Julie Dang’s journey to make coffee a part of people

With Julie, to have ‘a beautiful cup of coffee’ requires a roaster with a heart. Coffee is not only a drink for energy or alertness, but also aesthetic in its unique and different scent. The aroma of coffee is completely natural, non-hybrid, and marinated, which will create beautiful coffee products for people to enjoy.
In Vietnam, Julie Dang was the first person to train “Coffee Sense” at Vietnam Barista School. People often think that if they want to make coffee, just having machines and techniques is enough. But with Julie, no matter how good the machines and techniques are, it is difficult to make successful coffee without a sense of it.

Julie Dang’s journey to make coffee a part of who she is. Julie was initially unimpressed with coffee – a dark, bitter drink sold on the streets of Saigon. Until her freshman year of college, a foreign friend offered her a machine-made espresso. “I have never had a coffee that is both fatty and fragrant in such a pleasant way and gives such strong energy.” Thinking that a person who does not like strong coffee like me can drink it, maybe many people also like it. So the college freshman decided to start a business with a self-designed coffee truck. In 2007 – 2008, Julie’s “peddler” coffee machine is still a very new and rare model in Saigon. This business “mission” costs hundreds of millions of dong, but the revenue increases very quickly. However, Julie at that time had many other things to care about, including studying, so the coffee truck also closed after a year. Julie Dang is a judge in a competition about Sense of taste. Intoxicated with coffee, Julie plunges into exploring it. She confided that she is only happy when studying, researching and teaching about coffee. She has poured a lot of money into courses around the world, with leading experts in the field. The more she studied and studied, the more fascinated she became. In Julie’s concept, coffee is not just a drink but a combination of all fields related to human cultural life. When the world changes, people’s lives change, so does coffee culture. After many years of wandering, Julie finally “pocketed” a good amount of knowledge and wanted to share it with people with the same passion. Therefore, Julie said that she loves teaching at Vietnam Barista School more than doing business. “I am happy to see students learn many new things about coffee. From their feedback, I see myself again on the journey to coffee, it is a feeling of joy and emotion every time I open a new door, sometimes overwhelmed because it is so wonderful.” . Julie Dang teaches coffee roasting techniques. Julie transmits her knowledge and passion to her students and vice versa, their eagerness to learn and progress stimulates her to want to replicate her sharing model even more. Julie remembers a time when she lost her voice because she was “drunk” to communicate, like the time she trained on “Coffee take away” for more than 10,000 students for 3 months. “But in return, I feel like I have a lot of new energy,” she smiled. Going to many places, drinking a lot of coffee in different countries, Julie appreciates the coffee beans of her homeland. She is also proud that Vietnam produces one of the best quality coffees in the world. However, when working with foreign partners, Julie always feels like her country’s coffee beans are not respected in international politics. Once she was a judge in an Asian coffee contest, she felt more deeply about the world’s view of her country. “I don’t feel proud when people think I’m a judge from Japan, Korea or a country other than Vietnam. I feel proud when they look down on both the contestants and the Vietnamese coffee makers. From that moment on, I set a goal for myself to become the best in international coffee competitions, as a contestant as well as a judge. More than that, I have to become a coffee teacher in other countries, not just in my homeland,” Julie confided. Since 2017, Julie has become the youngest technical judge and chief judge at world championships in sensory subjects in Korea, Latte Art in Singapore, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines… She also became the President of the International Association of Coffee Training Schools, a member of the World Specialty Coffee Association, the European Coffee Association, a lecturer of the Korea Coffee Research and Development Institute, etc. In big competitions, Julie wants to introduce Vietnamese coffee culture through the most beautiful coffee products with the natural scent of her homeland. But when she returned to her daily work, Julie was not too picky about enjoying coffee. For her, a good cup of coffee is about achieving a balance between cultural, culinary and spiritual factors. So, she can enjoy espresso made with the best machine and also be happy to drink a cup of natural flavor filter coffee. Even a cup of coffee brewed with a racket did not reach any technical indicators, but Julie still found it extremely delicious to enjoy with a hot banana cake at a resident’s house in Bali, in the midst of vast nature. big on a beautiful day. Coffee in each place is delicious in its own way, because it is associated with the people and culture of each land. Coffee beans have become a bridge connecting freely in the culture of enjoyment, independence and difference of peoples around the world. And people will feel happy when they understand their own feelings.