Dalat

Dalat, known for its farms: flowers, vegetables and coffee...

The city itself is not too special...

But the food is great, so is its famous bakery!!!

 And of course, the obligatory night market...

A dearly beloved tourist attraction is the Crazy House. Its real name is Hằng Nga guesthouse. It's an unconventional building/guesthouse designed and constructed by Vietnamese architect Đặng Việt Ng. The house is open to the public since 1990. Described as a “fairy tale house”, the building’s overall design resembles a giant tree, incorporating sculptured design elements representing natural forms such as animals, mushrooms, spider webs and caves. Find out for yourself!

The entrance, unfortunately with scaffolding...

The inside, with its 10 guest rooms, patio and secret paths...

 

You get a really nice view from the rooftop...

But clearly our main focus is coffee, again! Through "La Viet Coffee" we organise a private tour to learn more about the whole coffee-process: from farm to the cup.

The farm we visit:

 

We want to know all the details...

And get great informations from the farmer and the two lovely translators aka baristas.

The whole morning we spend at the farm and learn a lot about the coffee plant, its cultivation and the harvest. For lunch we go to the "La Viet Coffee". Naturally, we have a lot of coffee. The afternoon we learn more about processing the coffee beans. Here you see the in-house store of the coffee house. It has three parts: the coffee shop, the in-house shop and the factory.

After the fermentation and drying process, the beans are being peeled and sorted (size and colour). First by machine, then by women. 

Then the centrepiece starts, the roasting. First we get instructions...

... and then we roast our own coffee.

After roasting, the beans are being manually checked again (colour and damage).

And then, of course, the tasting. We taste Robusta and Arabica beans, blends and single origin and some damaged ones (the ones who didn't outlast the last manual check after being roasted). It's a great experience! 

Also you can choose the brewing-style out of at least five methods...

A great day, for the brain, the body and gustative nerves. 

Many thanks to the brilliant team of "La Viet Coffee"!!!