0:00:07 > 0:00:11'In Britain we drink almost 500 million cups of coffee every week.'
0:00:11 > 0:00:15But how much do we really know about where our coffee comes from?
0:00:15 > 0:00:17'I'm on a journey from the fields...'
0:00:17 > 0:00:19Flippin' 'eck!
0:00:19 > 0:00:21'..to the factories...'
0:00:21 > 0:00:22Coffee!
0:00:22 > 0:00:26'..to uncover the surprising stories behind our morning pick-me-up.'
0:00:26 > 0:00:29Chairman Vu, you've got a Bentley!
0:00:30 > 0:00:33'Coffee shops now sell lattes and cappuccinos
0:00:33 > 0:00:35'on almost every British high street,
0:00:35 > 0:00:37'but we've loved cheaper instant coffee for decades.'
0:00:37 > 0:00:39If you want the best coffee taste
0:00:39 > 0:00:41you need the best blend of the best beans.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45'Producing instant coffee to fill our cups is having a huge impact.'
0:00:45 > 0:00:48There were up to 2,000 wild elephants in Vietnam.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51There's now just a few dozen left.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53'On my journey I discover how our humble cup of coffee
0:00:53 > 0:00:56'has helped transform the fortunes of a nation.'
0:00:56 > 0:00:57Thank you very much!
0:00:58 > 0:01:00I worked hard for this!
0:01:02 > 0:01:04I'm following The Coffee Trail.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23MUSIC: "Toxygene" by the Orb
0:01:32 > 0:01:35I bet if you asked most Brits where their coffee comes from,
0:01:35 > 0:01:37they wouldn't say here.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39I'm in Vietnam.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43'When you think of coffee, you usually think of Brazil,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45'Jamaica or Colombia.'
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Oh, goodness me.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49'The first stop on my coffee trail is Hanoi,
0:01:49 > 0:01:53'the capital city in the north of Vietnam.'
0:01:53 > 0:01:55I've got to go left here, I think. Aagh!
0:01:58 > 0:02:02The streets here, the roads anyway, they're clogged with...
0:02:02 > 0:02:05mad motorcyclists,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08psychopathic scooter drivers
0:02:08 > 0:02:09and suicidal cyclists!
0:02:11 > 0:02:14'There are more than 90 million people in Vietnam,
0:02:14 > 0:02:16'and they all seem to be in my way.'
0:02:16 > 0:02:17Aagh!
0:02:17 > 0:02:19Aagh!
0:02:19 > 0:02:22What are you doing, madam? What are you doing?!
0:02:25 > 0:02:28'Vietnam is the number one supplier of coffee to the UK
0:02:28 > 0:02:31'and one of the largest coffee producers in the world.'
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Oof! Time, I think, for a quick coffee.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Coffee shop, another coffee shop.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45There's another one ahead. There's coffee shops everywhere here.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47'The Vietnamese grow huge quantities of coffee
0:02:47 > 0:02:49'and now drink it by the gallon.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53'But they like a very particular brew.'
0:02:54 > 0:02:55- Ca phe trung.- Ah, ca phe trung.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57- Ca phe trung?- Ah, ca phe trung.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59Thank you.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01'The Vietnamese version of a cappuccino
0:03:01 > 0:03:04'wasn't quite what I was expecting.'
0:03:04 > 0:03:06I think the joke is on me.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09"Go and order a ca phe trung", they said.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12"What is a ca phe trung?" is the question I did not ask.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Are there eggs in this coffee?
0:03:17 > 0:03:19Egg coffee.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Ca phe trung is an egg coffee?
0:03:22 > 0:03:23Egg coffee.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24That's just not right!
0:03:26 > 0:03:28'At least it wasn't another speciality here,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31'coffee beans extracted from weasel droppings.'
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Eggy coffee.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37Mmm.
0:03:40 > 0:03:41Ooh!
0:03:42 > 0:03:44- That's delicious.- Thank you.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46Really good.
0:03:46 > 0:03:47I think we need to get on a journey
0:03:47 > 0:03:50and find out where this Vietnamese coffee's being made.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56'30 years ago, less than 0.1% of
0:03:56 > 0:03:58'global coffee production came from Vietnam,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02'but in just a few decades this country has transformed itself
0:04:02 > 0:04:05'into one of the world's leading coffee producers.'
