There’s a new coffee shop that specialized in Vietnamese style coffee – the first of it’s kind in Vancouver. Ca Phe is located in Chinatown House as a pop-up until May. They have four drinks and a couple of sweets you can try out.
On the menu, you’ll find Really Strong Vietnamese Coffee ($3.80), Really Strong Iced Coffee ($4), Avocado Coffee ($5.80) and Egg Coffee (n/a). Currently, you cannot get the egg coffee but it should be back in stock soon.
I was more intrigued to try the Avocado Coffee – which is a blended cold drink of Vietnamese coffee and avocado. While this could be regarded as peak Vancouver and our love for avocados, Asians use a lot of avocado in their cuisines in form of drinks (my dad makes a great avocado milk drink at home). The avocado flavour is the strongest of the coffee, but it definitely is an acquired taste. I’d imagine you’d want to order this if you need your dose of healthy fats with a shot of caffeine to it. Not sure if I’d order it all the time, but interesting to try.
We also tried the Really Strong Vietnamese Coffee – the coffee blend is smoother and creamier than most Vietnamese coffees I’ve had that isn’t too bitter but quite enjoyable. It’s served with condensed milk but the drink has a great balance of caffeine and sweetness.
We tried the Really Strong Iced Coffee which is essentially the same as the hot coffee but iced – this was one of my favourites.
We tried three of the pastries on hand: Spiced Chocolate Hoisin Swirl Brownie with Vietnamese Coffee Salted Caramel (phew that’s a mouthful), Black Sesame Chocolate Chip Cookie and Brown Butter Matcha and Cream Cheese Swirl Blondies with Black Sesame Caramel.
My favourite of the three was definitely the Spiced Chocolate Hoisin Swirl Brownie. It had a good dense centre that was soft and slightly crispy edges. The flavour of the hoisin made for an interesting combination of sweet and salty that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The Black Sesame Chocolate Chip Cookie is packed with black sesame seeds – the flavour is good, not too sweet with chunks of chocolates throughout.
Finally, the Brown Butter Matcha and Cream Cheese Swirl Blondie. Another interesting combination – not too sweet, had a good taste of matcha and the sesame caramel gave it a savoury edge to it.
I love what they’re doing here – infusing flavours you wont find elsewhere, it is a definite must-try!
Food/Coffee: 5
Service: n/a
Value: 4
Ambiance: 4
OVERALL: 4.5
For more information on Ca Phe, check out their page here: https://www.instagram.com/caphevancouver/
