Coffee, similar to banh mi, was introduced to Vietnam by the French over 150 years ago. Vietnam is currently the world's second largest producer and distributor of coffee, second only to Brazil. In fact, Vietnam is the world's largest producer of Robusta beans.
Over 2 billion cups of coffee are consumed daily worldwide resulting in coffee being the 2nd most traded and valuable commodity in the world.
Although Vietnam has been a mass producer of coffee, the attention to quality wasn't always present. In recent years, smaller family farms have been rejecting the standard methods of coffee farming which focused on quantity. As a result, the production of high quality specialty coffee beans originating from Vietnam have flourished.
95% of Vietnam's coffee production comes from the Central Highlands Region, also commonly known as the Kingdom of Coffee. This is due to the area's fertile soil, lush mountains, rolling hills, favorable climate and elevation.