0:04:05 > 0:04:07Hi. Can I get a ticket to Dong Ha, please?
0:04:10 > 0:04:14They drink coffee in the capital, but they don't grow it here.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16And to see that, I need to head south.
0:04:19 > 0:04:20Thank you.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23Oh.
0:04:28 > 0:04:29It's here. OK.
0:04:29 > 0:04:30Oh, it's all right.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Oh, it's got a bit of air conditioning, which,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36well, to be honest, I'm quite relieved about.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Oh, and a lovely...
0:04:39 > 0:04:40..floral display.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47I can feel the train powering up underneath me,
0:04:47 > 0:04:48so we're just about to leave.
0:04:49 > 0:04:50It's exciting!
0:04:55 > 0:04:59I tell you what, they're dead on time.
0:04:59 > 0:05:0011 o'clock.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14'The story of coffee in Vietnam goes back more than 100 years.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22'Coffee was first introduced by the French in the 19th century.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25'Vietnam was part of a colony known as French Indochina,
0:05:25 > 0:05:27'which also included Cambodia and Laos.'
0:05:33 > 0:05:37'The French ruled Vietnam for almost 70 years from the late 1800s.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41'They milked the country for anything they could extract,
0:05:41 > 0:05:44'earning vast fortunes.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48'Colonial rule could be brutal. Vietnamese workers toiled in
0:05:48 > 0:05:51'the fields to produce rubber, tea, rice and coffee.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56'French rule finally came to an end in the 1950s,
0:05:56 > 0:06:00'after a Communist uprising in the north drove them from the country.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03'The conflict claimed tens of thousands of lives.'
0:06:14 > 0:06:16'In 1954, a peace conference
0:06:16 > 0:06:19'resulted in the country being partitioned,
0:06:19 > 0:06:21'with a Communist government in North Vietnam
0:06:21 > 0:06:24'and an American-backed regime in the South.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27'But a new and even more bloody war loomed.'
0:06:37 > 0:06:40'I'd travelled 400 miles south from the capital.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44'It was time to head up into the hills.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47'Coffee is grown here on a vast scale.'
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Look there! Coffee!
0:06:52 > 0:06:54We've arrived in coffee country.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04This is one of the areas of Vietnam where they grow our coffee,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07coffee for us and a few other countries.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14BULL MOOS
0:07:17 > 0:07:19The cow is spooked, it's off.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26I think you'll find the cow is a bull, Simon.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29'I was visiting the village of Huong Son.'
0:07:31 > 0:07:33We've arrived.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36'The coffee industry in Vietnam
0:07:36 > 0:07:39'now provides a livelihood for millions of people,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42'mostly around small farms like this of just a few acres.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46'Across the country, farmers like Ho Bon
0:07:46 > 0:07:50'produce a staggering million and a half tonnes of coffee.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52'It's a key export for the country,
0:07:52 > 0:07:54'and our number one source of coffee in Britain.'
0:07:56 > 0:07:59These are all the coffee on the plant here, look at this.
0:07:59 > 0:08:00This is ready to pick!
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Let's go, OK! Let's go pick some coffee!
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Do you take everything off or just the...?
0:08:20 > 0:08:22OK, so just the red, all right, OK.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33What's wrong with that? Oh, he's shaking his head.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40That specifically is what you're after. None of this.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45'Coffee is one of the most valuable traded goods on Earth.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48'Globally the industry's worth more than £40 billion.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54'It's the single most important tropical commodity traded worldwide,
0:08:54 > 0:08:58'accounting for nearly half of total exports of tropical products.'
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Why do you choose coffee as the crop that you grow?
0:09:01 > 0:09:03Why not something else?
0:09:17 > 0:09:20So, coffee is more work, it's harder work
0:09:20 > 0:09:21but you can make more money from it.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31So leave those on. That's done! That one is done.
0:09:32 > 0:09:33So we move in.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42This is the coffee fruit, I suppose,
0:09:42 > 0:09:44and inside is the rather crucial coffee bean.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50Tastes like, um, like a sour grape.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53But from it you get this.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57You can see the line through it, which indicates the coffee.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02And you get two, obviously, in one...
