281 : The Vietnamese Coffee Revolution w/ Sahra Nguyen of Nguyen Coffee Supply

"Vietnam is the future of specialty coffee!" Today we are going to unpack this statement and discuss how the Vietnamese coffee movement is creating opportunity for a marginalized coffee variety and people with our very special guest, Sahra Nguyen!  Sahra Nguyen is the founder & CEO of Nguyen Coffee Supply the first-ever specialty Vietnamese coffee company importing and roasting in Brooklyn, New York. On a mission to transform the coffee industry through diversity, inclusion, and transparency, Nguyen Coffee Supply has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, VICE, New York Magazine, New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, and honored with the 2019 StarChefs Rising Star Award. Early January 2020, Imbibe Magazine featured Sahra Nguyen as one of the #Imbibe75 -- people, places, and directions that will shape the way you drink in 2020. She is a Gold House Collective Founder for Spring 2020 cohort, a leading network to celebrate and elevate the Asian American community. In this conversation we get to hear the story of how Sahra founded, grew, and now leads Nguyen Coffee Supply on a mission to flip the script, change the narrative, and create a place in specialty coffee for Vietnamese coffee and coffee culture.  We cover: The current marginalization Vietnamese coffee Why Vietnam and robusta are the future of coffee The people behind the coffee Learning to import and roast and start her own supply chain  Creating opportunity to improve  Feedback to farmers and long term relationships Vietnam coffee culture  Holistic perspectives on coffee origins Making room in our community for diverse expressions and origins Related Episodes to listen to next: 256 : Founder Friday w/ Varat Vichit-Vadakan of Roots Coffee Roaster in Bangkok, Thailand 247 : Founder Friday! w/ Ritesh Doshi, CEO of Spring Valley Coffee, Nairobi, Kenya 236 : Founder Friday! w/ Meil Castagna-Herrera & Curtis Herrera of Cafe Corazon! 209 : Founder Friday! w/ Linda Thach of Little Skips, Brooklyn, NY 171 : Founder Friday w/ Matt Chitharanjan and Namrata Asthana of Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters in India 279 : Founder Friday! w/ Daniel Brown and Nephthaly Leonidas of Gilly Brew Bar   Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com