help
Depxtrai
A little help from our friends is always welcomed. And, if that friend happens to be coffee with a side of creamy creative consciousness as in the Long Beach Zine Fest, where we met, then, the more power to the culture for it.
She grew up drinking Ca Phe Sua Da. Its traditional Vietnamese coffee, a dark roast with sweet cream added.
Her style reminded me of a beatnik American, cool, approachable and full of literary references. She immediately took me to the history of Vietnam, its coffee and ritual; I loved hearing about it mostly because it broadened my scope of another culture.
“Growing up coffee always tasted sweet and cold. When I got older and was introduced to fine coffee, it didn’t appeal to me.”
The French colonial history of Vietnam influenced coffee and its sweetening. No wonder Depxtrai needed help with the American profile of coffee, preferring her own to that of this country’s.
A little help from our friends is always welcomed. And, if that friend happens to be coffee with a side of creamy creative consciousness as in the Long Beach Zine Fest, where we met, then, the more power to the culture for it.
Location: Museum of Latin American Art
City: Long Beach, CA