In a country where snake blood is an occasional meal choice it may not come as a surprise that the most popular Vietnamese cafes offer a rather interesting menu choice: weasel coffee.
What is weasel coffee?
First of all, yes, we are talking about the rodent. But why Vietnamese weasel coffee? Coffee growers feed coffee beans to the weasels and after they have passed through the animal’s body, the coffee is collected, ground and brewed. The result? A musky, smooth flavorful coffee.
Nowadays however, the coffee doesn’t even go in the animal’s body; everything is replaced by a synthetic process simulating the effects of the beans going through the weasel’s body.
Westerners aren’t exactly found of this “rodent roast” but in Vietnam, the new upscale cafes serving weasel coffee are rapidly replacing the street tea stalls.
Hanoi’s Coffee Street
Hang Hanh (yes, literally meaning Coffee Street) is located in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. It’s a very popular location filled with cafes and everyone looking for their caffeine fix: businessmen on their way to work, backpackers reading the travel guides in search of new ideas and the motorbikes’ drivers looking for clients.
Cafes to try in Hanoi
Dak-Linh Café
This nice café is located on the southwest short of Hoan Kiem Lake, quite hidden in the trees. It’s probably the best place to start your morning: enjoy your coffee while watching people exercising in the park. In the evening, the café has a very romantic feel to it.
Trung Nguyen Café
Among the many coffee varieties offered by this very popular café by the Hoan Kiem Lake, you will also find the famous weasel coffee.
Café Nhan
The café is located in the heart of the nightlife area and is very popular among young locals. There are nice private nooks for those seeking intimacy and interesting balconies for those who like to do a bit of people watching by night.
Photo by: SpecialKRB