Mai Coffee Shop

Café Mai is a local, specialty coffee shop that offers a wide variety of both Robusta and Arabica coffees. It is known as the Mecca of coffee and comes highly recommended by many local Vietnamese bloggers. The coffee provided in this cafe is not the typical Italian latte, espresso, or cappuccino, but rather robust Vietnamese Robusta coffee prepared in the drip style, as one must learn to be patient and never rush in Hanoi.

Café Mai was one of the first coffee shops to operate in Hanoi in 1936, and it is also one of the few coffee shops in Hanoi where coffee beans are roasted in front of the customers. The pleasant aroma of quality coffee may be detected from kilometers away. One cannot miss the Paris Mai, one of the most costly coffees in Vietnam, among the coffees available here. Actually, it is most commonly known as Weasel coffee or Kopi Luwak. The unique coffee beans are consumed by native civet cats, which subsequently pass them through their digestive tracts, so imparting a peculiar coffee flavor.