Vietnam surprises its guests from distant lands in many ways. One way it surprised me is with its wonderful café culture.

The Vietnamese understand cafés. There are tiny ones, a few stools on the side of the street. Grand coffeehouses where well-dressed city people watch the morning traffic go by. There are airy coffee shops in gardens with large trees, potted bonsai and koi ponds. Large cafés chains branded with corporate logos, and stylish independent coffee houses with nostalgic-retro-vintage atmospheres. Cafés in side-street garages where elderly men play chess in silence. Coffee shops with large solid tables and electric outlets, packed with hardworking students and business people.

It’s heaven. It’s a land of wonders, if you like cafés.

I feel welcome in Vietnamese cafés. I feel I am in the living room of a friend, where I’m welcome to rest and relax. Everyone goes to cafés, and there are cafés for everyone. Whole families on a Sunday morning, groups of students, office workers on a break, posh ladies who breakfast or lunch together, street vendors who sit down for a quick stop, pensioners, and people working at their laptops.

You sit, and a glass of tra da appears on your table. Tra da is usually weak tea or cool water. Your coffee arrives. You can stay when you’ve finished your drink, and your tra da will be refilled as long as you stay. No rush. No pressure to order more, no pressure to leave.

Cafés do not serve food. You can get a take-away from a nearby street vendor and have it at your outdoor table together with your coffee. 

The many many beautiful cafés of Da Nang

The Vietnamese drink a lot of coffee. Coffee was introduced to Vietnam by the French in the mid 19th Century. Today Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee in the world after Brazil, and coffee is its second largest export after rice. It produces mostly Robusta coffee, which contains more caffeine than Arabica and has a stronger, chocolate-like taste.

Da Nang, along the coast of Central Vietnam, was my home for a few months in 2018. It is a modern university city, one of the largest in Vietnam. It is clean and safe. It has a beautiful white beach, an international airport, a large river crossed by stunning bridges, one of which is a fire-breathing dragon. There is the tallest Buddha statue in Vietnam (a Lady Buddha, nonetheless), and a museum of wonderful ancient sculpture.

Millions of tourists visit Da Nang every year, mostly from Vietnam, South Korea, China and Japan. It has a large student population attending its many universities. And it is becoming an important hub for digital nomads, mostly Western expats who live and work in Asia. As Da Nang grows, so do the number, the quality, and the diversity of its coffee houses.

The Vietnamese are adventurous with architecture and design. The cafés of Vietnam would fit perfectly in the best parts of London, New York, or Tokyo. Every time I return to Da Nang there are new cafés to explore. These are some of my favourite ones.

In the very early morning, when the air is still fresh, it is wonderful to sit in a café with tables on the pavement and watch the traffic go by. I eat the breakfast I bought from one of the street vendors and drink a ca phe den da, just-brewed warm black coffee and ice. In the morning, the streets are packed with scooters. Whole families on scooters. Scooters with huge cargoes – vegetables for the market, wares for sale. Scooters carrying two, three students each, in uniform, driving side by side on their way to school.

For the rest of the day I move to a café where I can work, read, write. I have my favourite places with comfortable chairs and tables, and pleasant music, not too loud. Air-conditioning in the hot months. Sockets to keep my phone and computer alive. 

Da Nang does not disappoint. I keep discovering new favourite cafés, and the list is growing longer. 

Vietnamese cafés – a to do list

• If you arrive by scooter, most Vietnamese cafés have attendants waiting outside to park it for you
• You will be served tra da, a glass of water or very light tea when you sit at your table, which will be refilled as long as you stay
• You can bring your own food to most cafés, and usually you must eat it in the outdoor tables
• You can stay as long as you want – read, write, study, spend time on your phone, watch the world go by, take selfies… or simply sit quietly and look around. There’s great people watching to be done in cafés
• Try something new: coconut coffee, avocado coffee, lemon and salted apricot juice…