A Vietnamese teenager sat up a table in early December in Finland, and hung up a sign in Finnish saying “Selling Vietnamese Salt Coffee.”
Na Uy is a 17-year-old boy from Da Nang, Vietnam who sells and brews Vietnamese coffee so ‘Finns can better understand his culture.’
“This is also a way for me to cope with homesickness,” he told VN Express.
Bringing Vietnam to Finland
He came to Finland in August 2023 for an exchange program at a Finnish high school. To find his place within the new country, he and his two roommates starting selling salted coffee on the weekends – instead of staying home. His partners are Phung Gia Phat, 17 years old from Ho Chi Minh City, and Pham Minh Quan, 15 years old from Hanoi.
Uy knows Finns like to drink coffee. However, Finns are used to a light flavour, on usually made by machine or even bottled. So he thought maybe the unique, Vietnamese approach could interest the people.
He therefore spent almost a month trying to test out the coffee, what kind of milk to use and how to mix it all. Later he got filters imported from Vietnam, as well as Vietnamese beans.
Regular costumers and nostalgia
Now he stands in between the little town Sulkava’s most popular supermarkets. Targeting the Finns passing by to go grocery shopping. In the beginning it was hard to convince people to like salty coffee, and the Finnish weather too was an obstacle in mainting the business.
But now, he has costumers who come every day to grab a salt coffee. Korhonen, is that regular costumer, and he said he now wants to travel to Vietnamese to experience more of the cuisine. Other Vietnamese people in Finland have traveled to get some nostalgic salt coffee, too. And the project has even gotten support from the principal of Uy’s school.
The encouragement has motivated Uy. For now, he dreams of having a small kiosk in the future to protect his shop from the weather.
“Next summer, maybe I will sell Vietnamese-style grilled meat sandwiches.”
Source: VN Express
