Hanoi's coffee culture
For an article about Hanoi's coffee retailers, see here. There are hundreds of coffee shops in the Vietnam capital, deep in alleyways, on sidewalks, in posh hotels. The article provides pictures of a sample. Curiously, the article says nothing about the coffee itself, only that it is typically drunk with sweet milk and a little sugar. Apparently it is brewed, locally grown coffee. Except perhaps at the fancy hotels, there isn't the variety of espresso-based drinks common elsewhere.
Posted by David Fahey on January 27, 2008 at 10:12 AM in Coffee, Drinking Spaces, Vietnam | Permalink
Vietnam promotes cocoa production
Mostly tea-drinking Vietnam has become a major coffee producer and exporter in recent years. Now the Vietnamese government, seeking diversity and security against price swings, is promoting cocoa as an export crop. For more, see here. In the emerging globalized economy the traditional geographical distribution for these commodities has shifted from South America (coffee) and West Africa (cocoa) to parts of the world not identified with them.
Posted by David Fahey on January 14, 2008 at 03:36 PM in Cocoa, Coffee, Tea, Vietnam | Permalink
Vietnam produces much coffee but drinks little of it
Although Vietnam is the world's second largest coffee exporter (after Brazil), the Vietnamese people rarely drink coffee. Domestic consumption is only 5 to 7 per cent of production. Major coffee firms in Vietnam are now seeking a domestic market and are upgrading the coffee sold locally. For more, see here. The irony of coffee producing countries drinking little coffee--and when they do, drinking bad coffee--is not unique to Vietnam. It often is most extreme for the actual coffee farmer who sells all the good beans and keeps only the poor ones that have no market value and make unappealing coffee. In the case of Vietnam, tea is the traditional beverage and coffee exotic.
Posted by David Fahey on December 24, 2007 at 09:45 AM in Coffee, Vietnam | Permalink
Vietnam, the world's second largest coffee exporter, prefers tea
In recent years Vietnam has become the world's second largest coffee exporter, but it consumes only about 5% of its coffee harvest. Vietnamese, including coffee growers, prefer tea. For more, see here.
Posted by David Fahey on November 6, 2007 at 08:36 AM in Coffee, Tea, Tequila, Vietnam | Permalink
Gourmet "Fairtrade" coffee and its problems
"This is a story about gourmet coffee and genocide. It takes place in Rwanda...," (London) Observer, 25 February 2007, is an article by Alex Renton. Although he argues that Western coffee drinkers should buy higher priced Fairtrade (or fair trade) coffee to help poor coffee growers and their poverty stricken countries, he acknowledges problems: the farmers only get about 10% of the premium in the price that the consumer pays, only a few farmers in a few countries are able to participate in growing high grade coffee, and the world simply grows too much coffee for the size of the market for it. For more, see here.
Posted by David Fahey on February 24, 2007 at 10:00 PM in Africa, Coffee, Latin America, Vietnam | Permalink
Coffee: who grows it? who drinks it?
India's Financial Times, 5 Feburary 2007, reports on who grows and who drinks coffee. Although there are 25 kinds of coffee grown, two varieties dominate, (mostly) Arabica and (secondly) Robusta. The major producers are Brazil (33.16%), Columbia (11.65%), Vietnam (10.61%), Indonesia (5.97%), Mexico (4.59%) and India (4.60%) that combined produce about 70% of the world's coffee. The major consumers are the United States, Canada, Japan. Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Spain. As an Indian newspaper, the Financial Times mentions that India consumes 30% of the coffee that it grows. For more, see here.
Frontwide World, May 2003, lists the top 10 coffee-importing countries, in order of amount imported, as the United States, Germany (less than half that of the USA), Japan, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, Poland, and the Netherlands. Per capita the Scandinavian countries drink the most coffee, with Finland averaging more than four cups a day per person. This website lists the ten leading coffee producers, in order of amount produced, as Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Ivory Coast and Uganda. Nearly 25 million farmers grow coffee in more than fifty countries. For more, see here.
Posted by David Fahey on February 4, 2007 at 06:07 PM in Brazil, Britain, Canada, Coffee, Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Spain, United States, Vietnam | Permalink
Dien Bien Phu (article)
Porch, Douglas. “Dien Bien Phu and the Opium Connection.” MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History 7:4 (1995), 100-109. [Argues that the French provoked the battle of Dien Bien Phu (1954) to protect an opium crop.]
