Sang Tao 8

Someone leaves a box of ground coffee outside my door. It looks like it is from Vietnam. I haven't had a Vietnamese coffee, so am intrigued.

I think the brand name is Sang Tao 8. "Napoleon Bonaparte" is written on the package too. I'm not sure if this is the flavour or an attribution for a quote about coffee.

I open the package and there is a slightly sweet smell- reminiscent of the vanilla or hazelnut coffees that you used to be able to buy, but not exactly that. It is ground, and the grind seems super-fine, I'm not sure what the best way to brew this is. Espresso or a french brew maybe, but I only have my pour-over or a drip, so I try the pour over.

The first pour does not bloom much, it is pre-ground, after all, but the smell in releases is very nice. Not the over-powering smell of a vanilla coffee. If this is flavoured, it is subtle. Slightly sweet, but very rich, it isn't a smell I recognise. Hints of vanilla, but rounder, with something fruity in it.

Expectedly the draw out is long, as the grind is so fine. I worry that I should have used slightly cooler water to avoid burning it. But it turns out this was not a problem. The coffee itself is amazingly smooth, with no bitterness at all, and like the smell, the flavour is the very deep and rich. I am quite impressed. It is probably the best coffee I have ever tried.

I look it up.

It is a well known coffee from Vietnam, `enzymatically-treated' and `butter-roasted' to try to mimic the process of passing it through a civit.