0:10:02 > 0:10:03in one fruit.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08Bon, do you think I might have a future
0:10:08 > 0:10:11as one of your coffee pickers?
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Because I've gone some uses, you know,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17I'm quite lanky so I can get to the very top of the plant
0:10:17 > 0:10:19and pick off the cherries, the fruits from there.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28That could be a problem, I must admit.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32'The villagers here wear uniforms
0:10:32 > 0:10:35'left over from what we call the Vietnam War.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38'It was the conflict that still defines Vietnam today.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44'In 1965, American combat troops were deployed
0:10:44 > 0:10:46'to support the South Vietnamese government,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49'which was facing a guerrilla campaign by Communist forces.'
0:10:51 > 0:10:53'Their duty will be strictly defensive,
0:10:53 > 0:10:56'but they will shoot back if attacked.
0:10:56 > 0:10:57'Marines usually do.'
0:10:58 > 0:11:02'Within a few years, America had more than half a million troops
0:11:02 > 0:11:04'on the ground, engaged in a full-scale war.'
0:11:08 > 0:11:10'An hour away from the village is Khe Sanh,
0:11:10 > 0:11:12'once a key American airbase,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16'and the site of one of the most important battles of the Vietnam war.'
0:11:21 > 0:11:23'Van Ngoc Vu is a guide
0:11:23 > 0:11:25'who's been showing visitors around the battlefield
0:11:25 > 0:11:27'for more than ten years.'
0:11:28 > 0:11:32The US dropped in total about 100,000 tonnes of bombs
0:11:32 > 0:11:35on the surrounding hills of Khe Sanh,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37on the North Vietnamese army position,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40suspected North Vietnamese army position.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44That's the most concentrated bombing in the history of warfare.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48- The most concentrated period of bombing ever?- Yeah.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53So, well, in this valley effectively and on the hills around here?
0:11:53 > 0:11:54Yeah.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01'In 1968, Communist North Vietnamese forces
0:12:01 > 0:12:03'attacked the American airbase.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08'US Marines were cut off,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11'and the US Air Force responded with overwhelming force.'
0:12:17 > 0:12:19IMMENSE EXPLOSIONS
0:12:19 > 0:12:22'Thousands of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians died,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24'along with hundreds of Americans.'
0:12:33 > 0:12:34Look at the size of this.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Is this the biggest type of bomb
0:12:38 > 0:12:41that the Americans dropped on the positions around here?
0:12:41 > 0:12:42No, not really.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45The biggest one is, er,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48ten times bigger, heavier than this one.
0:12:48 > 0:12:4915,000lbs.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Ten times heavier?!
0:12:52 > 0:12:55Yeah, this one is 1,500lbs.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58This was what was pouring out the skies, then,
0:12:58 > 0:13:00onto the North Vietnamese positions.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Yeah, it was raining.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04Raining from the sky, yes.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Coffee planters still have lots of problems
0:13:07 > 0:13:10from the unexploded bombs around Khe Sanh.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15So there are still bombs like this buried in the ground,
0:13:15 > 0:13:20not quite tick-ticking, but just waiting for a farmer or a tractor
0:13:20 > 0:13:25with a plough to go over the top of them and potentially set them off.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27Yeah, exactly.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29Is it safe to walk around here?
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Are there any unexploded bombs in the ground?
0:13:32 > 0:13:37It is safe inside the Khe Sanh combat base.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Now, actually, it's a tourist attraction so it was cleared,
0:13:40 > 0:13:41this is safe.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45But if you wander around outside the perimeter of Khe Sanh,
0:13:45 > 0:13:47it's still dangerous, there's still
0:13:47 > 0:13:50lots of unexploded land mines, ordnance up there.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53- Really? - Yeah. In Quang Tri Province alone,
0:13:53 > 0:13:57it's estimated between 80, 83% of land
0:13:57 > 0:14:01is still being affected with unexploded ordnance.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08'The war ended nearly 40 years ago,
0:14:08 > 0:14:11'but this area is still desperately poor.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13'Growing coffee is a major source of income here.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18'The need to put food on the table drives people to take chances,
0:14:18 > 0:14:23'and working the fields, despite the risks posed by unexploded bombs.'
0:14:23 > 0:14:24Hello!