Posted by Jon Miller on July 2, 2006 at 01:25 PM in France, Opium, Vietnam | Permalink
90 years old, smuggling drugs
The Mail & Guardian online reports on the capture of a 90-year-old Taiwanese man working as a "drug mule." Thailand's improved policing of drug trafficking has increased the flow of methamphetamines and heroin out of Cambodia. Story here.
Posted by Jon Miller on June 5, 2006 at 10:22 AM in Cambodia, Heroin, Methamphetamine, Thailand, Vietnam | Permalink
Absolution in Your Cup
For Reason, Kerry Howley reports on the "real meaning of Fair Trade coffee."
Posted by Matthew McKean on March 9, 2006 at 03:20 PM in Canada, Coffee, Cuba, Drinking Spaces, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, United States, Vietnam | Permalink
Alcohol vs. Karaoke: why ban the lesser of the two 'social evils'?
Karaoke bars in Vietnam will no longer be allowed to sell or have alcohol on their premises as part of the country's continued campaign against so-called 'social evils,' a government official said Friday.
The Mercury News reports.
Posted by Matthew McKean on February 17, 2006 at 02:06 PM in Alcohol (miscellaneous), Drinking Spaces, Vietnam | Permalink
Brewer to start Vietnam beer venture
SABMiller is to open a brewery in Vietnam in joint venture with the country's largest dairy company as the world's third largest brewer establishes its first foothold in one of the fastest growing beer markets in Asia. The London-based brewer and Vinamilk will invest $45m in an operation that would start making half a million hectolitres of beer by the first half of 2007.
The Financial Times reports.
Posted by Matthew McKean on January 14, 2006 at 02:03 PM in Beer, Brewing , Britain, Vietnam | Permalink
Aussie to hang for heroin smuggling
A 25-YEAR-OLD Melbourne man who said he smuggled heroin in an effort to pay off his twin brother's debts will within days become the first Australian to be executed in Singapore after a final presidential appeal for clemency was rejected.
Nguyen Tuong Van is expected to be hanged within 10 days, despite pleas for mercy to Singaporean President Sellapan Rama Nathan by John Howard, Governor-General Michael Jeffery and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
Nguyen was sentenced to death last year. He had been caught with 396g of heroin strapped to his back and in his hand luggage while in transit at Singapore's Changi airport in December 2002, on his way from Cambodia to Melbourne.
News.com.au reports.
Posted by Matthew McKean on October 22, 2005 at 01:43 PM in Australia, Cambodia, Heroin, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam | Permalink
Heroin in Vietnam
Thanhnein News reports (9 August 2005) that during a raid on Vietnam’s largest drug cartel this month, police arrested dozens of suspects and seized highly-specialized equipment designed for mass heroin production. Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on August 13, 2005 at 04:01 PM in Drugs (general), Heroin, Vietnam | Permalink
Vietnam raises cocoa ambitions
The IHT reports (5 August 2005) from Hanoi that Vietnamese farmers, who caused world coffee prices to collapse after they doubled production in five years, are now increasing cultivation of cocoa, backed by chocolate-makers like Mars. Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on August 9, 2005 at 12:15 PM in Cocoa, Coffee, Vietnam | Permalink
Coffee festival to be held
The Vietnam Economic Times reports (21 June 2005) that the province of Dac Lac has just adopted a plan for a coffee festival to be held there from December 2nd to 5th, 2005, according to the local Department of Trade and Tourism. There will be more than 200 pavilions of domestic and foreign coffee firms. On display will be a variety of coffee products, many production lines, equipments and technologies for processing coffee, as well as scientific research on coffee varieties. A computer system installed at the festival will be connected with the London coffee trade floor for businesses to try transactions online. The Organizing Board will award high-quality products and promote the Buon Ma Thuot coffee trademark to the world market.
Posted by Matthew McKean on June 21, 2005 at 04:47 PM in Coffee, Vietnam | Permalink
Vietnam butts out with no-tobacco week
Thanhnein News reports (22 May 2005) that Vietnam launched a no-tobacco week from May 25-31 nationwide in response to an appeal made by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on May 29, 2005 at 11:45 AM in Tobacco, Vietnam | Permalink
Vietnam to import coffee?
