Special exhibition "Nearly two centuries of Vietnamese coffee conquering the world" (05/09/2023, 11:03)

Trung Nguyen Legend and the World Coffee Museum are organizing a special exhibition "Nearly two centuries of Vietnamese coffee conquering the world" to introduce the development journey of the Vietnamese coffee industry over nearly two centuries. The exhibition brings together coffee producers that meet OCOP standards from famous coffee growing regions in Vietnam. The special exhibition "Nearly two centuries of Vietnamese coffee conquering the world" will run until November 2023.

A journey through Vietnamese coffee over two centuries

According to many studies, the development journey of Vietnamese coffee can be divided into three basic stages: the period of introduction from the late 18th century to the early 20th century; the development period from around the 1920s when coffee was grown on a large scale in Vietnam; and the period of renovation from 1986 to the present, becoming a leading coffee exporter in the world. With the desire to introduce and clarify the difference - special - unique of Vietnamese coffee culture to the community of tourists when coming to the coffee capital Buon Ma Thuot, Trung Nguyen Legend and the World Coffee Museum continue to organize the special exhibition "Nearly two centuries of Vietnamese coffee conquering the world" from August 19, 2023 to November 2023.

A recreated laboratory and working space of doctor, scientist, and explorer A. Yersin on top of Hon Ba Mountain in Khanh Hoa Province. He was the one who explored and experimented with coffee trees in the Tay Nguyen provinces.

Through the exhibition, visitors will be able to take a journey through the history of coffee in Vietnam over two centuries, from the first coffee-growing regions and plantations in Vietnam; the process of exploring the potential of the Tay Nguyen region in growing and developing coffee trees, helping Vietnam become the world's leading exporter of robusta coffee, and conquering the community of coffee lovers and enthusiasts around the world.

With a lively and creative display, visitors will be able to enjoy many unique spaces, such as: The living and working space of A. Yersin, an honorary citizen of Vietnam. During the early days of coffee, he made many expeditions and experimental plantings of coffee trees in the Tay Nguyen provinces, including today's Buon Ma Thuot. The coffee shop spaces and hundreds of coffee cultural artifacts from the "ration coupon" period are recreated, along with commercial stores, street coffee shops, etc., during the period of coffee development in Vietnam. When it comes to the renovation and integration period from 1986 to the present, the exhibition introduces 7 initiatives for the global coffee industry proposed by the Founder and Chairman of Trung Nguyên Legend Group Dang Le Nguyen Vu, along with his journey of over 20 years of efforts to realize them. The iconic works of the Vietnamese coffee industry, national-level festivals to honor coffee culture; coffee shop spaces that contribute to building the Vietnamese coffee brand on the global stage. This is also the period in which Vietnamese coffee grew from 258.7 million USD in 1996 to 4 billion USD in 2022 for the first time, increasing by more than 16 times and exporting to over 80 countries around the world.

Visitor getting to know the journey of Vietnamese coffee

Ms. Cam Thi Mon, Director of the Ara-Tay Cooperative from Lọng Nghịu Village, Chieng Chung Commune, Mai Son District, Son La Province, shared: "The exhibition space is visually appealing and creative, helping all participating units and visitors to clearly see that Vietnamese coffee has been elevated to a cultural experience rather than just a drink. We have learned how to display and introduce products in a way that provides interactive experiences, which we can apply to our own products to promote and enhance the value of coffee in Son La."

Gathering famous coffee growing areas in Vietnam

With the desire to build a community of coffee lovers and enthusiasts that is developed, creative, sustainable, respectful, and responsible, the exhibition "Nearly two centuries of Vietnamese coffee conquering the world" has the participation of coffee production and processing units with products that meet OCOP standards from famous coffee growing provinces in Vietnam such as: Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Kon Tum, Son La, Dien Bien, Quang Tri... In addition to introducing coffee products from famous coffee growing areas in Vietnam, participating units also introduce and display unique cultural artifacts such as: tools, textiles, musical instruments, etc., typical of each community of ethnic groups closely associated with coffee trees in each locality.

At the opening ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Te, Director of Hong Ky International Coffee Joint Stock Company from Tuong Gia district, Dien Bien province, said: "In the OCOP standards, I think the most important criterion to help coffee beans improve their position and develop sustainably is the human factor, the strength of the local ethnic community that directly participates in the process of caring for and producing high-quality coffee growing areas for OCOP coffee products."

Visitors to the space introducing the iconic works of the Vietnamese coffee industry

In addition, Mr. Tran Dinh Trong, Director of the Ea Tu Fair Trade Agriculture and Service Cooperative, Buon Ma Thuot City, also shared: "I would like to sincerely thank Trung Nguyên Legend Group for providing us with the opportunity to come to the exhibition to introduce and display coffee products; at the same time, creating a valuable opportunity to connect and exchange with coffee cooperative units in other regions of the country. For many years, Trung Nguyên Legend has been one of the leading coffee groups, actively promoting the Vietnamese coffee brand to the world market. Thanks to this, customers around the world have a better understanding of the delicious quality of Vietnamese coffee with a variety of specialty coffees similar to other countries. With this spread, small and medium-sized businesses like us can also learn, contribute to building the quality of Vietnamese coffee to be even better, and farmers also benefit when the value of Vietnamese coffee is increasingly improved."

The coffee-themed exhibition is a regular quarterly event held at the World Coffee Museum with the aim of: disseminating knowledge about coffee to the world as well as introducing and clarifying the difference - special - unique of Vietnamese coffee culture to the world; building a community of coffee lovers and enthusiasts that is developed, creative, sustainable, respectful, and responsible...

Many domestic and international experts have assessed and highly appreciated the expertise of the content as well as the creative display, bringing many experiences to visitors. Here are some representative exhibitions: "History of World Coffee" (2019 and 2023); "Coffee - Brain tonic, creativity tonic"; "The art of enjoying coffee"; "Coffee civilization - A journey to discover human values"; "Coffee - the energy of artistic creation"; "Coffee and returning to nature"; "Coffee - the energy of the knowledge economy"; "Coffee and the mindful lifestyle"; "Coffee in the sacred lands of the East"; "Trịnh Công Sơn - Inspiration from Zen and Coffee"; Art exhibition "Vietnamese coffee - the journey to create world cultural heritage"...