0:14:24 > 0:14:26Hello! Hello!
0:14:28 > 0:14:29'Like most Vietnamese,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33'18-year-old Ho Ver Nee was born long after the war ended.'
0:14:35 > 0:14:38TRANSLATION: Growing coffee is the only thing we do around here.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40We grow coffee.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44I don't plant other crops like rubber trees.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48All of my friends, they grow coffee, so I grow coffee as well.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54'But for the past year he has been unable to work on his farm.'
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Can you tell us what happened to you?
0:15:00 > 0:15:04TRANSLATION: I was digging in the ground to plant coffee.
0:15:04 > 0:15:05I'd gone to work very early
0:15:05 > 0:15:09and I was clearing away grass and digging holes.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12As I was digging a hole there was an explosion.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16I was knocked unconscious and I can't remember anything else.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22When I came around I realised I was in the hospital.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30I kept thinking of my parents. I was scared I was going to die.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38Did you have any idea that there might be
0:15:38 > 0:15:42explosives or bombs or mines still in the ground in that field?
0:15:45 > 0:15:48TRANSLATION: Yes, one person had already been killed.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54Why are there people still working there?
0:15:56 > 0:16:01TRANSLATION: We're very poor and we don't have enough rice to eat.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10I find it astonishing, but more than 100,000 Vietnamese have been killed
0:16:10 > 0:16:14or injured by unexploded bombs since the END of the conflict.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20For rural populations like this,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23wars rarely end when peace treaties are signed.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27Modern weaponry lives long in the soil,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30claiming thousands of lives globally every year.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41Since we left, Y has at last been fitted for a prosthetic leg.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46But thousands of other maimed villagers and farmers across Vietnam
0:16:46 > 0:16:48have yet to receive help.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Following America's defeat and the end of the Vietnam War in 1975,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12North and South Vietnam were unified under a Communist government.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24After years of devastating conflict, the country was in economic ruin.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Coffee was to play a key role in its eventual recovery.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32I headed south towards the main coffee growing region.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41A few hours into our journey, the weather began to turn.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47We'd driven straight into a huge tropical cyclone.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Just stopped by the side of the road because now we really see
0:17:52 > 0:17:56the power, the destructive force of the cyclone.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00The sea is flooding in, inundating people's homes down here.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05'Cyclone Nari was causing widespread damage in central Vietnam.'
0:18:08 > 0:18:10'16 people had been killed or were missing.'
0:18:12 > 0:18:13Look at this!
0:18:13 > 0:18:17'50,000 homes had been destroyed or flooded.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19'It was the worst cyclone in years.'
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Look at the tree here!
0:18:22 > 0:18:27'Scientists report the weather here is becoming more extreme and unpredictable.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30'It's a consequence of global climate change.'
0:18:32 > 0:18:34The cyclones that are hitting Vietnam
0:18:34 > 0:18:36are becoming stronger and more powerful.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39If you're a coffee farmer, say,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41this is devastating.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46As the storm subsided, I continued south.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59My journey had taken me through some of Vietnam's remoter regions,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02which tourists and TV crews rarely enter,
0:19:02 > 0:19:07and foreigners who do require extra permits to turn off main roads.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12When we'd strayed off our route,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15we'd been stopped by the police and had to beat a hasty retreat.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22OK, so it looked like the police were going to
0:19:22 > 0:19:25stop us or even arrest us there, but I think
0:19:25 > 0:19:28we've just driven off away from them, they're not following.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31They might have decided we're just more problems than we're worth.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38Vietnam is still an authoritarian, one-party, Communist state.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Political opposition is suppressed
0:19:42 > 0:19:44and there's little freedom of speech.
0:19:46 > 0:19:47Our filming here is being controlled
0:19:47 > 0:19:51and restricted to a degree and we also have
0:19:51 > 0:19:54a government-approved minder who's travelling with us.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57We're going to have to be careful about what we film,
0:19:57 > 0:19:59who we talk to and what we ask.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03I'd arrived in the central highlands.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10The history of coffee production is one of the most sensitive issues here
0:20:10 > 0:20:13because it involved blanketing this region with coffee farms,
0:20:13 > 0:20:14human rights abuses
0:20:14 > 0:20:17and the mass movement of millions of people.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25I visited Nguyen Hu Phuong, one of the newcomers.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27He has a smallholding of three hectares.
