The Best Cafes in Hoi An!
Vietnam is a coffee country. There’s no doubt about that. No matter what city, town, village, hamlet or side alley you explore, there’s a Café 21, Nguyen Café, Apple Café or Highlands Coffee (for the upscale drinkers) somewhere within 10 feet. For anyone who has visited Vietnam’s ancient town of Hoi An, they know it’s no different.
No matter where you go in town there’s always someone “welcoming” you into their restaurant, café or street stall. While the café scene may be a bit oversaturated… don’t ignore it! Sipping the caffeinated brew and watching life creep by in the mango-colored streets is one of the highlights of being in Hoi An. Where are the best cafés in Hoi An? Well, it all depends on the experience you’re looking for!
Vietnamese-Style Coffee:
If you’re looking for the traditional tin-filter, 20-minute dripping into a tiny glass Vietnam coffee drinking experience, there’s no better place to go than a local joint. Outside the old town, Tam’s Café (inside the Ba Le Market on the way to Cua Dai Beach) is a premier place to pull up a plastic red stool, sit amongst the locals and watch/smell the market unfold before your eyes. You can order it hot and sweet (café sua nong), tall, cold and sweet (café sua da Saigon) or short, cold and bitter (café den da).
Inside the old town on Tran Phu Street right next to the famed Japanese Bridge, there’s a married couple’s coffee stall where all the local Ancient Town workers top up their caffeine levels (on the river side wall of the Hoi An Agarwood Workshop). It’s a local, cheap and extremely Vietnamese experience to sit down along the Japanese Bridge alleyway slurping your morning or noontime brew. (The owner is extremely friendly as well).
Western-Style Coffee
Located on 20 Phan Boi Chau is perhaps Hoi An’s best cup of coffee. Mia Café roasts and brews their beans (grown in Vietnam) on site, with state of the art coffee machines pumping out espressos, macchiatos, cappuccinos, Americanos and heaps more. The workers are very friendly, the location is quiet and relaxed and the prices are extremely reasonable!
You simply cannot overlook Cargo Café (107-109 Nguyen Thai Hoc) when you’re talking about coffee, or more appropriately, the sweets that go along with it. One of Hoi An’s most famous restaurants amongst tourists, Cargo has all your favorite coffee options (including Vietnamese style) with an excellent selection of cakes, pastries, muffins, breads, chocolates, etc. Head upstairs at Cargo and sip your coffee overlooking the murky Thu Bon River!
The Sunday Morning Experience
Sunday morning in Vietnam is social coffee time. Locals (who are lucky enough to have the day off) dress to the nines, round up their friends and family and head to their favorite coffee consumption spots. While there are dozens of cafés to choose from, Hoi An Hotel’s outdoor café (10 Tran Hung Dao) provides the best Vietnamese Sunday morning experience. Tables filled with coffees, specialty yoghurt drinks, heaping mounds of watermelon seeds and tiny nibbles are occupied for hours as the locals chat, laugh, gossip and ride out their caffeinated buzz.
The Nighttime Experience
Drinking beer all night in Vietnam? Not that impressive. Drinking coffee all night? Now you’re thinking like a local. One of the most popular things to do amongst the twenty-something crowd in Hoi An is meet up with your friends at night. Guys throw back the iced black brew while girls usually order up something a bit sweeter… and less caffeinated. Visit Café Balu on 204-206 Nguyen Duy Hieu and you’ll find one of the top local (nighttime) coffee joints. Park on the roadside with the valet bike parker, walk through the artificial fog and enter into what seems like someone's birthday party. Bumping music, public movies, wild lights, water features and plumes of smoke… yup, that’s the one.
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