Trung Nguyen Coffee – Drip! Drip! Goes the Coffee

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Friends around me know that I’m an avid coffee drinker, preferring the traditional flavors of Ya Kun, toast box and Old Town to the Western cafés. (for Old Town, I’m referring to the 3-in-1 sachets that you buy from the supermarket, not the cafés.)

One type of coffee that I find particularly intriguing is the Vietnamese Ca Phe Phin (drip coffee). The coffee cup comes with a stainless metal drip filter on top that allows the coffee to slowly trickle through the press and into the cup.

Traditional Vietnamese coffee

The Trung Nguyen Coffee chain from Vietnam opened an outlet at Liang Court in recent months. I first encountered this café during my undergrad days, when they had an outlet in the National University of Singapore. It is no longer there today, but I think they have another outlet at Changi Airport Terminal One.

Traditional Vietnamese coffee

Various kinds of traditional coffee are available here, along with helpful descriptions to aid you in selecting your brew. We went for the “Thoughts” coffee, which is described as having an “elegant aroma” and “bitter sweet”, as well as the “Fiscover” coffee, which is “light and flavorful”.

The coffee is a deep shade of brown. Patience is required as it would take some time to slowly drip, drip, drip into the cup (which would contain condensed milk if that’s the one you opt for). I consider that a good sign, really. I have visited a few other Vietnamese cafés where the coffee was so thin and mild, all of it trickled smoothly into the cup in no time.

Traditional Vietnamese coffee

Traditional Vietnamese coffee (hot/iced)
SGD3.20 – $5.90 (without milk), $4.20 – $6.90 (with milk)

Initially I was lamenting the fact that the coffee only filled half the cup. But after taking a sip, I realised that a full cup would probably induce a sore throat. The coffee is *really* rich and robust, and this even applies to the one that is described as “light”. I have never been to Vietnam, but some people say that the coffee there is even richer than this!

So caffeine aficionados would totally love this; the aromatic and full-bodied coffee gives a real kick. Casual coffee drinkers might find it too strong though.

Trung Nguyen Coffee

Perhaps to cater to the Starbucks crowd, ice blended drinks and cappuccinos are offered on the menu too. Similarly, you would place your order at the counter and wait to collect your drinks. There are some seats by the counter, and if you venture across the aisle there is an even larger seating area available.

Trung Nguyen Coffee
Liang Court
177 River Valley Road #02-34/35/36
Singapore 179036
(65) 6837 3314 | Website

Bus services: 32, 54, 64, 123, 143, 195
Nearest MRT: Clarke Quay

Opening hours: 9am – 11pm daily

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About the Author

Veron Ang is the founder and chief editor of Sparklette. She lives in Singapore and has dined and traveled across the world. She also runs Sparklette Studio, a web design and development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her personal updates on Twitter: @VeronSG.

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18 responses

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DK
April 8

I should go there try out someday.
By the way, do they sell the coffee powder? My Sis went Vietnam and bought a set back, but run out of coffee powder already.
Reply
- Veron
  April 8
  
  Yup they have a big shop selling all kinds of coffee powder. You’d be spoilt for choice.
  Reply
  - Kian
    April 24
    
    Hi, trung nguyen coffee also has a branch in Singapore Polytechnic itself.
    The price isn’t very expensive and it taste pretty good.
    Reply
    - Veron
      April 27
      
      Thanks for letting us know! Is it new?
      Reply
Nicholas
April 9

Vietnamese coffee made it to SG? Cool! used to have this every morning when I was in Hanoi fro Apr – Aug 08. Drip, drip, drip and watch the traffic go by…
Reply
- Veron
  April 9
  
  I think you would be able to find the drip coffee in most of the Vietnamese restaurants here. But some of these are really watered down and nowhere near good. The coffee at Trung Nguyen does offer a real kick, and is served by Vietnamese staff too :)
  Reply
  - Nicholas
    April 13
    
    Yup,
    agree with the ‘watered down’ versions. Truth is eversince I got back from Hanoi, I take my coffee ‘as-is’ these days if it’s freshly grounded. Coffemate still works well with Nescafe if you know what I mean.
    Reply
Kyo
April 9

I can confirm there’s an outlet in T1, Changi. :)
Just walked past it a few days back and actually am typing this from Changi, and m very tempted to try (but if I get coffee now, I won’t be able to sleep later!). Anyway the real stuff in Vietnam is awesome – if it’s the same here, that’d be truly great. Thanks for the heads up on Liang Court, now I have to find my way there!
Reply
- Veron
  April 9
  
  Great! You should probably be able to differentiate the various types of coffee better than I do. I tried #1 and #2 on the menu, and both tasted the same to me!
  Reply
py
April 10

Thanks for the post. I won’t have been able to tell which coffee is nice because I usually don’t drink coffee. Yet the post is helpful if I would need to suggest coffee-drinking places to my friends who are coffee drinkers.
Reply
- Veron
  April 11
  
  I think avid coffee drinkers would find the Vietnamese coffee very refreshing (in a caffeinated kind of way). It is one of the strongest coffees they can get in Singapore.
  Reply
Sevani
April 15

This is great information. I will definitely try the place out. I’m not much of a coffee drinker but I do enjoy the occasional brew with friends. Thanks for sharing. :)
Reply
Deb
April 15

Great to read your review. I’ve been meaning to try this place. Your review has reminded me to get down to Liang Court pronto.
Reply
James
April 18

Hi Veron. Starbucks? Who needs Starbucks? Took away a lot of my bucks and cents in recent years. But Starbucks was good when they were actually selling coffee! But it’s 95% water and milk, 4% coffee and 1% froth now. Now this coffee place gives me a reason to go Liang Court. If you were to go to New Orleans, there is a place called Cafe Du Monde. It has coffee that is similar to Trung. I bought a tin of Cafe Du Monde coffee powder – Coffee and Chicory – and it’s strong and full of flavour.
Reply
- Veron
  April 19
  
  I agree with you on the Starbucks coffee. I only go there for the hot chocolate these days.
  Reply
Ha Nguyen
April 20

I was looking for some pictures of Harajuju Town, then I found your blog on a search of Google. Well, I was kinda surprised when seeing an entry of yours about Vietnamese coffee. Since I’m Vietnamese, it feel really great reading about your feeling you have for Vietnamese coffee (esp. Trung Nguyen brand).
Yeah, it’s true that other types of coffee in Vietnam are richer :). Here in Vietnam you will find different flavors of Vietnamese coffee everywhere, with condensed milk or sugar, in the coffee shops, in the restaurants, on the street also. Come and visit Vietnam someday, you will explore more than just coffee that can attract you :P
Btw, can I take some pictures of yours about Harajuku? :)
Reply
Peter Chong
May 3

I do find the prices at both Trung Nguyen outlets to be bit expensive for Singapore. The same coffee, in the same store in Vietnam is about US$1. The traditional way, I understand is to drink it with condensed milk. There will be a strong vanilla aftertaste…rich, robust coffee.
I tried to recreate this with a lever espresso machine, roasting the coffee beans myself…see the results:
http://shiokhochiak.blogspot.com/2009/03/cafe-weasel-vietnams-answer-to-kopi.html
Second try was better:
http://shiokhochiak.blogspot.com/2009/05/weasel-coffee-second-roast.html
Reply
hai
August 8

Uhm..great to see Trung Nguyen from Sgp.
Reply