0:20:28 > 0:20:29Xin chao.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31Phuong? Phuong?
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Hello, mate, I'm Simon, very nice to meet you.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37Is this all your coffee around us?
0:20:41 > 0:20:42Let's go and have a look.
0:20:42 > 0:20:43Thank you.
0:20:45 > 0:20:46Goodness me!
0:20:46 > 0:20:50So you're collecting up the beans now? It's harvest time?
0:20:51 > 0:20:52- Do you want me to hold it?- Yes! Yes!
0:20:56 > 0:20:57Come on then.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Oh, goodness, no, you haven't finished.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01You're going to pull all those berries off.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06So, how long have you been here and why did you come?
0:21:14 > 0:21:17So you're not from this area then?
0:21:42 > 0:21:45What was this land like when you first arrived here?
0:21:45 > 0:21:47Was it a coffee farm already?
0:22:02 > 0:22:08What was the hardest part for you of establishing a life and a farm here?
0:22:12 > 0:22:15What does your wife think was the toughest part?
0:22:25 > 0:22:28I want to see the hands, let me see the hands here.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32All right, these have done some hard work, haven't they?
0:22:32 > 0:22:34But look at these!
0:22:34 > 0:22:36You're doing the hard work, really, aren't you?
0:22:42 > 0:22:44After the end of the Vietnam War,
0:22:44 > 0:22:48the Communist government started huge collective farms here.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50They weren't a great success.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54Nobody on the collective farms had much of an incentive to work hard
0:22:54 > 0:22:58and corruption was rampant. People were going hungry
0:22:58 > 0:23:01and the country wasn't making much money from its crops.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04Eventually the government realised they had to do something.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09The crucial year is 1986.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12That's when the Vietnamese Communist Party had a major meeting.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15They realised the economy was in a terrible state
0:23:15 > 0:23:19and they decided to relax the rules and, among other things,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22start growing and exporting coffee on a massive scale.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27The state-planned collective farms were swept away.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Half a million smallholdings emerged in their place,
0:23:30 > 0:23:36and in the 1990s, coffee production grew at a staggering 30% per year.
0:23:47 > 0:23:48Like that?
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Oh, I am, I'm so strong! So strong!
0:23:54 > 0:23:57'Phuong and his family are part of the massive migration...'
0:23:57 > 0:23:58Flippin' 'eck!
0:23:58 > 0:24:01'..of more than three million people who've come here
0:24:01 > 0:24:04'from other parts of the country to farm coffee and other crops.'
0:24:24 > 0:24:27The equipment here is still low tech and often creaking.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33But small farms like this have been crucial to this country's rapid economic growth.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40This is what it's all about.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43The next stage from here is to sell this on to a wholesaler.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Coffee, coffee, it's everywhere here.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11You look at the communities around here as well
0:25:11 > 0:25:14and, where they're poor, you've got...
0:25:14 > 0:25:16Look here for example, electricity,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19satellite dishes on both houses here.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22This is a very poor country still,
0:25:22 > 0:25:27but it was a lot poorer 20, 30 years ago.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30Things are changing, things are improving.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34In 1994, 60% of Vietnamese lived below the poverty line,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36now it's less than 10%.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38Here we are, I think,
0:25:38 > 0:25:42judging by the way they're crossing this dual carriageway.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59But Vietnam's coffee industry has its problems.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02Coffee grown on the small farms is often poor quality,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06farmers occasionally even bulk up the weight of their coffee sacks
0:26:06 > 0:26:08by chucking in stones and bolts.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27And the deal has been done.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29Is that my pay for the day?
0:26:29 > 0:26:31- Thank you very much! - THEY LAUGH
0:26:31 > 0:26:33I worked hard for this!
0:26:34 > 0:26:37So you've got about £650 here.
