A Vietnamese Coffee Experience in Berlin: Maison Han in Kreuzberg

According to sprudge.com, the owner and the founder of Maison Han, Duc Nguyen, did not grow up in Vietnam, but is so tied to his roots that he enjoys making Vietnamese coffee closer to Berliners. As a great coffee lover, Duc has also founded Han Coffee Roasters before Maison Han, in order to improve the status of Vietnamese coffee beans in Europe, since they have a bad connotation. He wanted to prove the fact that although green coffee from Vietnam is not part of great and famous coffee roasters, there are many farmers who are interested in the quality of their product.

He says that people in Vietnam tend to have coffee with everything for breakfast so he wants that Berlin knows his tradition and culture. So he combines the modern coffee habits of Europe with the menu which makes you feel like in Vietnam, just as his logo suggests, being split on two where the bear symbolizes Berlin and the word Han stands as an ideogram. Not only the fact that Maison Han is placed in Kreuzberg, along the Landwehr Canal, but also its benches and seats attract many people as well as the ability to try the sweet milk-based phin coffee, which drips down through the dripper having the same name. This slows down the process of coffee drinking, since people have to wait for the coffee to be dripped, using the moment to talk or read newspapers. It is so different from sipping a cup of espresso; it is a kind of a ritual.

A dark blend is used to brew phin coffee while lighter beans are drunk without sweet milk. Duc appreciates the people who want to have pleasure in a pure cup of coffee, but he gives the chance to those who enjoy flavors in their coffee, and is eagerly trying to fit with the modern way to drink coffee.