🇻🇳[Shilla Monogram Da Nang] Activity_ Honest review of the "Vietnamese Traditional Coffee Class" from a coffee maniac

For all my neighbors who love coffee, I'm sharing an honest review of the Shilla Monogram Da Nang coffee class! As a self-proclaimed coffee enthusiast, I even looked into the bean information in order to write this review of the coffee class I attended at Shilla Monogram Da Nang. After learning about the lineup and quality of the beans, I was truly amazed by the attention to detail at Shilla Monogram Da Nang, which carefully prepared even rare beans like Liberica (Cafe Mit).

The lineup of the top 3 coffee beans. The coffee class was also held at Bistro M, located on the 1st floor of the residence. As soon as I sat down at the class table, what caught my eye was the neatly arranged baskets of three kinds of coffee beans. At the time, I didn't know much about it, but after looking into it, I found it was a premium lineup that completely shattered the prejudice that they would have simply prepared common, cheap Robusta beans. Robusta coffee

Robusta beans are an extremely hard and tough variety, with Vietnam proudly ranking No. 1 in global production. ✔️Origin: Congo (flatlands and lowlands) ✔️Unique aroma: A savory scent reminiscent of scorched rice (nurungji) or rice tea (sungnyung), combined with roasted grain notes, along with a very strong, bittersweet earthy scent. ✔️Taste characteristics: There's almost no acidity (sourness) to speak of, but the dark, heavy body (bitterness) that fills your mouth is intense. Thanks to this rich flavor, even when mixed with condensed milk or regular milk, the coffee taste doesn't get lost. ✔️ Caffeine content: It tends to be more than twice as high compared to Arabica. The mind-jolting intensity that's so distinctive of Vietnamese coffee They say it's precisely this high caffeine content that it comes from. Arabica coffee.

Arabica beans are the byword for premium coffee, accounting for about 60~70% of the world's coffee production. ✔️ Origin: Ethiopia (high-altitude regions) ✔️ Distinctive aroma: From the moment the green beans are roasted, a subtle floral fragrance, fruity notes, and a savory nutty aroma spread out in a rich and vibrant way. ✔️ Flavor characteristics: It boasts a smooth, clean body, with pleasant acidity (sourness) and sweetness blending together nicely, while the bitterness is relatively low. ✔️ Caffeine content: Compared to Robusta, it is about half as low. Liberica coffee

I heard that Liberica coffee beans are a rare variety, making up only 1-2% of global production. Because Liberica beans have such a strong, distinctive character and such low production volume, they're rarely used on the market as a single origin. Instead, they're often used as a blending ingredient to enrich the aroma of Arabica or Robusta beans. ✔️ Origin: Grown only in small quantities in select highland regions of Liberia, Africa, and locally in Vietnam. ✔️Unique aroma: From the moment the green beans are roasted, a smoky scent and a jackfruit-like fruity aroma emerge at the same time. ✔️Flavor profile: The first sip is heavy and bitter like Robusta, but the finish carries a hint of tangy acidity like Arabica, boasting a truly unique flavor. ✔️Low caffeine: The flavor is very bold and intense, but surprisingly, the caffeine content is much lower than Robusta's and even lower than Arabica's. 💡 Compare the three beans at a glance ✔️Robusta (Congo/Vietnam) Intense, nutty grain-like aroma, heavy bitterness, high caffeine content ✔️Arabica (Ethiopia) Smooth, bright floral & fruity aroma, mainly acidity, medium caffeine content. ✔️Liberica (Liberia) Rare, unique jackfruit aroma, mainly smoky, low caffeine content. Vietnamese Traditional Coffee Class

The real class has finally begun!! As the coffee class started, the G.O.A staff explained the three types of coffee beans to us in English.

Coffee blended from three different types of beans was ready and waiting. Since it was time for a traditional Vietnamese coffee class, phin coffee (Pin Coffee) was the basic starting point. And using that phin coffee, we got to experience making three kinds of coffee: cà phê sữa đá (condensed milk coffee), a foamy cà phê sữa đá on top! (Maybe bạc xỉu?) Phin coffee (Pin Coffee) is coffee made the traditional Vietnamese way~ You slowly drip it through an aluminum filter to savor the deep, rich essence of the beans themselves.

I place a coffee Pin on top of a glass, add a spoonful of coffee grounds, pour in hot water, and then cover it with the lid. And then... waiting time, haha It takes quite a while to drip down, haha So I set this one up first, and go ahead and try making another coffee.

Cafe Sua Da (Vietnamese Iced Coffee) is a style where richly brewed espresso is mixed with sweet condensed milk and ice.

Pour condensed milk into a small glass, transfer it into a glass, then pour black coffee brewed with pin coffee over the glass containing the condensed milk — and that's it!!! Just add ice and enjoy.

Frothy Cafe Sua Da Put strong coffee into a shaker and shake it hard (Shake!)!! Once you've made plenty of fluffy foam, layer it on top of condensed milk coffee and enjoy. The visuals and the dense, chewy texture were so smooth that it reminded me of the 'Aerocano' that's trending in Korea.

Condensed milk + milk + coffee foam = Mr. Park's milk??? I didn't catch the name at the time, so I don't remember it... I think, like in the photo above ⬆️, they were trying to make a foamy "Mr. Park's milk" coffee, but I think there was some kind of miscommunication. Lol The on-site reaction was so good — the staff really had a flair for showmanship~ haha There was no milk on site, so they only put in condensed milk, and it was so sweet I couldn't finish it. ㅠㅠ

You know that Vietnamese black coffee is different from Korean black coffee, right?? Black coffee is brewed strong using Robusta beans, so you'll experience a very, very intense flavor. Haha. The caffeine content is also very high!! If you don't like such a strong taste, you can dilute it with water and drink it lightly, or you can just order an Americano instead.

In this coffee class, we created 3 of the most basic Vietnamese coffee menu items hehe Personally, out of the 3 beans, Liberica beans were the best suited to my taste..hehe An honest and straightforward review as a coffee enthusiast ✔️ What was good: At first I thought it would be a light experience, but they had prepared premium beans like Liberica... Now that I've come to know Shilla Monogram's hidden elegance, I see the resort in a whole new light. I'd like to applaud the meticulous preparation of the coffee beans! ✔️ Things I found a bit disappointing: ▪︎ For a more standardized taste, it would be great if you could also let us know how the portions are measured. ▪︎ The basic phin coffee, iced milk coffee (sữa đá), and foam coffee currently offered are all wonderful, but with the resort's elegance and... I was left with a small, affectionate sense of longing—thinking that if Shilla Monogram added a bit more development of original signature menus that make full use of these wonderful coffee beans, it might become an even more perfect experience for enthusiasts. 😊 https://m.shillamonogram.com/dnmg/index.do?lang=ko