If you’re heading to Cafe Show Hanoi 2026, it’s a great opportunity to check out the city’s specialty coffee scene. It’s grown quickly over the past few years, led by roasters and café owners who are treating Vietnamese coffee with a level of care that is changing how it’s seen both at home and abroad.
Cafe Show Hanoi returns from 8 to 10 October 2026 at the Vietnam Exposition Center in Đông Anh. These are the cafés we’d make time for while you’re in town.
RAAW Coffee Roastery
If there’s one café that belongs at the top of your list, it’s RAAW Coffee Roastery. Founded by Q Grader Nguyễn Phương Linh, RAAW has built its reputation around Vietnamese coffee, showing just how diverse the country’s growing regions can be. The café itself is quiet and understated. Nothing distracts from the coffee. If you’re curious about processing methods or farming, the baristas are happy to talk without turning it into a lecture.
Refined
Refined asks a question that has shaped the entire café. What happens when Vietnamese robusta is treated with the same respect as specialty arabica? Founder Vũ Đình Tú left a career in finance to find out. Today, Refined is one of the strongest examples of how Vietnam’s specialty coffee movement is growing on its own terms rather than following someone else’s playbook.
Blackbird Coffee
The original Old Quarter café is easy to recognise by its burnt-orange frontage and streetside seating, while the Eggspresso offers a contemporary take on Hanoi’s egg-coffee tradition. Blackbird feels polished but approachable, making it a good introduction to Vietnamese specialty coffee and a relaxed place to watch Hanoi pass by.
Dream Beans Coffee Roastery
Dream Beans is an independent, family-run roastery operates from a warm three-storey café on Lý Nam Đế. Its coffees are sourced across Vietnam, particularly paid to Sơn La. Visitors are encouraged to smell the beans and staff are happy to explain the differences between growing regions and match a coffee to their preferred brewing method.
VULAB Specialty Coffee
VULAB is the work of pharmacist-turned-roaster Lê Quang Vũ, whose scientific background shapes a precise, serious approach to coffee. Opened in 2023, the café roasts in-house and serves everything from phin and siphon to AeroPress and moka pot. Its menu is structured, ranking coffees from “common” through to “legendary,” with origins spanning Vietnam, Ethiopia, Costa Rica and Panama. Think light roasts, consistent pour-overs and a rotating bean selection.
Untitled Espresso Bar
Untitled Espresso Bar sits in a private home down a quiet Ngọc Khánh lane. It’s known among local baristas for unusually light roasting and frequently changing selection of premium international coffees, including Sudan Rume, Sidra and several Geishas. The barista-roaster owners, who roast in-house, will happily discuss them in detail. Most are served as pour-over, although light-roast espresso is available on request. It’s a small, art-filled room that feels more like a home bar than a café.
C.O.C Legacy Specialty Coffee
Hidden above Hàng Bạc in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, C.O.C Legacy is reached through a narrow alley and staircase that opens into a small, quiet room away from the street below. Baristas are happy to explain the coffees, growing regions and brewing methods rather than simply serving the drink. Alongside its more coffee-forward brews, the egg coffee and coconut coffee are recommended.
ACID8 Specialty Coffee
Opened in 2019, ACID8 occupies a quiet Hạ Hồi alley and is immediately recognisable by its red-brick frontage and two-storey, tomato-red interior. Its signature is an aerated iced Americano, and its hand brews made with light-roasted Vietnamese and international lots, including limited coffees from Panama and Costa Rica. ACID8 also hosts manual-brewing experiences, making it both a café and a gathering point for Hanoi’s coffee community.
186 Coffee Roasters
Hidden in a quiet alley off Trần Quốc Toản, 186 Coffee Roasters is a tiny micro-roastery with a rustic, industrial feel and only a handful of seats inside and out. It built its reputation on carefully prepared V60s, a thoughtful bean selection and small-batch roasting on site.
Donkey Coffee Roasters
Tucked down an alley near the Red River, Donkey is a tiny roastery-café shaped by founder Nguyễn Hoàng Giang’s interests in coffee, design, vintage objects and camping. Small-batch roasters sit among folding chairs, reclaimed materials, records and functional DIY details, giving the space an industrial but personal feel. The orange cold brew is a summer signature. Knowledgeable staff, public cuppings and accessible prices have made Donkey a community hub for Hanoi’s coffee enthusiasts.
Three classic Hanoi coffee experiences you shouldn’t miss
To understand the city’s coffee scene properly though, you need to visit the cafés that helped shape its coffee culture long before specialty began trending.
