, where tiny, narrow "tube houses" are crammed together in tight rows, sometimes this is literally the case!
Coffee is also super cheap in Hanoi, so we often go to a cafe every day. The first time I visited Vietnam four years ago, it was early spring and Hanoi was freezing cold. Back then, I wasn't much of a coffee drinker, but I did try a cup of hot coffee. In the past few years, I've grown to like it more and more. Now, however, it's much too hot outside for hot coffee. We will be sticking to iced while we are here!
A really good Vietnamese iced coffee should come in three layers: thick, sweet condensed milk; dark, rich coffee; and light foam on top. Stir it up, and take a sip!
Hanoi is sometimes called the "Paris of the East". Sometimes it's hard to see why, but on occasion, the city does have a bit of a European feel, especially when you are in the old French Quarter. I think the country's cafe culture is somewhat a holdover of the nation's French colonial history.
After a long, hot, sweaty day walking through the dusty and humid city, sometimes it feels hard to take another step. When we get to that point, Pinky and I know that we need to find a cafe STAT! After a half-hour sitting down with a cold drink (and a little caffeine), we are feeling good again and ready to continue our adventures!
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