Coffee in SE Asia?
 

This may sound like an odd question, but we are going to be traveling in Cambodia, Vietnam & Laos next month and we're coffee in the morning people. Is there going to be a problem with that? I should prepare myself if I'm going to have to go thru withdrawal. Thanks...

Don't know about Cambodia and Laos, but you don't have to worry about not getting your caffeine in Vietnam. Vietnamese love drinking coffee. Their coffee is almost as strong as espresso. You can either add sugar or condensed milk.

Hong Kong is the place that's difficult to find a good cup of coffee. HK people seem to prefer drinking HK-sytled milk tea over coffee.

I have never been to Laos so far. But in Cambodia there are also several places where you can get good coffee.
Thailand is even better. For instance Starbucks is having a lot of shops in Bangkok and all around the country.
And in many Thai shops you can find plenty of different kinds of coffee to take home or brew yourself.
Vietnam is now among the biggest coffee growing countries in the world. The a.m. kind of coffee can be found in every small cafe or restaurant in the country. But its possible to get other kinds too.
But to be honest, breakfast coffee in many hotels are not matching these criterias.

I have never had a problem getting my morning coffee in the tourist hotels in SE Asia (which is where I assume you will be staying).

You'll have no problem finding coffee in SE Asia. I'm a coffee addict as well -- and it was plentiful and easy to find. Happy Travels!!

Any where you are going there is coffee. Even Starbucks, in some of those places. If you are a DD fan they don't seem to have franchises in SEA as much. You can even buy instant in the stores with cream and sugar already in it.

You wont have a problem with coffee in Cambodia. Most of the local coffee shops roast the coffee beans the night before and it is some of the best and strongest coffee I have ever had. It is usually sold as (coffee and ice), (coffee and milk), or (coffee, milk and ice). Have a good trip

You'll have no problem, brah. Coffee everywhere like good weed.

Lao coffee is good - there is a lot grown in the highlands in southern lao They grow robusta and arabica but mostly robusta is what you will get in the coffee shops unless you go to the better ones where you can choose your coffee. If you are in Vientiene look out for Lao Mountain coffee which is great (take some home) - you'll also get Sinouk brand all over the place. I just prefer the Lao Mountain but Sinouk is good too.

I love good coffee. Rest assured that we did find very good coffee in cafes in all three of those countries, but I was extremely unimpressed by the morning coffee at the high-end hotels.

The Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake, for example, provided very sleek and attractive individual French presses at every table but the coffee was just above drinkable. I asked an American born associate who now lives in Vietnam why everything but the coffee was fabulous, especially considering that Vietnam is a major coffee growing country. His sense was that the quality of beans was good but that training for preparing the coffee was inadequate. Perhaps.

At the beautiful Residence Phou Vao in Luang Prabang, I tried going to breakfast very early, right after it opened, to see if the coffee was good early on but then neglected. Even the first batch wasn't any good so I switched to tea. They served the most exquisite fruit I have ever eaten anywhere but they have a blindspot when it comes to coffee preparation.

If you really enjoy good coffee, you will want to find appropriate cafes.

Generally, the tropical belt of SE Asia is home to the earliest coffee planters in the world. Coffee was planted in SE Asia long before Latin America. Since early 80's, the Lao government has been replacing poppy fields with coffee and of course colonial French did a whole lot for Vietnam in influencing their coffee drinking culture. Cambodia is catching up.

That said, the perception of a good cup of coffee may be different. In the west, everyone drinks arabica which is fruity and high in acidity. However, in Vietnam, they grow mostly excelsa. A cup of coffee brewed from excelsa beans is rather "spicy" and "green". Roasters in Vietnam also tend to throw in some vanilla pods for flavouring. I think Lao coffee will suit you best as most coffee grown are high-altitude arabica (like Costa Rica's).

Perhaps the greatest factor to a cup of good cup in Viet/Lao/Camb region is the method of coffee brewing. In most upmarket hotels, you have no worries because restaurants are equipped with proper espresso machines and baristas are tuned to make western-styled coffee. Else where, it's an adventure. Vietnam's drip-method is worth a stab though.

In short, you won't have problem finding coffee. It's the taste and method of brewing that you must get use to.

As all parts of former French Indo China -- coffee, especially in its cafe au lait formats (and great baguettes and croissants) are definitely available in Cambodia, and I would expect the same in Laos and Vietnam. It's a bit decadent just how good the coffee and croissants can be.

Anyone like Jamaican bmc? That's my fave :)

Be sure to try the Weasel S**t coffee while you're there.

Mmmmm....nutty

http://www.lifeaftercoffee.com/2005/...-luwak-coffee/

Friends from everywhere...thank you so much for your thoughts on this. I am well comforted now and confident I will find wonderful coffee throughout our trip. What a great community the Fodor-folks are.

Sounds like you're addicted!!