Coffee is now harvested by people when it is just turning yellow.
My grandfather migrated from the North to Bao Loc ( Lam Dong province) in 1954. In this land, he was probably one of the first people to grow coffee trees, as evidenced by the fact that his garden still has coffee trees that are over 30 years old.
Perhaps because of being attached to coffee trees for so long, my grandmother "invented" the unique fish sauce coffee nearly 30 years ago. First, the raw coffee is coffee beans that birds (bats) drop to the ground. These coffee beans are washed and dried. The pot (pan) used to roast the coffee must be a cast iron pot about 1-2 mm thick. My grandmother brushed a layer of butter, after the pot was hot, she put about 2 kg of coffee in and roasted it evenly. When the coffee beans were golden brown, my grandmother added a little vanilla powder and continued to roast evenly.
I remember very clearly, my grandmother often said: "The cast iron pot is hot for a long time, so if you don't roast it evenly, the batch of coffee will have some undercooked beans and some overcooked beans, and the flavor will be reduced." When the coffee beans have turned brown, my grandmother will pour in about 2-3 spoons of fish sauce and stir well before removing it from the stove. The batch of coffee will be kept in the cast iron pot for about 15-20 minutes before being ground into powder. My grandmother's fish sauce coffee has a very strong flavor when brewed, but if you bring it out into the sunlight, the surface of the coffee will have a little bit of grease-like stains.
For nearly 20 years, although I still remember my grandfather’s recipe for fish sauce coffee, my family no longer makes coffee using that recipe. Maybe it’s because we don’t have time, or maybe this recipe will remind us of our grandfather, even though he’s been gone for nearly 20 years.
(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).
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