Alexandra Kennon
Last year, while eating lunch at Mr. Saigon, not far from Pike Place market in downtown Seattle, I spotted a familiar display of golden canisters lining the walls of the restaurant, and quickly did a double take. I had spent the afternoon among the airborne salmon of Pike Place, not the sticky beignet and humidity laced air of The French Market. Why was this place filled floor to ceiling with cans of Café du Monde coffee? As I continued to eat my sandwich and drink my coffee, I assumed a local connection. Perhaps the owner was a New Orleanian in the Pacific Northwest like I was?
When I got home, I consulted Google, which revealed, remarkably, that Vietnamese iced coffee across the country—from Brooklyn to Seattle—is actually brewed with Café du Monde coffee. But the coffee connection between Vietnam and New Orleans doesn’t stop with Café du Monde: PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans boasts three coffee franchise locations in Ho Chi Minh City.
Traditionally, Vietnamese iced coffee is made with New Orleans Café du Monde coffee and condensed milk—over ice, of course. A segment in the “New Orleans” episode of the PBS show No Passport Required recommends Vietnamese Longevity Brand condensed milk to accompany the chicory coffee.
[Read this: The Banh Mi and the Poboy—two sandwiches strengthen their cultural bond in New Orleans.]
“Café du Monde coffee is a good choice to make Vietnamese Iced Coffee since it has a deep rich color, flavor, and a strong coffee aroma,” said Anh Nguyen, who works in marketing and graphic design for Lam’s Seafood Asian Market in Seattle. “This is definitely a popular product in the Vietnamese communities. We see it being used in every Vietnamese restaurant around the Seattle area.”
So, how did Café du Monde become the brand of choice for Vietnamese restaurants and cafés across the United States?
“One of the large [Vietnamese-American] population clusters is here in New Orleans, because of our Catholic community,” said Burt Benrud, Café du Monde Vice President.
In the 1970s, Catholic Charities helped Vietnamese refugees find homes in the United States. New Orleans was an attractive location because of the area’s wetlands and its similar climate to Vietnam. According to The New York Times, the Vietnamese immigrants who came to New Orleans, beginning in 1975 were part of the first wave of refugees who escaped Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Many of the early immigrants were tied to the U.S. presence in Vietnam, and other initial refugees were escaping religious persecution. These Vietnamese refugees were drawn to New Orleans and Baton Rouge because of the promise of the Louisiana fishing industry.
Generations of Vietnamese families in New Orleans have been connected to Café du Monde on Decatur Street, Benrud said. Some of those employees have been working there since the 1980s, watching their children grow up, go off to college, and achieve their own careers, maybe even out of town. But they haven’t forgotten that their parents established roots here, in New Orleans.
Café du Monde on Decatur Street, Benrud said, began to hire Vietnamese immigrants in the seventies and eighties, and these employees started drinking Café du Monde coffee on a drip pot with condensed milk.
“[The recipe] passed through word of mouth to other relatives across the United States … that taste has spread coast to coast,” Benrud said, adding that the Café du Monde blend has become the “standard” for Vietnamese iced coffee.
Café du Monde coffee has long been a beloved New Orleans souvenir, shipped to family and friends around the world. And, according to Benrud, when Café du Monde got wind that Vietnamese-American employees were drinking the chicory coffee and sharing it with friends and family, they started stocking it in Vietnamese grocery stores. Now, Benrud said, it’s available nationwide in Vietnamese groceries and Vietnamese restaurants. Of course, Café du Monde is also the brand of choice at Vietnamese restaurants in its own backyard.
Peter Nguyen, owner of Banh Mi Boys in Metairie, said his sandwich shop proudly makes their Vietnamese iced coffee with Café du Monde coffee. The menu at Banh Mi Boys—which is located next to Nguyen’s parents’ gas station—combines the New Orleans and Vietnamese cuisines Nguyen grew up eating. You can see this culinary merger in menu items like the banh mi sandwiches—or, as Nguyen calls them, Vietnamese po’ boys. He said a significant part of the New Orleans and Vietnamese coffee connection is the two cultures’ shared French heritage. “A lot of our cuisine is influenced by the French,” Nguyen said. He added a practical reason as well: “It was what we had available.” He also offered one piece of menu advice, with a laugh, “As for Vietnamese coffee, it’s delicious. I think people should know how strong it is before they try it.”
Generations of Vietnamese families in New Orleans have been connected to Café du Monde on Decatur Street, Benrud said. Some of those employees have been working there since the 1980s, watching their children grow up, go off to college, and achieve their own careers, maybe even out of town. But they haven’t forgotten that their parents established roots here, in New Orleans.
“The kids grew up doing summer jobs at Café du Monde and have lived the American Dream,” Benrud said. It’s surprising, he added, how things have evolved over time and how Café du Monde has become a Vietnamese coffee staple. “I’m happy our product has developed the way it has and people can enjoy it coast to coast.”