Café Giảng
Café Giảng is a piece of living Hanoi history. Founded in 1946 by Nguyễn Văn Giảng, then a bartender at the Metropole Hotel, it is widely credited with creating cà phê trứng (egg coffee). Reached through a narrow entrance at 39 Nguyễn Hữu Huân, the café retains its weathered walls, low stools and unpolished Old Quarter character. Now internationally famous, it remains the essential place to understand why egg coffee became one of Hanoi’s defining drinks.
Café Đinh
Hidden above 13 Đinh Tiên Hoàng Street, Café Đinh is reached by a narrow staircase leading to a small, timeworn room overlooking Hoàn Kiếm Lake. It was opened in 1987 by Nguyễn Thị Bích, daughter of egg-coffee creator Nguyễn Văn Giảng. Faded walls, old photographs, simple wooden furniture and a tiny balcony preserve the atmosphere of an earlier Hanoi. Once known as a gathering place for students and intellectuals, it still feels more like a living neighbourhood institution than a polished tourist attraction.
Phin Bar by Refined
Phin Bar by Refined is an eight-seat, all-black coffee bar built to showcase what Vietnamese Fine Robusta can do. Rather than treating the phin as a nostalgic brewing method, the team applies modern farming, roasting and pour-over principles to the traditional filter. Drinks are prepared directly in front of guests at the central counter, encouraging conversation. Compact and deliberately focused, it feels closer to a guided tasting bar than a conventional cafe, and is one of Hanoi’s clearest expressions of contemporary Vietnamese coffee culture.
How to plan
If you’ve only got one free morning, visit RAAW Coffee Roastery, Blackbird Coffee and C.O.C Legacy Specialty Coffee. Together, they’re a great introduction to Hanoi’s specialty coffee scene.
If you’ve got another afternoon, pair VULAB with ACID8 before finishing the day at Untitled Espresso Bar.
Don’t try to visit every café in one trip. Hanoi rewards a slower pace than that.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cafe Show Hanoi 2026 worth attending?
If you work in coffee, yes. Cafe Show Hanoi is one of Southeast Asia’s leading coffee trade exhibitions, bringing together roasters, green coffee producers, equipment manufacturers, café owners and hospitality professionals from across the region. The exhibition is worth the trip on its own. Spending time in Hanoi’s cafés while you’re there makes the experience much richer.
Where is Cafe Show Hanoi 2026 taking place?
Cafe Show Hanoi 2026 takes place from 8 to 10 October 2026 at Hall 8, Vietnam Exposition Center (VEFAC) in Đông Anh, Hanoi. Most international visitors stay in Hoàn Kiếm District or the Old Quarter, where many of Hanoi’s leading specialty coffee shops are also located. From there, the exhibition venue is typically around 30 to 45 minutes away by car, depending on traffic.
Which specialty coffee shops should I visit in Hanoi?
If you’re only in the city for a few days, start with these cafés:
- RAAW Coffee Roastery
- Refined
- Blackbird Coffee
- Dream Beans Coffee Roastery
- VULAB Specialty Coffee
- Untitled Espresso Bar
- C.O.C Legacy Specialty Coffee
- ACID8 Specialty Coffee
- 186 Coffee Roasters
- Donkey Coffee Roasters
Together, they offer a good cross section of Hanoi’s specialty coffee scene, from Vietnamese focused roasters to cafés serving outstanding espresso and filter coffee.
Where can I experience Vietnamese specialty coffee?
RAAW Coffee Roastery and Refined are the two cafés we’d recommend first. RAAW showcases coffees from different Vietnamese growing regions, giving visitors a chance to explore the country’s diversity in the cup. Refined takes a different approach, focusing on fine Vietnamese robusta and demonstrating how thoughtful sourcing and roasting can completely change expectations of the variety. Visit both if you can. Each tells a different part of the story.
Is Hanoi known for specialty coffee or traditional coffee?
Both. Hanoi’s coffee culture is built on long established traditions such as egg coffee, phin brewing and robusta. At the same time, the city has become one of Vietnam’s most exciting destinations for specialty coffee, with a growing number of cafés roasting exceptional Vietnamese coffees and serving carefully prepared espresso and filter coffee.
Where should I try egg coffee in Hanoi?
The classic choice is Café Giảng, where egg coffee was first created in 1946. It’s also worth visiting Café Đinh, another long standing Hanoi institution overlooking Hoàn Kiếm Lake. If you’d like to see a modern interpretation of Vietnamese brewing, spend some time at Phin Bar by Refined, where the traditional phin filter remains at the centre of the experience.
How many days do I need to explore Hanoi’s coffee scene?
Two or three days is enough to visit many of the cafés featured in this guide without rushing. If you’re attending Cafe Show Hanoi, dedicate one day to the exhibition and keep another day free for exploring the city. Most of the cafés in Hoàn Kiếm District can be reached on foot, making it easy to build your own coffee walk.
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