Vietnam is the world’s second-largest coffee producer, harvesting over 1.5 million tons per year. In Hanoi, a working-class cafe culture meets globally influenced coffee shops, offering an extraordinary range of experiences to coffee lovers.
LessThis is a go-to coffee shop for quality coffee lovers in Hanoi. They were the first cafe in the city to specialize in pour-overs and they roast everything in-house, offering V60, AeroPress, Chemex, and Vietnamese-style phin drip coffee. Kafeville showcases single-origin beans from Vietnam but also imported coffees from Burundi, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and around the world.
In the unending chaos of Hanoi, this cafe’s little corner of calm is much needed. Visit one of Tranquil’s locations for espresso drinks and hand pours, with a focus on micro-lots from Vietnamese coffee production regions including Da Lat Province and Dak Nong Province.
Blackbird is both a roaster and cafe, focused on Vietnamese coffee and offering their own Vietnamese Arabicas and Robustas, including local phin style as well as on a full slow bar featuring AeroPress. Their Arabicas are primarily washed-processed beans from Lang Biang in Dalat. The space is a staple of local specialty coffee in Hanoi, and it’s close enough to tourist areas to be easily accessible for people just stopping through.
D'codeS Coffee Lab is a specialty coffee training organization and cafe that works to improve the entire coffee supply chain throughout Vietnam. They’re focused on making coffee more sustainable and more accessible. The cafe offers every brew method a customer could ask for, and the space is set up to help customers learn all they can from the knowledgeable baristas or roasters—counter seats in front of the slow bar and plenty of beans to sniff.
Tucked away in the Tay Ho neighborhood to the north of the city center, Simple Coffee is a direct trade roaster and cafe that specializes in microlots from farmers in the northern and central highlands of Vietnam. The cafe itself is also set up as a social enterprise, employing young adults with intellectual disabilities and giving them training and support. Great coffee with a great cause: that’s Simple Coffee.
This is one of the most modern designed cafes in Hanoi, well-regarded by locals and a hub for meetings, laptop work sessions, and coffee dates. Atelier does all their roasting in-house and focuses on Vietnamese Robustas and Arabicas, though they also highlight other micro-roasters from Vietnam and around the world. Offerings rotate regularly and there’s always something new to check out.
Nestled amongst Old Quarter art stores and galleries, tailors, and noodle shops, this charming third-wave roastery and cafe specializes in Vietnamese Arabicas, serving exceptionally good medium-light roasts, a rarity in Hanoi. On roasting days, the aroma from the newest batch of beans coming out of the roaster in the back mixes with fresh croissants and baguettes. The pastries and fresh bread here are particularly exceptional and should not be skipped.