My coffee shop in 1980. My father in black shirt sitting with medicine cabinet in the middle of the picture.
I had a coffee shop for 6 years, from 1979 to 1985. The coffee business came to my family quite unexpectedly because there was no other choice but to go to the new economic zone . Luckily, or in Buddhism, it was fate, the shop was very crowded even though no one in my family had ever heard of this business before.
My older sister suddenly became a barista, although at first she was pouring out all over the place. Customers complained that the coffee had dregs (coffee residue); the younger sisters helped wash the glasses, the sieve, the teapot, and the ice (from ice cubes to ice cubes), while my three brothers "specialized" in waiting tables... In general, everyone in the family of 10 had a job, my mother took care of the meals, and my father was in charge of the tobacco cabinet.
It can be said that the coffee business has supported my family for 6 years, before the government had more open economic policies. The advantage of running a coffee shop is that it does not require much investment; coffee, tea, and sugar are all delivered by a dealer who pays later; seating is done with old wooden tables and chairs. The most difficult thing is that during the months of drought, there were continuous power outages, so ice was extremely scarce, we even had to wait at the ice factory to fight for it!
I think not only my family but coffee has fed many families and people for centuries because of its "nature" of being rich or poor, including stories that have been woven into fairy tales.
If Trung Nguyen is the "genius" Dang Le Nguyen Vu, I am impressed with the successful "tycoons" from bags of iced coffee that hang around My Thuan ferry every day. Perhaps for them, coffee is no longer simply a job, a way to make a living, but a turning point, a destiny of life.
(Entry to the contest "Impressions of Vietnamese coffee and tea" under the program "Honoring Vietnamese coffee and tea" for the 2nd time, 2024 organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper ).
Graphics: CHI PHAN
Source
Comment (0)