I never intent to write particularly about some café, which is usually expected to be a review. As a personal blog, I always try to stay away from commercializing my experience. So this is not a review.
The reason why I choose to bring my favorite café to here is that I think it deserves to be remembered. The café itself and my feelings, as well. After observing the movement of domestic coffee industry for the past 7-8 years, I realize that it’s moving at a much faster pace that I can imagine. The explosion of new cafés or even new waves, sometimes, makes me forget some cool place that I once had a good time at. That’s a shame and I don’t want to forget any good thing. So here we are.
Coffee
The first and foremost reason is their coffee. It’s my taste.
Some of my friends don’t like the coffee here, or they believe About Life can do better. But taste is objective. The Americano here is all I want for my morning. Either hot or ice, it wakes me up with juicy mouthfeel, medium acidity, medium sweetness, great balance and amazing caramel aftertaste. I have ZERO complaint or recommendation or request for any change. THE DRINK is my ritual.
Their baristas shared with me that, they’re using a blend of Ethiopian and Vietnamese Arabica for their espresso-based drinks. I guess that’s why my favorite coffee has an amazing complexity and texture. Beside Americano, I found their café latte is also interesting with a clear cheese note at the end. Choosing a coffee that can harmonize with milk is difficult, and they do it great. Again, either hot or ice, I get the same satisfaction as I expect.
A little note about “aftertaste”: it’s not the first criteria that makes me like a coffee, but lately it’s what I’m looking for at specialty cafés, or at least where people assume they can buy good coffee. I enjoy a hang-out the most when it leaves me positive feelings after we say good bye. The same to coffee.
Seats
Seatings in this café is both confusing and satisfied to me. It’s confusing when the weather is too hot, I can’t enjoy anything when sweating. It’s also not really comfortable to sit too close with strangers.
But it satisfies me when I found my favorite seat by the garden. When the wind blows, I can smell the fresh air, enjoy that green view with a proper volume of surrounding sounds beside my favorite coffee. I’m happy to be tied up in this space all day.
Actually, I think what makes these seats perfect for relaxing, hanging out or even working is the design of the whole building. The café is located inside Pizza 4P’s Hai Ba Trung Restaurant, which has an impressive environmental-friendly design.
Price
Last but not least, the price is affordable and reasonable for me.
I can afford paying for 1-2cups everyday which is still in my coffee budget (Yes, I have a budget just for daily coffee). It isn’t cheap, to be clear. You can easily buy coffee in Vietnam with just 50 cent, and you can also upgrade yourself by paying 4 dollars for a cappuccino, not to mention the quality. There’s a wide range of price, value and quality on the domestic coffee market and when I say “reasonable”, I mean it’s worth what I receive.
There was a time I decided to stop going to café. I bought some bags of coffee and brew it at home – to cut cost. It turns out, I spent more on buying coffee beans and I ruined more mornings because I can’t create that favorite cup I used to have at the café.
Blog by a coffee human 