THE COFFEE HOUSE

The Coffee House
29/28 ĐoànThị Điểm
P.1, Phú Nhuận District

*****

I love people who are passionate about something.  It’s not that important what they’re passionate about, as long as they care deeply about something and their life is energized by that something.

My life-long friend, Jan’s passion is understanding nature and its creeping, crawling, flying, buzzing inhabitants and sharing that understanding with others. AND creating amazing botanical garden treasures!

Hai’s passion is cooking and eating Vietnamese food.

I guess the obvious question you’ll want to ask is, What am I passionate about?

Ha! – How personal!  I don’t have to answer that.

Well, OK, but I’ll keep it very short.   My passion has changed over the years (decades, I guess).  It’s been building a wonderful relationship with my partner, succeeding in my university career, renovating real estate, fighting for equal rights and justice for gay folk, saving California ancient redwood trees, touring beautiful Vietnam, and now creating Eating Saigon!  What’s next?  I’m not sure … Maybe Eating Hanoi?? 🙂

This past Sunday, I met a man passionate about coffee!  I guess more exactly, passionate about coffee beans.  That is, not only, enjoying and drinking coffee, but understanding and respecting the beans that make that brew and sharing that understanding and respect with others.

Now, I truly did not get up Sunday morning with a great desire to better understand coffee beans.  But, I do love coffee.  And that morning, I did recall that I had spotted an interesting looking coffee shop in Phú Nhuận District last week that I wanted to go and check out.  (That was the evening last week that Hai and I enjoyed listening to some local live music at I’m Your’s Cafe.)

Directly across the small, quiet street from I’m Your’s Cafe was The Coffee House.  It somehow visually looked inviting and I wanted to return.  Sunday morning we did.

After following the blue dot for 15 minutes on my iPhone Goggle Maps ap, we arrived at The Coffee House again.  Even before I jumped off the motorbike, I immediately felt welcomed by the “homey” coffee house sign, the small, but pleasant outside gardened patio, and by the lovely piano music coming through the front door.   How nice.  What an easy, gentle way to enjoy a Sunday morning cup of coffee.

But would they have a cappucino?

Ối trời ơi, YES!  Single or double shot?, I was asked.  Well, okay, double sounds good.  But, it wasn’t good.  It was GREAT!

Strong Italian expresso coffee, beautifully served!  Again, life is good.

Hai order sữa chua cà phê.  A tall glass of chilled yogurt, spiked with a strong shot of coffee.  Very yummy!

But that was just the beginning.  The real joy of the morning was meeting Trieu, the owner, entrepreneur, and coffee bean aficionado at The Coffee House.

Trieu immediately took us on a short tour of his coffee shop – now just 14 months in the making.  Still renovating upstairs, adding new small and interesting spaces to relax, to socialize and to uống cà phê (drink coffee), Trieu clearly was building a very special place for the locals and expats to enjoy themselves over their favorite drinks.

Italian sodas, yogurt drinks, fruit shakes, ice cream sodas, and even hard-liquor cocktails.  Difficult NOT to find something you’d want to drink here.

But that wasn’t all.

A lovely piano available to all … to play their music and for others to enjoy!

Free English club sessions are organized for locals to sharpern their language skills.

And, most passionately, classes to those interested parties to learn all there is to know about coffee beans.

HEALTHY coffee beans, that is.  No preservtives, no flavorings, no colorings.  Specifically selected and uniquely processed beans.  Family secrets preserved, but knowledge, understanding and appreciation of coffee beans shared one-on-one and in scheduled classes.

Thank you Trieu!  Attending your class and understanding the beans that bring me joy each and every day is now on my “MUST DO” List. (As is returing to The Coffee House simply to enjoy another Sunday morning and another great cup of coffee.)

The Coffee House
29/28 ĐoànThị Điểm
P.1, Phú Nhuận District

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