Minh Red
During the festive season, your calendar is no doubt filled with appointments and lively gatherings. We, too, would like to invite you to a meeting — not in a bustling crowd, but within a private, intimate space. Here, we come together with a friend of ours to sit down and talk about memories, emotions, and love over cups of richly aromatic coffee. Minh Red — a communications expert, a master’s graduate in Psychology, and an exceptional barista — may be a name you have heard before, or perhaps not. Yet after this encounter, you will find yourself growing familiar with the gentle atmosphere that surrounds him, and quietly looking forward to meeting again.
Home is where half your soul lives
This is a duplex apartment with a mezzanine level, where the ceiling rises high and open, lending the space a sense of airiness and calm. At the very heart of the home stands a bar counter, its surface meticulously pieced together from patterned tiles that resemble fragments of cracked eggshells. In essence, the bar is a kitchen island, fully equipped with tools and devices, always ready to produce fragrant cups of coffee at a moment’s notice. Perhaps it is this eggshell motif that gives the kitchen its cocooning warmth, prompting me to imagine that anyone standing there might feel like a newly hatched chick, just emerging from its shell — gazing at the world with curiosity and quiet excitement.
The home’s dominant cement-grey palette is punctuated by a few vivid red dining chairs. My impression of Minh’s world is shaped by a similar duality. In him, there is the calm composure of someone well-travelled through life, yet also the lively energy of a man still in his twenties. I have always been fond of the book “Mad About the House” by Kate Watson Smyth, and when visiting Minh’s home, one can clearly sense his inner world reflected through the way the space is arranged. Having visited his home no fewer than three times, I was also given the chance to observe how the different colours within him shift and move as he interacts with different people, all within the setting of his own living space.
Coffee and Emotions
When I first met him, I could not help but wonder: What does coffee have to do with emotions? What can drinking coffee possibly reveal about ourselves? During the session titled “Coffee to Know Yourself” (*), Minh invited us to sample three varieties of specialty coffee through a cupping experience — tasting spoon by spoon, paying attention to aroma, acidity, bitterness, and the many elements that come together in a single cup. He then encouraged us to connect the flavours we perceived with the images and sounds that surfaced in our minds, to name our emotions clearly and precisely, and to recognise a hidden aspect of our personality through the way we experience coffee.
In that moment, the space seemed to open up without limits, allowing us to wander through dreams and memoryscapes — places of open grasslands, beaches, rainfall, the soft murmur of flowing streams. With the very same coffee, each person arrived at a different perception, different associations, different preoccupations. For instance, when my hand touched a warm cup and I then took a sip of cold coffee — rather than the hot coffee I had subconsciously expected from that very cup — I found myself thinking about my own expectations, not only of that sip, but of many other things in life. Or, as the grinding of the coffee beans reached its final stage, I thought of the lightness that comes just before rest, after three uninterrupted weeks of work. Throughout the session, we shared — with clarity and coherence — the emotional currents tied to fragments of each person’s memories. These moments felt precious, precisely because they so rarely surface in casual, light-hearted gatherings of everyday relationships.
The second time, we sipped our coffee while letting our minds loosen, allowing joy and sorrow alike to be soothed in their own way: listening to vinyl records whose melodies matched each coffee, projecting images that resonated with our emotions and the flavour of the cup onto a white wall, dancing, singing, talking, watching films. Emotions took on the hues of ocean blue, shades of orange, red, yellow — sometimes blending into layered tones of light and dark. They shifted in tempo as well, at times calming the heart, at others quickening its beat. According to Minh, exploring the language of emotions is like playing a game of throwing a ball. When we throw our emotional ball against a wall, it bounces back as images and sounds. We did not merely use coffee as a cue to articulate our feelings; we used it as a catalyst to awaken emotional territories we had never explored before.
I have always believed that within each of us exist multiple versions of ourselves, and that our emotions are constantly shifting as we place ourselves in different environments and circumstances. That is why, on my third visit to Minh’s home, I asked him: if he could pair coffee with one other ingredient to create a drink of greater complexity, what would it be? Without hesitation, he answered that it would have to be chocolate — because his wife cannot drink coffee, and her personality, he said, resembles the bitterness of dark chocolate.
“Well then, that sounds perfect,” I replied. “Coffee with chocolate. What could be better to savour at the end of the year, when the air turns cool and crisp?”
Coffee and Chocolate
Espresso and Dark Chocolate
The Monarch blend from Onyx Coffee Lab opens with sweet caramel notes layered over a crisp, wine-like acidity, paired with a dark chocolate bar marked by the gentle tartness of cranberries and the satisfying crunch of pistachios. What makes this pairing distinctive lies in the ritual of tasting: place a piece of chocolate in your mouth, take a sip of espresso, and alternate slowly. The bitterness and sweetness of two different ingredients intertwine into a harmonious whole, evoking the tender, fluttering excitement of first encounters — with a new person, a new place, a new beginning filled with promise.
