Vietnamese coffee is gaining traction at national retailers and across cafes

Now, across the country, Vietnamese cafe scenes are burgeoning in coffee-obsessed cities like Portland and Seattle. Chicago-based coffee brand Fat Miilk opened its first brick-and-mortar location earlier this year, which followed a Kickstarter campaign and appearance on Gordon Ramsey’s “Food Stars. Retailers are also getting further into the craze. In April, Nguyen Coffee Supply launched in 500 Target locations with their RTD Vietnamese coffees. The launch comes after Nguyen’s ready-to-drink Vietnamese entered Whole Foods stores nationwide in 2023.

Growing exposure to Vietnamese coffee

Copper Cow Coffee was founded by Vietnamese-American Debbie Wei Mullin in 2016, back when Vietnamese coffee was still new to U.S. grocery stores. Its Target launch this month brings the brand’s physical distribution to over 2,400 retail doors across the U.S. In 2023, Copper Cow experienced 50% year-over-year revenue growth.

Mullin said that when she started the company with pour-over latte kits, “there was an uphill battle” to educate people on the difference between Vietnamese-grown coffee and the preparation style people associate with it. “It was hard to convey that to investors in the beginning,” Mullin said.

The Vietnamese coffee concept is commonly known as ‘cà phê sữa đá, or cafe sua da using the English spelling. It refers to the classic way of preparing Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk.

Vietnamese coffee is not a new concept, but several factors have fueled the most recent spike in interest.

Linh Nguyen, the founder and operator of Kinhfolk, a new Vietnamese cafe due to open in Brooklyn in the coming months, told Modern Retail that “through social media channels, people have started to realize that Vietnamese coffee is more than just ‘cà phê sữa đá.'” Nguyen also said Vietnam tourism has been on the rise for the past decade, leading to curiosity about Vietnamese coffee, food and culture. 

Beyond the Instagram-worthy appearance, Nguyen also pointed out that robusta coffee — the bean commonly used in Vietnamese coffee — has almost double the caffeine content in comparison to arabica and generally has a much bolder taste. Robusta beans have historically gotten a bad rap from some coffee drinkers for being too bitter, but “Robusta has chocolatey, caramel and intense flavor that people usually wouldn’t be able to get if they’re used to drinking arabica, which is fruitier and more acidic,” Nguyen said. “It’s why I think Vietnamese beans are unique and a great choice for specialty lattes.”

There is also an increased interest among retailers in offering organic coffee varieties, which Mullin said are more expensive to farm. However, she noted that robusta farming has an advantage because it’s easier and more climate-resistant to grow than the arabica species. In April, Copper Cow certified its first organic farm in Vietnam, and the brand will launch its certified organic coffee in retail in early 2025. Vietnam is the second largest coffee producer in the world, after Brazil. 

In addition to all of these factors, upstarts in the space such as Copper Cow and Nguyen Coffee Supply have sought to educate more people about Vietnamese coffee in recent years. Mullin initially chose the pour-over latte kits to make it easier to mix in Copper Cow’s sweetened condensed milk packets. A focus on premiumization was key for Copper Cow’s early foray into physical retail, with its first partners being Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus.

As coffee production in Vietnam became more elevated over the last eight years, Mullin said she has found an opportunity to position Vietnamese coffee as a versatile style, which led to expanding the line to ground coffee. The Copper Cow flavored ground coffee, which first launched via the brand’s DTC website in 2022, can be brewed and drunk on its own or paired with any milk or dairy alternative. The bag SKUs are set to go into several retailers such as Sprouts this year. Target is also picking up the cinnamon-infused churro product after initially carrying Copper Cow’s latte kits. 

Copper Cow is also in Walmart, having initially launched there in 2018. The brand has since expanded to around 1,200 Walmart locations.

“When Walmart called us up, they said they’re interested in anything high-end Asian,” Mullin said. This is part of a bigger strategy among retailers wanting to revamp their Asian food aisles by bringing in startup brands. When talking to the buyers at retailers like Walmart about velocity goals, Mullin said, “They’re not worried about it because they’re seeing [Copper Cow] show up in high-value baskets.”  

A boost from social media

Mullin also credited the growing online interest in all things Vietnamese coffee on platforms like TikTok and Instagram over the last few years, especially as brewing specialty coffee became more popular since the pandemic. Recipes for dupes for restaurant-style cafe sua da have generated millions of views on TikTok.

“Now, we have viral videos that just talk about robusta and why sweetened condensed milk is used,” she said. Mullin said the proliferation of Vietnamese coffee made it much easier to pitch Copper Cow to investors and retail buyers. “We’ve seen that people have much more exposure to Vietnamese coffee, and that allows us to now focus on our flavored ground coffee,” Mullin said. 

It’s not just retail buyers interested in diversifying their coffee aisles. Cafes specializing in Vietnamese beans and drinks are also popping up in major cities. 

Later this year, Vietnamese coffee shop Kinhfolk will open in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood after a series of successful pop-ups.

Kinhfolk’s Nguyen said she got the idea to open the cafe back in 2021. “Until now, there have been only a handful of Vietnamese coffee shops in New York City,” Nguyen said. But the cafe is arriving at a great time for the category. “We’ve been very grateful to not only sell out at almost every pop-up, but also to be able to bring Kinhfolk and Vietnamese coffee to big companies for corporate events,” Nguyen said. In June, Netflix invited Kinhfolk to co-host a coffee event at its New York office, which the cafe dubbed as a “Netflix and chill” day. 

With more coffee shops and retailers embracing Vietnamese coffee, the style stands to generate mainstream adoption.

“Vietnamese coffee has always been extremely popular outside of the U.S., but now more and more people are beginning to be introduced to it,” Nguyen said. “The barrier was due to robusta having somehow been labeled an inferior, untraceable bean to arabica, but it seems that this view is beginning to shift.”