ravelers try egg coffee and other Vietnamese specialties in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo courtesy of New York Times)

Café Cheo Leo is a favorite destination due to the exceptional bitterness and caffeine wallop provided by most robusta beans.

Even sweeter concoctions await inside Lacaph, a classy new coffeehouse in District 1, just off Rach Ben Nghe, the slim urban canal that snakes through the southern city, the US newspaper wrote.

Decorated with dark wood paneling and track lighting, the cafe serves lemonade for VND80,000, combined with coffee-blossom honey and a dose of coffee brewed in a traditional Vietnamese phin, a stainless-steel cup with an internal metal filter. In addition, the house coconut coffee for VND80,000 blends cold brew, coconut milk, coconut syrup, and coconut ice cream.

96B in Tan Dinh district is a good suggestion for any travelers. Gray, angular, and industrial, the style of this small cafe packs educational ambitions with hands-on workshops from VND300,000 to VND660,000 and is devoted to everything from roasting beans to latte art.

There might be no better place to test ones tasting skills than at this vast, loft-like, neo-industrial The Workshop cafe, just off bustling Dong Khoi street. 

Meanwhile, Little Hanoi Egg Coffee tells tourists everything they need to know about its signature attraction, with a frothy, foamy, and sweet take on egg coffee on offer for VND40,000, with the Hanoi classic being made with whipped egg yolks, condensed milk, sugar, and vanilla flavoring.

Bel coffee shop provides a great place for cool kids and global nomads, while baristas work the levers of a state-of-the-art Slayer espresso machine.

Known as Ca Phe Vot, “Net Coffee” in English, the small, garage-like space is tucked away at 330/2 Phan Dinh Phung, a narrow lane in the Phu Nhuan district which is south of the airport.