Vietnam Economy reports (23 May 2005) that coffee prices in its domestic market have hit record highs for the past five years. It's ironic, then, that though Vietnam is the world’s second biggest coffee exporting country, many businesses say they might have to import coffee. Drought still hits the Central Highlands despite rain early in the season and the volume of coffee left in the domestic market is small, causing a hike in coffee prices. Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on May 28, 2005 at 09:30 AM in Coffee, Vietnam | Permalink
Opium in South-East Asia (article)
Foster, Anne L. “Prohibition as Superiority: Policing Opium in South-East Asia, 1898-1925.” The International History Review 22:2 (2000), 253-273.
Posted by Jon Miller on May 20, 2005 at 11:41 AM in Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Opium, Philippines, Prohibition, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam | Permalink
Hanoi finds refreshment in streetside suds
OhmyNews reports (7 May 2005) that these days in the stuffy climate of Hanoi, when the temperature sometimes reaches 31°C (88°F), a mug of Bia hoi is the most popular choice for many chain-smoking men. Foreigners also consider it to be a good example of a Vietnamese specialty. People can watch the world pass by since almost all Bia hoi establishments are streetside. In a crowded city like Hanoi, with a lot of motorbikes and bicycles, it is a lively experience to drink a glass of Bia hoi on the sidewalk during rush hour. Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on May 7, 2005 at 05:33 PM in Beer, Drinking Spaces, Vietnam | Permalink
Track marks to death
The Australian reports (3 March 2005) that what began as a journey designed to end in the back alleys of inner-city Sydney - high-grade heroin cut down and shelled out to hollowed-eyed men and women for $50 a cap - finished instead in a blaze of publicity at Denpasar International Airport in the tourist centre of Bali, with nine young Australians facing the prospect of the firing squad.
But while the "Bali Nine" never got off the ground for the final leg to Sydney, the 8.3kg of heroin strapped to the stomachs and thighs of four couriers had already travelled thousands of kilometres and passed through hundreds of hands.
Like most heroin trafficking that originates in poppy fields in the fertile mountains of Southeast Asia, the journey that finished on the body of a mule began on the back of a donkey. Australian Federal Police chief Mick Keelty named Burma, part of the infamous Golden Triangle encompassing Laos and northern Thailand, as the origin of the Bali Nine's haul. The University of NSW's National Alcohol and Drug Research Centre's senior lecturer, Louisa Degenhardt, estimates 95 per cent of Australia's heroin is produced in the Golden Triangle - and the "vast majority" of that is from Burma.
With Australians unable to cultivate opium poppies at home, but consuming three to eight tonnes of heroin annually, this has been the case for many years, Dr Degenhardt says.
Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on May 3, 2005 at 12:01 AM in Australia, Burma, Cambodia, Heroin, Laos, Opium, Thailand, Vietnam | Permalink
Heroin trafficker faces firing squad
Thanhnein News reports (30 April 2005) that a court in Ho Chi Minh City has sentenced a former company director to death by firing squad on charges of trafficking heroin. The convicted Phan Trieu Phu and his accomplice Dam Cam Vi, who received life imprisonment, were caught red-handed with almost 2.1 kg of heroin on August 2004 in Ho Chi Minh City. Phu and Vi were found guilty of trafficking heroin for a Chinese citizen named Co, who paid them US$4,000 for each delivery. The duo had opened the Trans-Continent Company Ltd., of which Phu was the director, for cross-border trade.
Posted by Matthew McKean on May 1, 2005 at 05:07 PM in Heroin, Vietnam | Permalink
Drought to cut Vietnam coffee crop by a third
Pakistan's Daily Times reports (29 April 2005) that a prolonged drought is likely to cut by one third the next coffee crop in Vietnam, the world’s top producer of the robusta variety. Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on April 29, 2005 at 07:27 PM in Coffee, Vietnam | Permalink
Higher Coffee Prices Brewing
Miami's Local 10 News reports (4 March 2005) that coffee prices are perking upward, and Miami importers said the price of coffee could soon jump again -- as much as 50 percent. Global overproduction of coffee led to extremely low prices over the past few years, but experts said that's changing. Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on April 14, 2005 at 01:25 PM in Brazil, Coffee, Indonesia, United States, Vietnam | Permalink
A hot year for coffee? The signs look good
The Herald Tribune reports (19 March 2005) that a drop in Brazil's coffee exports and a major growth in Asia's coffee industry has put coffee prices at a 5-year high. Read the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on March 21, 2005 at 03:11 PM in Brazil, Britain, Burundi, Caribbean, China, Coffee, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, French Caribbean, Germany, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Nicaragua, Peru, Russia, Tea, Uganda, United States, Vietnam | Permalink
Ministry smells cocoa in Vietnam’s future
Vietnam News reports (12 March 2005) that Vietnam’s cocoa producers are well-positioned, in natural and human resources, to make a killing on the international export market, according to a deputy minister from the Ministry of Agricutulture and Rural Development. Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on March 21, 2005 at 10:08 AM in Cocoa, Vietnam | Permalink
Vietnam anticipating boom in tea industry
ABC Radio Australia reports (18 March 2005) that that Vietnam says it expects to earn $US200 million by exporting 120,000 tonnes of tea annually by 2010. The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry says the annual output of fresh tea buds is expected to rise by a third to 870,000 tonnes during the period. As part of the expansion program, Vietnam plans to expand the tea-growing area by 20 per cent by 2010 and add about 100 new tea processing establishments. The Vietnam Tea Association says Russia is expected to account for more than 30 per cent of sales.
