![\"Hien:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/vietnamese-coffee-story-lead-image.jpg\" "\\"Chinatown\u2019s")
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Hien: From Vietnam is a small cafe that has gained a lot of attention recently.<\/p>\n
Photos courtesy of Hein: From Vietnam<\/p>\n
In Vietnamese, Hi\u1ec1n carries the meaning of gentleness and quiet integrity. Two values that a small business owner attempts to integrate into a cup of coffee. At this time of the year, if you find yourself in Chinatown looking for some good Vietnamese coffee, Hien: From Vietnam is a small cafe that has been gaining spotlight on social media for their slushy and strong drinks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Owned by Christmas Le, who moved to the U.S. in her late 20s from Saigon, a small city in Vietnam, grew up drinking a lot of Vietnamese coffee. As she traveled around, Le found the coffee to be mostly milky or watery that didn\u2019t hit the spot like before. She got the place for the cafe by accident this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Le had previously worked in the hospitality business, working in the kitchen and had dealt with tickets of food orders.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI realized many people in New York find Vietnamese coffee to be quite strong and are mostly familiar with Americano or cold brew, which are light and diluted. So, let\u2019s say one cup of Vietnamese coffee that I offer here is equivalent to two or three shots of espresso, which I didn\u2019t realize when I had started. It was normal for me, but it was a lot for most people,\u201d said Le.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Le thinks that the Vietnamese food scene in New York could become better and she hopes to bring more flavours from the land of the Blue Dragon to New Yorkers, beginning with the ice-crusted slushy coffee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
People who\u2019ve traveled to Vietnam may be familiar with the unique flavors and texture of this beverage. In the past, there weren\u2019t many ice-machines and Le had seen people from factories deliver huge ice cubes to coffee shops, where a lady would then smash it to make crushed ice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not something I even thought about, because it\u2019s just the same way we did in Vietnam. So it\u2019s not a new innovation or anything. It\u2019s totally super old,\u201d said Le.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the beginning, Le wanted to do that, but then she got the crushed ice machine. And it actually took more time and labor than she thought. Some people have just come to the cafe for the crushed ice too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But a far more formidable challenge surfaced this year.\n<\/p>\n
Vietnam is one of the major coffee exporting countries to the US and the current administration had imposed a 46% tariff on coffee beans from Vietnam earlier this year.\u00a0 The tariff was lifted in November 2025, but not without impacting Le\u2019s business and others around the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew the tariffs would affect it already. But then in three months, it went up like 20% more. And I couldn\u2019t just stop buying the beans from Vietnam, so I decided it\u2019s better to make little money than compromise the quality of the coffee, especially now my customers know what they\u2019re getting,\u201d said Le.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Le imports coffee beans from Vietnam at $19-$20 per pound every two weeks, depending on how much she could sell.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what else to do. I knew I couldn\u2019t sell coffee at a higher price for one cup,\u201d said Le.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
She tried to incorporate salads and other delicacies into the menu at the beginning, but couldn\u2019t manage both working in the kitchen and taking orders from customers, as Le hasn\u2019t employed any workers yet. Meanwhile, demand for her Vietnamese coffee remained strong as word of mouth spread \u2014 something that Le didn\u2019t expect right away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Le thinks that the popularity of her coffee is because she doesn\u2019t mix the coffee beans but instead keeps the original and authentic flavors that she grew up drinking in Vietnam in every cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea isn\u2019t about some random coffee and condensed milk that makes Vietnamese coffee. So, I use all of the beans from Vietnam and keep the same way that we brew coffee at home,\u201d said Le.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Le believes that even established businesses are still struggling every day. The price of one cup of coffee isn\u2019t just the cost of milk and coffee beans, it is the income that pays for rent, electricity and labor costs. \u201cNobody wants to go to a coffee shop and carry the stress of the business owner,\u201d said Le.<\/p>\n
While the tariffs have been lifted on Vietnam, the competition faced by small businesses in the face of rising cost of production is still a challenge. As Le struggles to survive in this economy, she envisions to remain resilient and believe in the quality of her coffee to expand her clientele within the community. She hopes to open the place for dining as well one day.\u00a0<\/p>\n