It was once said by a Vietnamese champion barista that Bosgaurus Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City is the country’s only true specialty coffee cafe. Strong words, and we went to a lot of other great places in Vietnam, so we will have to disagree. That said, this cafe is indeed extraordinary and is not only a contender for best in the country, but definitely one of the gems of the entire region of South East Asia. Our experience in Bosgaurus was pretty close to perfect.
When you think about specialty coffee on a world scale, Bosgaurus checks all the boxes. They roast everything on one of their three roasters which also serves as a centerpiece for their shop. This particular latte they served us is an heirloom coffee, which happened to be their standard single origin espresso with milk on that day. It was definitely a delicious cup of coffee where you really see the attention paid to each step and each ingredient; In terms of milk selection, coffee selection, and the barista’s process involved in making it. Clean doesn’t even begin to describe the aesthetic of Bosgaurus, sunlight streams in through all of the windows and it makes for great photos.
Calibrated pour overs? Bosgaurus Coffee in Vietnam is certainly dedicated to consistency. Baristas have a form to fill out each time they calibrate the grind size, extraction time, water temperature, and pressure for their pour overs. This is very common with espressos but Bosgaurus takes it even further. For pour overs, they note which method is used, the grind size, how they stir the water while pouring it from the kettle (a process called agitation), which direction they agitate and for how many seconds, what time they pour the water, what temperature it is, and how many pauses they make. It’s an exhaustive list, but it makes for an exacting cup. And if you’re the type of person to order a pour over, you’re already used to taking a little extra time to get a great cup. Bosgaurus does serve espresso-based drinks too, and if we’re not mistaken, they use the same precise calibrations for them as well. Because it’s consistency across the board here.
