Coffee Industry

Vietnamese Brands

Trung Nguyen Legend (Part 2): A Coffee Superpower's Brand Anxiety, and the 3,000-Store Ambition

Vietnam is the world's largest Robusta producer, with record coffee exports of $8.4 billion in 2025. But that's roughly what Nestlé's coffee business alone pulls in. Trung Nguyên Legend is chasing 3,000 stores worldwide — its latest step landed in Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Vietnamese Brands

Trung Nguyen Legend (Part 1): From Highland Med Student to the Man Who Beat Nestlé

In 2003, a blind taste test at Reunification Palace handed Vietnam's upstart G7 instant coffee an 89-to-11 win over Nescafé. How founder Đặng Lê Nguyên Vũ went from a farmer's son in the Central Highlands to Vietnam's coffee king — and then nearly lost it all in a seven-year divorce.