🅢 = Story: More Than One Note

When we first opened Fat Miilk, I heard it a lot. “Oh, Vietnamese coffee is really sweet, right?” Sometimes it was curiosity, a lot of times it was assumption. And I totally get it. 

 

For many people, their first introduction to Vietnamese coffee was through condensed milk, and although that version is real, it’s not the whole story. 

 

Growing up, sweetness in my home wasn’t excessive. Vietnamese culture starts and ends a meal with a plate of fruits - usually dipped in salt! So when Kim talks about dialing in espresso to land in that “not too sweet” zone, it also hits something familiar to me. 

 

For years, Robusta was talked about like it was something to fix: too bitter, too rough, too intense. And Vietnamese coffee got flattened into one note: sweet. But when you actually work with the bean, from sourcing to roasting to dialing it in, it doesn’t need fixing but rather understanding. 

 

The balance is the heart of Fat Miilk. We started as a Vietnamese coffee company because that’s my origin story, but our mission is to expand the narrative of Robusta beyond a single stereotype. 

 

I’m obsessed with it and when you pull the shot just right, you would be too!

 

— Lan Ho, Founder of Fat Miilk

🅘 = Insight: Robusta As Espresso

At Fat Miilk, we roast to order, which gives us an intimate understanding of the beans and the process. With 10+ years in the specialty coffee industry, working in quality control, sourcing, sample roasting, and now production, I’ve never been more excited to share what we’re discovering with Robusta.— Kim Nguyen, Head of Coffee Quality and Sourcing

 

My early days as a barista came with their own set of challenges as I learned how coffee expresses itself. Whether I was brewing larger batch brews or dialing in espresso, I quickly realized there is both a science and an art behind pulling the perfect shot.

 

“Not Too Sweet”

 

That was the greatest compliment I would hear from my mom and aunties growing up when a dessert hit just right. We didn’t grow up eating many traditional desserts like cakes or pies (though they absolutely have their place). Instead, sliced oranges, melon, and apples were staples in our home. Balance in sweetness was everything.

 

Those taste memories followed me into my barista work. When dialing in espresso, I aim for that same balance: not too sweet, not too sour.

 

Robusta hits that “not too sweet” note every time.

 

Because Robusta extracts efficiently and has high solubility, both in caffeine and in its sweet and acidic compounds, it’s an ideal candidate for espresso. With darker roasted Arabica, a tighter ratio can sometimes result in a sharper, more bitter finish. With Robusta, that same tight ratio can produce a heavy body but a muddled, overly bitter shot.

 

What I’ve found is that a slightly wider ratio paired with a medium roast (in color and development) allows Robusta espresso to shine. The sweetness lands squarely in that “not too sweet” range, complemented by a full body and light, balanced acidity.

 

Not Too Acidic

 

Dialing in Robusta is also unique because its perceived acidity is considerably lower than Arabica. Since Robusta is generally grown at lower elevations (around 1,000 masl on average), the acids in the cherry, and ultimately the seed, tend to be more mellow.

 

Using a wider ratio when dialing Robusta further softens the acidity in the shot. The result is a sweetness that isn’t overshadowed by sharp, high-toned acids, something more common in higher elevation Arabicas.

 

For example, dialing in a dense, high-elevation coffee like a Kenyan SL-28 can feel jarring. The acids can be bright and abrasive, and because the beans are denser, extraction can be more difficult to pinpoint.

 

Robusta’s naturally lower acidity and less dense composition make it more forgiving to dial in. That efficiency allows for faster adjustments, more consistent shots, and ultimately more time to focus on milk texture and latte art.

 

In the end, a well-pulled Robusta shot is exactly what I grew up valuing: “not too sweet” and not too acidic.

🅟 = Pulse: Sweetness, On Their Terms

 

One of the clearest shifts in café culture right now isn’t that customers want sweeter drinks…it’s that they want control over sweetness.

 

Across the industry, customization has moved from a nice-to-have to an expectation. Customers are adjusting syrup pumps, milk styles, foam levels, ice ratios, and most notably, sweetness levels.

 

What this signals is a maturing palate.

 

Consumers still enjoy indulgent flavors (vanilla, brown sugar, pistachio, ube), but they don’t necessarily want them overpowering the cup. This is where balance becomes strategic.

 

Cafés that build drinks with a stable, well-extracted base rather than relying on syrup to carry flavor, are better positioned for this shift. When the espresso has structure, body, and natural roundness, sweetness becomes an enhancement, not a cover-up. 

 

Shoutout to our Robusta shots!