From source to sip
The story behind your next cup.
Da Lat sits on a plateau in Vietnam's southern highlands, where pine forest gives way to terraced coffee. In the village of Cau Dat, cool mornings and red volcanic soil produce some of the cleanest Arabica the country grows, a quiet counterpoint to Vietnam's reputation for Robusta.
French missionaries planted the first coffee around Da Lat in the mid-1850s, drawn to a plateau that stays cool year-round while the rest of Vietnam bakes. Cau Dat became the heart of the country's Arabica, and the reasons are written into the land: fertile basalt soil rich in minerals, steady rainfall, and elevation between 1,400 and 1,600 meters. At that altitude , cherries ripen slowly and develop the sweetness and acidity that define the cup.
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The Coffee Story
The SourceCau Dat's High Plateau
French missionaries planted the first coffee around Da Lat in the mid-1850s, drawn to a plateau that stays cool year-round while the rest of Vietnam bakes. Cau Dat became the heart of the country's Arabica, and the reasons are written into the land: fertile basalt soil rich in minerals, steady rainfall, and elevation between 1,400 and 1,600 meters. At that altitude , cherries ripen slowly and develop the sweetness and acidity that define the cup.
The coffee comes from a community of smallholder farmers, most working between one and three hectares. They pick by hand at peak ripeness and deliver cherry to a local wet mill, where careful sorting separates the finest lots. Cau Dat's quality is no secret in the trade. In 2016 the region passed Starbucks CAFE Practices and joined a short list of coffees in that company's global supply chain.
The CraftFully Washed, Slowly Dried
Ripe cherries are pulped and separated using Colombian Penagos machinery, then fermented and washed under close watch to strip away every trace of fruit pulp. This fully washed approach is the cleaner of the two classic processing methods , trading the heavy fruit of naturals for transparency and a bright, defined acidity. The beans dry in Da Lat's cool air, then rest in the highlands before hulling and export from Ho Chi Minh City.
We roast this lot to City+ at our Virginia Beach roastery. The level is deliberate. A touch past first crack brings out the chocolate and keeps the fruit acids in clear focus, so the washed character stays honest in the cup rather than buried under roast.
The CupSoft Fruit, Smooth Center
The first sip leads with peach and a crisp bite of green apple, a gentle medium acidity that reads as juicy rather than sharp. As the cup cools, milk chocolate fills the middle and rounds everything out, carried by a body with real weight to it. The finish stays clean and sweet, an easy-drinking expression of Vietnamese Arabica that rewards a careful pour.
