{"id":1481,"date":"2026-08-17T18:31:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T09:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/industry_news\/ede-cafe-usa\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T18:31:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T09:31:40","slug":"ede-cafe-usa","status":"publish","type":"industry_news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/ede-cafe-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"Y P\u1ed1t Ni\u00ea of the Ede People, Who Quit Being a Doctor, Sells Dak Lak Coffee to the US Under His Own Name"},"content":{"rendered":"

A doctor who worked about four years at a hospital in Dak Lak province took off his white coat and carried his hometown's coffee to the United States under his own brand. Y P\u1ed1t Ni\u00ea (English name Henry), of the Ede people, formally quit medicine on May 15, 2019, and began selling beans from the K'La hamlet of Dray Sap commune, Krong Ana district, where he was born and raised, under the name \u00ca \u0110\u00ea C\u00e0fe. Vietnamese coffee has long flowed in bulk as raw green beans, and those who drink it know neither the growing area nor the grower. He is setting out to break that anonymity with a brand bearing his ethnic group's name and with direct exports.<\/p>\n

This article is written for Japanese roasters and buyers handling Vietnamese coffee. The move in which an ethnic-minority primary producer holds everything from processing to export himself changes the premise of procurement design for those building direct trade with growing areas.<\/p>\n

Y P\u1ed1t Ni\u00ea, who quit medicine, turned his hometown's Ede coffee into a brand named after the ethnic group<\/h2>\n

Y P\u1ed1t Ni\u00ea served as a doctor for about four years at a hospital in Buon Ma Thuot city. He let go of the stable job in 2019 and obtained a business license the same year; the full-scale launch of the business was in early 2022. The starting capital was on the scale of only VND 5 million of his own money (about \u00a529,000, converting at about VND 175 to \u00a51) plus a loan of VND 15 million-20 million (about \u00a590,000-110,000), far from a large investment.<\/p>\n

The brand name \u00ca \u0110\u00ea C\u00e0fe bears, as is, the name of the Ede people to which he himself belongs. Dak Lak province is one of Vietnam's leading Robusta growing areas, and Buon Ma Thuot is the center of its collection and distribution. He sells the beans grown there together with the hamlet's name and the grower's face. From ground beans, roasted beans, and instant to novelty items combining durian or taro, the product count has grown to more than 15 kinds. In 2022 he was named an Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer.<\/p>\n

10 tonnes of green beans to Florida, 5 tonnes of roast to San Antonio: three years of emails became an invitation<\/h2>\n

The deals in the US were not a sudden negotiation. By Y P\u1ed1t Ni\u00ea's own account, he kept in touch with overseas customers by email and WhatsApp for three years, and after building the relationship, a formal invitation to visit arrived from the other side. During a stay of about three months, deals came together in several states.<\/p>\n

The quantities are concrete. A deal to send about 10 tonnes of green beans, half a container, to Florida and 5 tonnes of roasted beans to San Antonio was firmed up. In Greensboro, North Carolina, test sales of roasted beans begin. What the counterparts spoke of was not a bean grading table but the authenticity and freshness they had been searching for. It is a deal in which the growing area's story and freshness, not numbers on a quality spec, were the deciding factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Item<\/th>\nDetails<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Brand<\/td>\n\u00ca \u0110\u00ea C\u00e0fe (license obtained 2019, full-scale launch early 2022)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Growing region<\/td>\nK'La hamlet, Dray Sap commune, Krong Ana district, Dak Lak province<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deals for the US<\/td>\nAbout 10 tonnes of green beans to Florida, 5 tonnes of roasted beans to San Antonio, test sales in Greensboro<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Number of products<\/td>\nMore than 15 kinds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Yen conversions of amounts are rough estimates based on a guide of about VND 175 to \u00a51. Quantities and growing areas are based on D\u00e2n Vi\u1ec7t reporting.<\/small><\/p>\n

15 products and a 1,000-hectare vision: contract farming in Buon K'La supports supply<\/h2>\n

Y P\u1ed1t Ni\u00ea's procurement does not complete with his own field alone. He takes the form of signing contract farming with small farmers in Buon K'La and surrounding hamlets and processing the gathered beans in-house. He sets a target of 1,000 hectares for the ingredient-sourcing area. It is hard for an ethnic-minority farmer to reach export alone, but if one person holding processing and sales channels becomes the organizer, hamlets connect to outside markets as a unit.<\/p>\n

Here lies a structure that Japanese buyers should read. A circuit for buying not a growing area's beans as one company's green beans but by a unit where the hamlet's face is visible is rising from the producer's side. the move to add value to beans through processing advancing in the same Dak Lak<\/a> Set alongside this, you can see that the majors' powdering and the individual brand's story-selling are moving at different speeds within the same province.<\/p>\n

Why selling the culture along with it worked in the US, and the takeaway for Japanese roasters<\/h2>\n

What moved US buyers was neither cheapness nor large-volume supply. It was a way of selling that revealed the grower's ethnic group and hamlet and put freshness and story to the fore. In Japan's specialty market too, procurement built around a growing area's face and direct trade is spreading. Vietnamese Robusta has long been placed in the position of a cheap filler, but if bought with a single growing area and a specified grower, it can be put on the shelf on a mat other than price.<\/p>\n

Behind this is that Robusta's positioning is moving globally. A current of choosing single-origin Robusta for dark roasts and espresso has emerged, and buyers who buy with a specified growing area and processing have increased. Dak Lak is the home of that Robusta, and if a grower holds the name and the processing, room arises for pricing that departs from the filler market. What Y P\u1ed1t Ni\u00ea showed in the US is a real example that this room can be pursued with an individual brand.<\/p>\n

There are three concrete meanings for Japanese roasters. First, a producer who holds even the processing, like \u00ca \u0110\u00ea C\u00e0fe, can take orders for green beans or roasted beans, so you can choose the purchasing form according to whether you roast in-house. Second, the story of the ethnic group and the hamlet becomes material you can tell Japanese consumers too, on packaging or a menu. Third, a grower who handles the practicalities of export himself is easier to communicate with in exchanges over paperwork and quarantine. A way of selling a growing area built around story the method by which a Da Nang maker sells ingredients through story<\/a> overlaps with this too and has a reach not limited to coffee.<\/p>\n

The practicalities for Japanese buyers to team up with a Y P\u1ed1t Ni\u00ea-type growing area<\/h2>\n

When teaming up with an individual-brand producer, you need to settle conditions on the premise of small scale. We want to confirm the following points in the first exchange.<\/p>\n