We’ve always wondered if coffee was basically one drink with regional variations. But when we did our research, we found out that coffee in Hanoi, Jakarta, and Bangkok is completely different.
Coffee culture around the world isn’t one tradition with local garnishes. It’s dozens of completely different relationships with the same bean, shaped by climate, ritual, and what a country actually needed coffee to do for its people. Here’s what three of those traditions taught us, and what’s actually usable back home.
Vietnam: The Phin and the Art of Slow Coffee
The first thing that struck us in Vietnam wasn’t the taste. It was the pace.
Vietnamese coffee runs through a phin, a small metal filter sitting directly on the glass, dripping slowly over sweetened condensed milk. There’s no rushing it. Locals describe the whole process as deliberately unhurried, a moment of patience built into the drink itself, not an inconvenience to engineer away.
Vietnam is also the world’s second-largest coffee producer, built largely on robust, bold Robusta beans rather than the delicate Arabica most specialty cafes chase.
Indonesia: Kopi Tubruk and the Case for Simplicity
Indonesia humbled us a little. Kopi tubruk is about as unfiltered as coffee gets: hot water poured straight over fine grounds and sugar in a glass, no equipment beyond a kettle and a cup.
That simplicity isn’t a limitation. That’s the point. The grounds settle at the bottom, the coffee stays bold and full-bodied, and nothing about it depends on a five-thousand-dollar machine. It was a genuine reminder that great coffee and expensive equipment aren’t always correlated.
Thailand: Oliang and Coffee Built for Heat
Thailand’s oliang is the one that mapped most directly back to home. Brewed through a cotton bag filter, blended with grains and sometimes sesame, and almost always served iced, it’s a drink built specifically for a hot, humid climate, not adapted from a cold-weather original.
That detail matters more for Pakistan than almost anything else we researched.
What This Actually Means for Pakistani Cafés
None of this is about importing a foreign drink wholesale. It’s about borrowing the thinking behind each one.
- Vietnam’s phin ritual shows there’s real demand for a slower, deliberate coffee moment; not everything has to be speed-optimized
- Indonesia’s kopi tubruk proves a simple, minimal-equipment specialty item can still feel authentic and premium
- Thailand’s oliang is the clearest signal of all: iced, climate-appropriate coffee isn’t a seasonal afterthought in a hot country; it’s the format that actually fits daily life here
Pakistan’s summers aren’t that different from Bangkok’s. A menu built partly around that reality, not purely imported cold-weather cafe norms, is an opening most local cafes haven’t fully taken yet.
Where SH Traders Fits In All Of This
Bringing any of this to life still comes down to the same equipment conversation: refrigeration for cold brew and iced formats, proper grinders for a simpler kopi tubruk-style offering, and a bar laid out for speed when a drink calls for it.
SH Traders supplies exactly that equipment side, giving Pakistani cafe owners the tools to build a menu informed by global coffee culture around the world, not just a copy of whatever’s trending in one market.
FAQ’s
Q1) What is a phin filter?
A small metal drip filter used in Vietnam, brewing coffee slowly over sweetened condensed milk for a strong, deliberate cup.
Q2) What makes kopi tubruk different from filtered coffee?
It’s entirely unfiltered, hot water poured directly over fine grounds and sugar, with the grounds settling at the bottom of the glass.
Q3) Why is Thai oliang relevant to Pakistani cafés specifically?
It’s a coffee format built for hot climates, iced and climate-appropriate, which maps closely onto Pakistan’s own summer conditions.
Q4) Do Pakistani cafés need expensive equipment to offer traditional global coffee formats?
Not always. Formats like kopi tubruk need minimal equipment, while others like espresso-based drinks still require proper machines.
Q5) Where can Pakistani café owners source equipment for diverse coffee formats?
SH Traders supplies the refrigeration and equipment range needed to build a menu spanning iced, traditional, and espresso-based coffee.
Conclusion
Coffee was never just one drink wearing different outfits around the world.
Vietnam taught us patience. Indonesia taught us restraint. Thailand taught us to build for the climate we’re actually in, not the one coffee culture originally came from.
That’s the lesson worth bringing home, not the recipe. The thinking behind it.