0:26:52 > 0:26:53It's yours, after all.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56And thank you for letting me see this part of the process.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00You might be drinking some of farmer Phuong's coffee by now.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03Like most Vietnamese farmers, he grows
0:27:03 > 0:27:08one specific type of bean to make a specific type of coffee.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10All of this coffee, in fact almost all of the coffee
0:27:10 > 0:27:15that's produced in Vietnam is a type of coffee called Robusta.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18Robusta coffee, it's quite a hardy plant,
0:27:18 > 0:27:20but it's quite a low quality one as well
0:27:20 > 0:27:22and it goes into making instant coffee.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26A lot of other countries that produce coffee churn out
0:27:26 > 0:27:29Arabica coffee, which is a more valuable coffee,
0:27:29 > 0:27:31it goes to make the more expensive stuff, things like espressos,
0:27:31 > 0:27:35which you can be charged a fortune for in a high street coffee shop.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38But here in Vietnam, they make the cheap stuff.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Instant coffee made largely from Robusta beans
0:27:43 > 0:27:46accounts for nearly 80% of the coffee we drink in Britain.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50Our love affair with the instant stuff really took off
0:27:50 > 0:27:52in the 1970s and '80s.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Now that's what I call a cup of coffee.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58Of course. It's new Maxwell House.
0:27:58 > 0:27:59Ah.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01That's why Nescafe is made from a blend of
0:28:01 > 0:28:04three types of the finest coffee beans in the world
0:28:04 > 0:28:06and there are about this many beans in every cup.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Red Mountain is freeze dried...
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Communist Vietnam's coffee boom was partly fed by
0:28:11 > 0:28:14the middle-class aspirations of 1980s Britain.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Mmm, lovely coffee. Anyway...
0:28:19 > 0:28:24Red Mountain, it's like ground coffee taste without the grind.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28When instant coffee landed on supermarket shelves,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31consumption of coffee rocketed around the world.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37In Britain we now drink twice as much of the stuff as we did in the '70s.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42One of the best places to see the impact of our coffee boom
0:28:42 > 0:28:46is the city of Buon Ma Thuot, Vietnam's coffee capital.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Coffee's made some people here very rich.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02Chairman Vu, you've got a Bentley!
0:29:02 > 0:29:04HE CHUCKLES
0:29:04 > 0:29:07Of course you have a Bentley, you're a rich chap.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12You like your cars, Chairman Vu.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18So, come on, what cars have you got then? Tell us.
0:29:22 > 0:29:23Ten Ferraris?!
0:29:23 > 0:29:27So, you had many good years when you look at the finances then?
0:29:32 > 0:29:34You have five Bentleys?
0:29:40 > 0:29:42Oh, flippin' 'eck!
0:30:00 > 0:30:05Dang Le Nguyen Vu is known as Vietnam's Coffee King.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07He was one of the first to see the potential of the business.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12He's made a fortune from exporting beans to countries like Britain,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15as well as founding his own international chain of coffee shops.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21Accompanied by an escort of Jeeps, Chairman Vu, as he's known,
0:30:21 > 0:30:24showed me around some of his empire.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33Goodness me, it's quite the entourage, isn't it?
0:30:34 > 0:30:37He's even built a multimillion-pound coffee village,
0:30:37 > 0:30:40a shrine to his beloved bean.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00'At the centre of the complex are some exhibits
0:31:00 > 0:31:03'highlighting Vu's own very personal philosophy.'
0:31:06 > 0:31:07What?
0:31:07 > 0:31:11Who have you got here, Chairman Vu, and why have you got them here?
0:31:13 > 0:31:16TRANSLATION: These statues are of my top 100 people.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19People who've shaped the history of the world.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22Are they people you personally identify with
0:31:22 > 0:31:25or you would like to be like?
0:31:25 > 0:31:28TRANSLATION: Both.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31I'd like to be one of the people who changes the world,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34but also I learn from their core values.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40For instance, Napoleon.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46His talent in military strategy is the best in the world,
0:31:46 > 0:31:48no-one can rival him.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56If you take coffee, it's a stimulant for the brain.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04The rich countries of the world all drink a lot of coffee.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07Take your own country - the moment you shift
0:32:07 > 0:32:11from drinking coffee to drinking tea, the country slows down.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16This is a shocking thing to say!
0:32:16 > 0:32:19We drink both in Britain.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23We love our tea and we drink quite a lot of coffee as well.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25Are you suggesting that if we only drank coffee,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28we would be a more creative country?
