Central to Vietnamese culture is socializing over beverages
Coffee is super popular
When you order a cuppa a water filled filter is served to perk at the table--a process that is painfully slow when you're jonesing for your morning java, but it's worth the wait. The result is not voluminousness but it's potent, sporting the hue and viscosity of motor oil. Locals often take it with sugar or sweet and condensed milk, I personally go black.
In the hot climate of much of Vietnam a hot beverage is less than desirable so it's common to pour your coffee into mug of ice. The melting ice kindly stretches the drink without compromising the flavor. A bottomless glass of green tea accompanies a coffee order at most joints to cleanse the palette before and after the joe.
I've been in Vietnam nearly two month now, when I first arrived I fell in love with the coffee culture and indulged heavily, but it got to be too much of a good thing--caf-fiendom was setting in so I cut back. I still enjoy a cup or two a day but in my striving for balance ginger honey tea now takes the place of the additional cups.
Sugarcane juice is also wildly popular--sidewalk stands feed the stocks through roller presses to extract the liquid, add a squeeze of orange or lime and serve it over ice.
Vietnam's coffee drinking culture is good, but it's beer drinking culture is great!
Yes, that's ice in my glass, when in Rome--it's an act I thought was sacrilege but have actually gown to appreciate. Far better than the warm beer alternative but more importantly the ice greatly reduces the capacity of the glass. As I mentioned in an earlier article the Vietnamese don't sip, they chug. Each toast comes with a wager of how much of the glass you're going to drink together, usually its the whole thing. If you try and drink with the locals, seasoned pros, without ice in your glass, you'll quickly find yourself in a drunken stupor much to their amusement.
Each region has different local brews providing enough variety to keep the taste buds engaged, but they all have one thing in common--they're dirt cheap. In the highland town of Dalat you can enjoy Viet Duc. The plastic bottled beer arrives off the truck in huge nylon grain sacks and retails for 7,000 Vietnam Dong, about 30 cents US a liter--you can't help but smile.
You won't find beer this cheap drinking at the tourist traps, you have to join the working men (I say men because beside the servers you don't find Vietnamese women at these drinking venues). Beer spots like this one open at the end of the working day and usually close by 10pm, but for these few hours they're packed with vocal locals letting off steam. The scene is unassuming, genuine and incredibly welcoming, any stares of reservation are quickly dissolved with a raise of the glass and a big smile. It's great fun, beer is cheap enough to be liberal buying rounds and everyone is eager engage with what little English they have. Many smiles, much laughter and mutual amusement is assured--a lot is exchanged beyond words.
The beer of the Central Coast
The beer of the North
The beer of the far North
All of these are light lager style beers with subtle difference in flavor--not my favorite style of brew but they're good, easy-drinking, thirst quenchers that suites the context well.
And then there's Bia Hoi which translates to"fresh beer." Delivered daily in kegs like the one above this beer has no preservatives and goes bad within 24 hours, so you have to drink it fast, but that's no problem. Composed of a high proportion of rice in relation to the barley, hops and malt this brew is light and crisp, and at only about 3% alcohol content by volume it can be consumed quickly with little consequence. You'll only find it at informal restaurants and sidewalk stands sporting signs announcing its presences, and if you don't get charged an inflated tourist price it's even cheaper than the bottled beer!
Bia Hoi!
A typical bia hoi scene--the lower the chairs the cheaper the beer.
Rice and corn liquors are also popular, served in thimble shot glasses and sucked back rapid succession. Most of these "happy water" concoctions are a force to be reckoned with and taste like fire, hence the shooting. Often from home-brew origins this stuff can be ridiculously cheap, a bottle the size of the one above might cost as little as a dollar, so people are quite generous. A shot comes with a blessing and wishes of prosperity so culturally turning it down is not only rude, it doesn't make sense. And if one is good than two is better and then why not three--the situation can escalate quickly. Getting locked into one of these engagements can fast change the trajectory of your day.
I'm yet to try the stuff but Chinese medicine wines like this are no rare find. Baby deer, goats, scorpions, spiders, sea horses and all sorts of other strange creatures can be found distilling in the jugs. The snake wine is said to be an aphrodisiac giving the consumer great strength.
No discussion of beverages would be complete without mentioning the ever-present bamboo bongs that are found at every coffee stand and beer joint, particularly in he north. Tobacco is the only thing smoked through these babies, and at 5 cents for a large bag of it the Vietnamese don't hold back.
