Will Frith Gives a Lesson on Vietnamese Coffee

We continue our discussion on SE Asian Coffee with Will Frith. We get into the history and rise of Vietnamese Coffee and it's modernization.

Will Frith is an American of Vietnamese descent who grew up in Texas. He first came to Vietnam in 2004 to meet his maternal grandparents, and has subsequently split his time between Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

He got his start in the coffee business as a barista at MOD Coffeehouse in Galveston, Texas. In 2007 he was hired as a Production Assistant at Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters (now Dancing Goats Coffee) in Olympia, Washington, and would eventually become Production Roaster and QC Specialist at Olympia Coffee Roasters.

In 2013 he moved to Vietnam to contribute to the development of specialty arabica. He is largely credited with sparking a movement in specialty coffee there. With the exception of a year at The New Black in Singapore and three years with Modbar as its west coast US rep, he has since lived and worked in Saigon, dedicated to changing the way the world views Vietnam's coffee.

In 2019 he co-founded Saigon-based Building Coffee, a coffee company at origin that believes in Better Coffee for More People. He opened Building Coffee's flagship cafe BEL with Building Coffee partner Kel Norman in 2021. Ed Leebrick, owner of Seattle's legendary Lighthouse Roasters, joined Building Coffee in 2021. The brand launched in the USA at the Specialty Coffee Association's 2023 Expo in Portland, OR.

<www.willfrith.com>

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