ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Like most people, it takes a cup of coffee to get their day started. But one resident in Rochester is mixing a Vietnamese drip and sweetened condensed milk for a recipe for representation.
“We mix it with condensed milk,” Caphein owner Yen Nguyen said. “So when you taste it, like, it’s bitter, it’s strong, but a little bit creamy.”
Nguyen loves her coffee so much that she started her own business in Sept. 2025.
“I’m from Vietnam,” Nguyen said. “When my husband and I officially moved here, I think I bring coffee here to share with everyone my hometown coffee.”
However, Nguyen’s story starts with its name.
“Cà phê is this like how we read coffee in Vietnamese and cafe, and the word cafe and just our coffee, the robusta being it’s a really strong, like high caffeine, and so that’s how we are combined into that,” Nguyen said.
She’s bringing a taste of Vietnam to Rochester. Vietnam is the world’s leading producer of robusta coffee and the second biggest coffee producer in the world.
But despite its global popularity, Nguyen still has found herself explaining the history and process consistently. Both brewing and educating for her local community.
Nguyen and her husband energize the community through their drinks, hoping customers come for the coffee and stay for the culture.
“When I can share our coffee and then talk to the customer, I can share more about the culture and the story and myself moving here, it’s the happiest moment,” Nguyen said.
Caphein sources all of its beans directly from Vietnam and brews its coffee with a Phin filter, extracting its flavor from its beans. The owners are currently operating from a mobile cart and could be located across several events at stores in Rochester. For more information, you can visit here.
