What Souvenir to Get from HCMC: The Phin Filter

It's night time and the citizens of HCMC are still milling about statue of the HCM. Must be the caffeine.

Yes, I was not so recently in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for a not so enjoyable long weekend. I did enjoy my fair share of bánh mì; so much so that I insist on putting the proper diacritical marks. Another thing I did love was the Vietnamese coffee.

The thing about HCMC is that coffee is everywhere. For a girl who becomes narcoleptic without a q6 dose of caffeine, this indeed is very very good.

The Coffee at Trung Nguyen, Vietnam's coffee chain

Vietnam has its own homegrown chain of cafés, its Starbucks if you will. That would be Trung Nguyen. Don't worry if you don't have an address for one. Their streets are lousy with branches. Just walk around HCMC's centre and you are sure to see one.

The coffee at RuNam Bistro

Even the establishments priding themselves as having a more upscale ambiance pretty much serve their coffee the same way. Plus there is of course a cookie. Oh pardon me, a biscotti.

So for one whose choice of souvenir is pretty much dictated by a caffeine addiction, the best choice would definitely be the phin filter. Mind you, I skipped the ones sold at the coffee shops. Those were invariably made of aluminum. I headed for the Ben Thanh market and haggled for stainless steel screw-down single serve filters. (Yeah. Stainless steel over aluminium even for my Bialetti, you snooty coffee purist you.) And I've been using them ever since.