Vietnam Specialty Coffee Competition: From national “playground” to global aspiration

Vietnam has long been famous on the world coffee map, mainly as the leading exporter of Robusta coffee in terms of output. However, along with the huge output comes challenges in terms of added value and brand positioning.

Faced with the urgent need for change, the Vietnam Specialty Coffee Competition marks an important milestone in promoting this high-value coffee segment. Through 7 times of organization, Vietnam Amazing Cup has clearly defined its goals: affirming the quality value of Vietnamese coffee beans, searching for and honoring excellent coffee products from all raw material regions across the country and connecting the community of specialty coffee makers with domestic and international partners.

Organizations, units, and roasters come to learn about the Top 10 specialty coffee samples in 2025.

In particular, the Vietnam Specialty Coffee Competition 2025 recorded important milestones, showing remarkable growth and development. That is the large number of samples and output of the competing coffee lots, with 149 samples and 245 tons. Another notable point is the appearance of the Robusta competition lot with a volume of up to 30 tons.

This is the first time a large commercial batch of Robusta coffee has entered the competition, affirming the practicality and high commercialization potential of Vietnamese specialty coffee. This also shows the strong response of the specialty coffee community, even in the context of prolonged high coffee prices, creating many challenges for the sustainability of the supply chain.

The second highlight is the richness of coffee varieties and processing methods. In addition to familiar Arabica varieties such as Catuai yellow fruit, Bourbon, Typica, the competition also welcomed the participation of THA1 variety. In particular, the Robusta segment has the participation of varieties such as TR9, Thien Truong, and Xanh dwarf. In terms of processing methods, the competition witnessed the appearance of many unique and highly controlled techniques such as Red Honey, showing the constant creativity of Vietnamese coffee producers.

The jury of the Vietnam Specialty Coffee Competition 2025 selected the finalists.

Mr. Trinh Duc Minh, Chairman of Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association, said that to ensure fairness, transparency and prestige, the Vietnam Specialty Coffee Competition strictly adheres to the standards and blind tasting process through sample coding as prescribed by the Specialty Coffee Association - SCA and the Coffee Quality Institute - CQI in the two preliminary and final rounds. At the same time, the judging team is made up of leading experts, especially the members of the Jury who all have Q Grader certificates and international judging experience. In this competition, there are 4 judges from abroad, ensuring an objective perspective and international standards.

The 2025 Vietnam Specialty Coffee Competition recorded an unexpected result with 139/149 entries meeting the specialty standards (the highest level in the history of Vietnam specialty coffee competitions). The competition results are the most prestigious certification of quality, attracting the attention of buyers, roasters and specialty coffee chains around the world. This has opened wide doors for award-winning coffee beans, creating a bridge from the podium of glory straight to the market, especially the international market.

Honoring the winners of the Vietnam Specialty Coffee Competition 2025.

Ms. Luong Ngoc Tram, representative of Pun Coffee Company Limited ( Quang Tri province) - the unit with 4 Arabica coffee samples in the Top 10 of the competition, including one sample winning the First Prize, shared: "Pun Coffee is very proud to be in the Top 1 of Arabian coffee four times, including three consecutive years of winning the prize. Notably, at this year's competition, Pun Coffee has the largest number of samples honored. This is a joy and also an affirmation of the tireless efforts of farmers in Quang Tri region - a place that does not have many advantages to develop Arabica coffee, but coffee growers here have used processing techniques to create highlights for Arabica coffee beans. That is, taking better care of the raw material area (switching from monoculture to biodiversity-rich forest garden cultivation), picking slower and drying slower...". During the 5 years of participating in the competition, the company has also established its position in the specialty coffee market, and has been chosen by many partners to become a supplier of green beans. Currently, Pun Coffee's bean output is not enough to meet the needs of the domestic and foreign markets.

Mr. Shaun Ong, Head of the Final Round Jury, shared: "In three years of being a judge of the competition, I have noticed that the quality of the coffee samples has changed for the better. Like this year's competition, with Robusta, I see more flavors, less bitterness and extremely sweet, this is a very good direction for Vietnamese Robusta".

According to Mr. Le Duc Huy, Chairman of the Board of Members of 2-9 Dak Lak Import-Export Company Limited (Simexco Daklak), it is the courage, perseverance and enduring passion of the producers that have created great value for the Vietnamese specialty coffee industry. Simexco Daklak commits to continue to accompany, sponsor, sponsor trade and develop value for the entire Vietnam Amazing Cup chain, affirming the belief in the right development path of the Vietnamese coffee industry in line with global trends. Currently, roasters have placed many orders with Simexco Daklak for specialty coffee, and the company will have a plan to contact the winning producers directly to work on sales strategies.

The Vietnam Specialty Coffee Competition 2025 - Vietnam Amazing Cup 2025 has identified 139 samples that meet specialty standards (Robusta coffee 92 samples and Arabica 47 samples). Of which, the Top 3 Robusta specialty coffee samples include: First prize awarded to An Coffee Farm (Lam Dong province); Second prize: Tinh Farm (Dak Lak province); Third prize: Sucafina Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Lam Dong province).

For Arabica coffee, the first prize was awarded to two units with equal scores, including: Pun Coffee Company Limited (Quang Tri province) and 8Ro Production, Trade and Service Company (Lam Dong province); the third prize was awarded to two units: Quoc Loc - Da Lat Natural Company Limited (Lam Dong province) and Le Duc Binh Farm (Quang Tri province).

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/tin-noi-bat/202504/cuoc-thi-ca-phe-dac-san-viet-nam-tu-san-choi-quoc-gia-den-khat-vong-toan-cau-21b218e/