Ca phe den

'Ca phe den' means black coffee. They are some of the few words I know in Vietnamese. I have been consuming more of the black stuff than usual on this trip because it is some of the best 'ca phe' you can find. It is typically served thick - that 's the best description I've got - and is best to sip slowly. Otherwise you are without a beverage and when you are killing time at a cafe it is nice to have a beverage at hand. If not, for me, that feeling of discomfort creeps in. That feeling I should be on my way. Out the door. Paying the bill. I want to feel like a paying customer while I am occupying that chair so I sip slowly and enjoy every sip I do.

I am not a coffee connoisseur, but I do know what I like. I have slowly evolved from a once-a-year coffee drinker into an every-other-day coffee drinker. I hope to put the brakes on before I become an everyday kind of guy. It's kind of hard to find a tea that can match up to the taste of roasted coffee beans, unfortunately.

The coffee in Vietnam, for your information, is "prime stuff" according to Lonely Planet. The beans - I doubt all of them - are roasted in butter. Maybe that's why it's so rich. I tend to turn a blind eye and assume that I am getting the normal beans. Don't ask, don't tell.

If you are into exotic coffee blends you might like the weasel coffee. This coffee bean comes from the anus of a weasel. The beans are fed to weasels and then scooped out of their shit, hopefully cleaned, and then processed as usual. Supposedly it tastes good. I won't try it because a) the regular stuff is good enough and b) the thought of weasels being kept in cages for the contents in their colon just doesn't sound right. If you aren't that anal about where your coffee comes from, perhaps you'd like it.