Culture for Foodies and Linguists

At 5.30am the sweet birdsong is interrupted by the squeal of a Nokia. Morning light is beginning to creep its way through the wide-open windows of my boiling hot room.

'Hello' I manage in an alien croak.

'Hi! Josh! I am outside your house! Come down and we go for coffee!' I can't believe how alive Tuan sounds at this time in the morning, like he's shouting at a football match. Tuan is my new best friend... who I met yesterday on the train.

'OK' I manage in something that better resembles human speech. 'Give me 3 minutes and I'll come down'

When you arrange to meet friends in Hue, Vietnam, you never ask 'so what should we do?' It is always 'so which cafe?' And this demonstrates the importance of Hue coffee culture- the cafe is the domain for almost all social interaction. When Tuan discovered that I would be moving to his city, he excitedly offered to show me the best of Hue coffee. I didn't know it at the time but he wasn't just offering me a beverage, not just extending the hand of friendship. He was inviting me to enjoy his culture.

I throw on some clothes and stumble out of my room, a helmet is thrust into my hands. Tuan tells me to jump on the back of his bike and in a few moments we are sat down on plastic chairs in a street cafe with two small glasses of a thick golden brown liquid in front of us.

'This is coffee?' I ask.

'No! This is the best coffee!'

I smile whilst bringing the glass to my lips. It is glorious- sweet, thick, warm; I am drinking a chocolate bar dipped in coffee.

Tuan sees the delight in my face 'See! I never lie!'

I look around at the clientele. Parents playing wit their children before school, young professional women chatting and laughing, men in blue jumpsuits playing chess and smoking cigarettes.

'In Hue, you must drink coffee!' explains Tuan. Only now do I fully understand his comment- If I want to understand Vietnamese culture, this is where I have to start. Coffee, like culture, is something that everyone shares together.