0:32:30 > 0:32:33For me, coffee's a treasure.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37Coffee is the heritage of mankind, it's the solution for the future
0:32:37 > 0:32:40and I don't think that's an exaggeration.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46Chairman Vu has big plans.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48He wants to take Vietnam's coffee,
0:32:48 > 0:32:50which we in Britain just use for cheaper, instant coffee,
0:32:50 > 0:32:53and sell it internationally as a proper, expensive drink
0:32:53 > 0:32:54in its own right.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58It's an acquired taste, but I liked it.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01It's really good.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04You want us to drink more of this, don't you?
0:33:04 > 0:33:07You want to try and sell this around the world.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11Yes. We want to bring Vietnamese coffee culture to the world.
0:33:11 > 0:33:17So is your plan to try and expand into Europe, into North America,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21are we going to see Chairman Vu's coffee shops opening in the UK?
0:33:23 > 0:33:26It isn't going to be easy, but in the next year
0:33:26 > 0:33:30we want to compete with the big brands like Starbucks.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40If we can take on and win over the US market,
0:33:40 > 0:33:42we can conquer the whole world.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47Is that the plan? Conquer the whole world?
0:33:48 > 0:33:50That's my goal.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25Two and a half million people in Vietnam
0:34:25 > 0:34:27are employed in the coffee industry.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29They grow it, they pack it, they ship it.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35Selling you coffee feeds their families and helps educate their children.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40In many parts of the country, growing coffee is the only industry,
0:34:40 > 0:34:42but problems are looming.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50Dave D'haeze is a Belgian soil and water conservation scientist
0:34:50 > 0:34:54living in Vietnam, who's an expert on the coffee industry.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Dave, is the way that the Vietnamese
0:34:56 > 0:34:59are farming coffee at the moment sustainable?
0:34:59 > 0:35:01I don't think so.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04It's a very interesting question because, actually,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07different to any other project we do in the world,
0:35:07 > 0:35:13where we are trying to help farmers to increase productivity,
0:35:13 > 0:35:14here we have to tell farmers,
0:35:14 > 0:35:19"Please, reduce water amounts, reduce fertiliser amounts
0:35:19 > 0:35:22"and still your production will be one of the highest in the world."
0:35:22 > 0:35:25So they're over-using fertiliser
0:35:25 > 0:35:27and they're over-using scarce water resources?
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Absolutely, yes.
0:35:29 > 0:35:30Why?
0:35:30 > 0:35:35Well, there is this traditional belief that you need to do that
0:35:35 > 0:35:39and nobody has really been trained on how to produce coffee.
0:35:39 > 0:35:40Sometimes I'm saying,
0:35:40 > 0:35:45"Look, every farmer in Vietnam is the researcher of his own plot."
0:35:45 > 0:35:49Oh, really, so there's not enough shared information, almost?
0:35:49 > 0:35:52They're making it up as they go along and they think, "We want more
0:35:52 > 0:35:56"beans, let's just put kilograms more of fertiliser on them."
0:35:56 > 0:35:58Absolutely, that's how it's going.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01'Farmers are over-using fertiliser and water
0:36:01 > 0:36:05'and now half of their coffee plants are reaching the end of their life
0:36:05 > 0:36:07'and there's no coordinated plan to replant them.'
0:36:09 > 0:36:11Wow!
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Now that is a magnificent sight!
0:36:16 > 0:36:19That is really spectacular!
0:36:22 > 0:36:25'And those aren't the only threats to the coffee industry here.'
0:36:25 > 0:36:29We've just been hit by a cyclone,
0:36:29 > 0:36:32along with a large chunk of the middle of the country,
0:36:32 > 0:36:34that Vietnam wasn't really expecting.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38How is climate change going to affect Vietnam and how is it
0:36:38 > 0:36:42going to affect the Vietnamese coffee industry, do you think, Dave?
0:36:42 > 0:36:45I recently spoke to a farmer and he was saying,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48"Actually, the climate doesn't meet my expectations any more."
0:36:48 > 0:36:51So the climate is becoming really, really more erratic.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54So more extreme weather -
0:36:54 > 0:36:57hotter hot weather, drier dry weather,
0:36:57 > 0:36:59wetter wet season?
0:36:59 > 0:37:01Absolutely, yeah.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05We're actually facing the risk that coffee farming will become
0:37:05 > 0:37:07less viable in economic terms,
0:37:07 > 0:37:09so farmers will get less income,
0:37:09 > 0:37:13and will it still be necessary or valuable to grow coffee?