Ingredients:
– 18 g Monarch blend coffee (Onyx Coffee Lab)
– The Festive chocolate (Sou Chocolatier), broken into small pieces of approximately 2 g eachProcedure:
– Brew an espresso using 18 g of Monarch blend, extracting 36 g of liquid.
– Place one small piece of The Festive chocolate (about 2 g) into your mouth and allow it to melt gently, then take a sip of espresso. Repeat, alternating chocolate and coffee.
Mocaccino
The Proud Blend from Bosgaurus reveals bright citrus notes and the gentle sweetness of dried fruits, layered with the primal bitterness of ground cacao beans and a subtle touch of sea salt. This meeting of contrasts — sweet, bitter, and savoury — evokes a sense of acceptance and understanding within close, intimate relationships.
Ingredients:
– 18 g Proud Blend coffee (Bosgaurus Coffee Roasters)
– 20 g The Godfather chocolate (Sou Chocolatier), plus a small amount of shaved chocolate
– 150 g Meiji milk (red label)
– Cinnamon powder
– Chilli powder
– Black pepper
Procedure:
– Place 20 g of chocolate into a cup.
– Brew an espresso using 18 g of Proud Blend, extracting 36 g of liquid, and pour it directly over the chocolate, allowing the heat of the espresso to melt it.
– Add a pinch of cinnamon powder, chilli powder, and black pepper. Stir well.
– Shave chocolate over the surface of the mixture.
– Steam the milk until it becomes smooth and velvety.
– Pour the steamed milk over the shaved chocolate layer and enjoy while hot.
Coconut Ice Cream with Espresso and Mint Chocolate
Panama Janson Geisha coffee, with its floral aroma and delicate notes of peach, is poured over rich, creamy coconut ice cream, complemented by the gentle bitterness and cool freshness of mint chocolate. Served alongside a freshly baked apple tart with a crisp crust, this simple dessert feels both familiar and unexpected, creating a light, refreshing atmosphere for gatherings among close friends.
Ingredients:
– 18 g Geisha Panama Janson coffee
– A small amount of Mint To Be chocolate (Sou Chocolatier), finely shaved
– 2 scoops coconut ice cream
– A few fresh mint leaves (for garnish)
*** Glass: chilled in the freezer or refrigerator
Procedure:
– Prepare a glass that has been chilled in advance in the freezer or refrigerator to slow the melting of the ice cream.
– Place two scoops of coconut ice cream into the glass.
– Brew an espresso using 18 g of Geisha Panama Janson coffee, extracting 36 g of liquid, and gently pour it over the ice cream.
– Shave mint chocolate over the surface of the coffee.
– Garnish with a few fresh mint leaves.
– Enjoy with a small spoon. You may add more shaved chocolate or espresso to taste. Best served with a warm apple tart.
Coffee and Love
We never set out to talk about love, yet it seems to exist wherever material things and emotions are rhythmically connected. On our third visit to Minh’s home, we met his entire family. The moment we stepped inside, the warm aroma of freshly baked pastries filled the air, instantly reminding me of the sense of calm I feel whenever I retreat into my own kitchen corner. His wife was quietly focused on baking tart shells, Minh was busy preparing ingredients for coffee, and their two young children peeked shyly from the staircase to see who had come by. The house felt palpably more alive — a peaceful liveliness born from people interacting through actions more than words.
For anyone familiar with the visual works of artist Arlette Quỳnh-Anh (Minh’s wife), it would be easy to assume that she herself must be coffee — each piece sharp, intense, and richly layered like a dark brew. Yet it is only upon entering their family space, witnessing how she silently encourages her husband by baking delicious treats for him to share with friends, that one truly tastes the sweetness in her way of expressing love. A sweetness that is bittersweet, not cloying — like the lingering aftertaste of a piece of chocolate made with 70% pure cacao.
Minh once shared: “Understanding the full spectrum of emotions — whether sweet or bitter — in another person is the foundation of empathy and lasting connection. Pairing coffee with chocolate is not merely a sensory experience; it is also a story of resonance and harmony.” Human emotions are inherently complex, and love between two people is therefore even more so — yet it remains essential to a richer life. In much the same way, without the interplay of bitterness, sweetness, and acidity — both similar and distinct — between coffee and chocolate, there would be no such satisfying drinks and desserts. They feel perfectly suited for year-end gatherings, moments of farewell to the passing year, and the quiet emotions that settle in the mind on the threshold of a new one. Perhaps through the act of creating and savouring coffee, we come not only to understand our own emotions more deeply, but also to allow our worldview to expand — opening us to a fuller, more nuanced experience of life.
Originally published in Đẹp Magazine, Issue No. 292
Words & Images: Nhà Có Hai Người
(*) “Coffee to Know Yourself” (Cà phê để hiểu mình) is an experience guided by Minh Red, a Master’s graduate in Psychology, using coffee as a bridge and tools such as tarot cards or LEGO to help participants accurately name their emotions, express themselves, and gently untangle psychological challenges.
