Black coffee, please

 

Above is a photo of what the waitress brought me this morning at the Ho Chi Minh City coffeehouse where I was having breakfast. I thought I had carefully explained that I simply wanted a cup of back coffee - no cream, no sugar, Americano. i pointed to a picture of a cup of black coffee. I said "Cafe de" which I was told means "no ice." The polite waitress nodded in understanding and brought me dripping coffee and a glass of ice. Along with cream and sugar.

In a coffee shop earlier that morning, after all my exhortations, I was served a cup of creamy, sugary lukewarm soup that may or may not have had coffee in it. Finally after a walk, I went back to where I am staying and made instant coffee. Close as I could get.

This is important. I have been a coffee drinker all my life, starting each day with several cups of strong, black coffee. I am not a connoisseur of roast beans, will not pay a high price at Starbucks, and buy ground roast that is on sale when home. But I need my coffee.

My material grandmother was the original caffeine pusher in my life. As a toddler, she would fill my tiny white and blue Hop-a-Long Cassidy mug half full of sweetened condensed milk, add plenty of sugar, and then pour in a bit coffee. I loved the warm, sweet drink.

I stopped taking sugar in my coffee in high school. Perhaps because my dad didn't use it. But it was not until my first year teaching that stopped with the cream(er). The teachers' lounge only had powdered creamer, and I discovered that powdered cream gave me gas. A lot of gas. Uncontrollable flatulence is not a good thing for a first-year teacher trying to establish some credibility with students only a few years younger than himself. So I've taken it black for 44 years.

Ironically, Vietnam is a coffee-lover's paradise. Famous coffees have long been grown here (including that harvested from the poop of civit cats). Coffee shops are more densely situated (along with street coffee vendors) than any place I've ever been.

But plain old hot black coffee. It remains an elusive.

Comments

[Pat Hensley]

I've enjoyed hearing about your trip! I laughed about your coffee experience because my family (not me) are heavy coffee drinkers. I'm more of a diet pepsi connoisseur. Maybe you can get some photos online of hot black coffee to show what you want. :) Glad you are enjoying your travels! Thanks for sharing.

[Zareen]

I can relate to you. It doesn't really taste like coffee to me if you put sugar or cream in it. Just plain black coffee is love. And I enjoyed your story too. XD