Posted by Matthew McKean on March 20, 2005 at 09:52 AM in Russia, Tea, Vietnam | Permalink
Vietnam set to expand cocoa production
Thanhnien News reports (8 March 2005) that Vietnam is planning to boost cocoa production, transforming the country to a world leader in exports over the next few years. Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on March 14, 2005 at 12:07 PM in Cocoa, Vietnam | Permalink
Vietnamese Beer Industry
Money Plans reports (8 March 2005) that large amounts of money are being pumped into new beer breweries in Vietnam, and with domestic demand not expected to rise any time soon, the market is set to be awash, Ho Chi Minh City market experts have warned. Beer production was 1.37 billion litres in 2004 and was estimated to rise to 1.5 billion litres this year, a figure originally expected to be reached in 2010, they said. Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on March 10, 2005 at 08:33 AM in Beer, Brewing , Vietnam | Permalink | Comments (0)
Alcohol and Politics in French Vietnam (Article)
Erica Peters' article, entitled "What the Taste Test Showed: Alcohol and Politics in French Vietnam," in Volume 19 of the Social History of Alcohol and Drugs, can be found here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on March 6, 2005 at 02:27 PM in Alcohol (general), Vietnam | Permalink | Comments (0)
Global tobacco treaty takes effect
Thanhniennews.com reports (26 February 2005) that the first global treaty on tobacco control goes into effect Sunday, Feb. 27, requiring member countries to take specific steps to stop people from using tobacco, and to put stronger tobacco control policies in place. So far, 168 nations have signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and 57 have ratified it. Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on February 27, 2005 at 09:46 PM in Tobacco, Vietnam | Permalink | Comments (0)
Coffee drinkers in Vietman finding it difficult to drink and hold their breath at the same time
Catherine McKinley, for the Dow Jones Newswire, reports from Hanoi that Vietnam, hoping to raise profit margins for its coffee growers, has long promised to cut output while raising quality. So far, it has shown few signs of doing either, and those hoping that it will shouldn't hold their breath. Find the full story here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on February 24, 2005 at 10:07 AM in Coffee, Vietnam | Permalink | Comments (0)
Alcohol in Vietnam (Article)
Erica J. Peters, "Taste, Taxes, and Technologies: Industrializing Rice Alcohol in Northern Vietnam, 1902-1913," French Historical Studies 27/3 (Summer 2004): 569-600.
Posted by David Fahey on February 22, 2005 at 01:14 PM in Alcohol (general), Vietnam | Permalink | Comments (1)
Opium Remains an Indulgence for the Rich and the Elderly in Vietnam
Entertainment News DesignerZ.com reports from Hanoi (11 February 2005) that in Vietnam's big cities, the opium addicts seem to be conservatives, aristocrats whose time has passed, still sticking to the ways that are "classical but noble and traditional." Young Vietnamese urbanites today prefer ecstacy or heroin, amphetamines and other synthetic drugs. Opium is mostly smoked in the affluent circles, by middle-aged or old men. The full story can be found here.
Posted by Matthew McKean on February 11, 2005 at 11:51 PM in Amphetamines, Ecstasy, Opium, Vietnam | Permalink | Comments (0)
Drugs and the United States in Vietnam
Abstract for "Drugs and the United States in Vietnam: Political, Legal,and Cultural Implications of One of the Worst Tragedies of the Vietnam War," a paper delivered by William Allison (Department of Strategy and International Security, Air War College, Alabama) at the Strathclyde University, Glasgow "Drugs and Empires" conference of April 2003.
Posted by Jon Miller on January 12, 2005
