Inside the new Em Coffee House in Mira Mesa, San Diego. All images courtesy of Em Coffee House.
The owners of the San Diego-based Ding Tea bubble tea chain expanded earlier this fall with a cafe concept that celebrates Vietnamese coffee called Em Coffee House.
Opened Nov. 18, the Em Coffee House takes a fresh approach to coffees grown throughout Vietnam, roasted in Ho Chi Minh City and prepared in a modern, colorful setting in Mira Mesa, San Diego. The company’s custom blends combine coffees from specific growing regions for specific brewing applications, either traditional Vietnamese phin or contemporary espresso.
Coffees grown in the Dak Lak Central Highland region set the tone for phin-based classics like Caphe Sua Da, plus a range of inventive “cream coffees.” The Em White Trufflemisu is coffee topped with a house white truffle cream, while the CocoUbe is coffee topped with coconut ube cream and toasted coconut flakes.
“The Em House Blend we use for traditional phin drip Vietnamese coffee is a unique blend of robusta and arabica and various spices and ingredients that we researched and developed to give it a unique milk coffee flavor — more of a dark, bold, strong and chocolatey taste,” Em Coffee Co-Founder Nick Truong told Daily Coffee News. “Our espresso is grown mostly in the southern central regions of Vietnam, Lam Dong. This one gives more of a fruity and floral taste.”
Em Coffee partners with FeViet Coffee for sourcing coffees that are then roasted in Ho Chi Minh City by manufacturer TNT Drink Ltd.
At the Mira Mesa cafe, bold, modernistic shapes stand out against moody black and teal walls, softened by vibrant pops of green from potted plants. The brightest bursts of color come from fresh fruit and the imaginative toppings that elevate Em Coffee’s drinks.
“The color is to create an atmosphere where people can relax, chill, come hang out with their friends and family,” said Truong. “We wanted to do something different and focused more on a rustic but mostly modern-industrial city vibe that portrays the uniqueness of American culture and Vietnamese culture fused together.”
Married business partners Nick and Li Truong founded Ding Tea in 2018, growing it to three San Diego locations. The expansion into coffee reflects the coffee of their respective upbringings in Vietnam as well, as well as their more recent interest in quality coffee shops as adults.
A second Em Coffee House is confirmed to be in development in the central San Diego neighborhood of Kearny Mesa. Em also plans to roll out retail bags of its coffee blends and other merchandise in 2025.
“Our passion is not only to serve good drinks and serve good coffee. We want to create a modern Vietnamese-inspired coffee culture,” said Truong. “It can be enjoyed by not only Asian-Vietnamese people or American people, but everyone, from a diverse background.”
Em Coffee House is located at 8945 Mira Mesa Boulevard in San Diego. Comments? Questions? News to share? Contact DCN’s editors here.
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
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