Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution

Coffee house owner Vu Dinh Tu making coffee at a cafe in Hanoi, Vietnam on Sept. 30. | AFP-JIJI

by ALICE PHILIPSON
October 7, 2024

HANOI – Ditching a lucrative career in finance, Vu Dinh Tu opened a coffee shop without telling his parents and joined a wave of young Vietnamese entrepreneurs using espressos to challenge family expectations around work.

Traditionally taken black, sometimes with condensed milk or even egg, coffee has long been an integral part of Vietnamese culture.

But starting a café is not a career that many of Vietnam's growing group of ambitious middle-class parents would choose for their children.