The World Coffee Museum: a Museum in the Heart of the Vietnamese Coffee Plantations

The fact that the World Coffee Museum is located in the Buon Ma Thuot area, in Vietnam, is no coincidence. Vietnam’s coffee tradition dates back so far that the country is second only to Brazil in terms of global coffee exports.

In fact, according to data from the International Coffee Organization, Vietnam exports approximately 2,000 tons of coffee each year, with the biggest importers being Germany and the United States.

New World Coffee Museum: Tradition Meets the Modern Age

The multinational group that most supported the project chose Buon Ma Thuot, in the Dak Lak region, as the coffee capital due to its high level of productivity.

Despite being housed in traditional Vietnamese structures, the museum is highly international and is characterized by a very modern design.

In a 10,000 square-meter space we find three exhibition galleries, a bistrot, an event area, a library, and a section dedicated to didactic laboratories. The ceilings are very high and the large windows allow beautiful natural light to flood every room, giving visitors a glimpse of the greenery outside.

The Museum’s Activities, Displays, and Collections

As its Italian curator, Chiara Isadora Artico, says, the museum’s primary objective is to represent the origins and history of coffee as a fundamental milestone of human growth. Utensils, artefacts, and both ancient and modern machines are on display in the large rooms, for a total of more than 10,000 pieces.

Visitors who enter the museum are immediately emersed in the history of coffee, without any physical distance or demarcation, thanks to the choice of not enclosing the objects in classic glass display cases.

The museum wishes to engage visitors through a sensory journey which allows them to become familiar with every aspect of coffee through the use of all five senses.

The World Coffee Museum’s Laboratories

The section dedicated to laboratory activities is designed to entertain both adults and children, with the objective of stimulating visitors’ senses.

Among the many activities offered, visitors can hear the sound of the ancient leather drums and touch Vietnam’s volcanic soil, something which is very important to the growth of the coffee on the plantations. Furthermore, they can smell the blends and fragrances of various kinds of coffee produced in the country.

Would you like to know more? On its website the museum now offers the chance to take a virtual tour, thus making it possible to explore the ancient origins of coffee from whatever part of the world you happen to be in.

And if you love coffee so much that you just want to know everything about it, then you can’t miss the story of the Dubai Coffee Museum, a sensory journey dedicated to the Arabian coffee tradition.