0:37:13 > 0:37:16That's the big question we are facing over here.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Much of this area was once covered by forest.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32The Vietnamese strategy of producing vast quantities
0:37:32 > 0:37:35of cheap, low quality beans for instant coffee
0:37:35 > 0:37:38has contributed to its wholesale destruction.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46So much of the forest has already been cleared around here,
0:37:46 > 0:37:49but we're heading to one of the last areas that still gets some form of protection.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57Yok Don is Vietnam's biggest national park
0:37:57 > 0:38:01and is one of the largest protected wildlife areas in southeast Asia.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04Primary forest has virtually disappeared in Vietnam.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09According to data from global conservation organisation WWF,
0:38:09 > 0:38:13Vietnam has lost nearly 40,000 square miles of total forest cover
0:38:13 > 0:38:17since 1973. The battle to preserve what's left
0:38:17 > 0:38:19is being fought by a small band of park rangers.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27Only just realised the guy there has got an assault rifle.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31This is Mr Tan here.
0:38:31 > 0:38:32- Mr Tan?- Yeah?
0:38:32 > 0:38:36He's the deputy director of the park.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40As well as the clearing of forests for agriculture and coffee farming,
0:38:40 > 0:38:43there's also a major problem here with illegal logging.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55Really? All park?
0:39:21 > 0:39:22And they're poor.
0:39:22 > 0:39:23Yeah, they're poor.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27Yeah, you can see this boat. We can check.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29HE SPEAKS VIETNAMESE
0:39:29 > 0:39:31I think they're going to check this boat.
0:39:37 > 0:39:38Uh-huh? OK.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02Let's look at this!
0:40:04 > 0:40:05This is such a rare sight now.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08Forest!
0:40:08 > 0:40:10Let's go.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15'The Vietnamese government has a plan for rapid economic development.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19'They're expanding agriculture and investing heavily in mining
0:40:19 > 0:40:21'and hydroelectric power,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24'which put the environment under incredible pressure.'
0:40:28 > 0:40:31These guys really are doing an incredible job.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35The rest of the country is trying to devour its natural resources
0:40:35 > 0:40:38and they're holding the line and trying to protect what's left.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41This place is under siege.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50On the edge of the forest, we came across evidence
0:40:50 > 0:40:53of the ongoing threat from coffee farming.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58So he needs to do a bit of weeding.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03Is this your land, or are you in the park here?
0:41:09 > 0:41:11And why grow coffee here?
0:41:11 > 0:41:13Why coffee, rather than any other crop?
0:41:20 > 0:41:22Goodness me.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24This is a complicated situation, you know.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27It's a little bit unclear whether
0:41:27 > 0:41:31this chap is inside the national park or not,
0:41:31 > 0:41:35but the national park is that-a-way and that-a-way and that-a-way.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37He might be.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40The rangers have told us that elsewhere around here,
0:41:40 > 0:41:44farms are nibbling away at the edges of the park.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48It's very hard for them to stop,
0:41:48 > 0:41:51and a couple of times when we've talked about it, they've said,
0:41:51 > 0:41:53"Well, you know, these people are really poor,"
0:41:53 > 0:41:57and obviously they feel a huge amount of sympathy for them.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02I mean, look at this guy saying, "Yeah, I make more money from coffee
0:42:02 > 0:42:05"than I do from anything else." But look where he lives.
0:42:05 > 0:42:06He's not some wealthy coffee baron.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11He's just surviving.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16We often imagine that large companies and industry is
0:42:16 > 0:42:20primarily responsible for damaging or destroying the natural world.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24But national parks and wilderness areas around the globe
0:42:24 > 0:42:26are also under attack like this from hundreds of millions
0:42:26 > 0:42:30of poor villagers and farmers, who clear a small area of land,
0:42:30 > 0:42:33grow a few crops and raise a few cattle.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37They want to raise their living standards,
0:42:37 > 0:42:39or often are just trying to feed their families.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48The destruction of Vietnam's forests,
0:42:48 > 0:42:50often to grow our coffee,
0:42:50 > 0:42:54threatens the survival of countless animal species,
0:42:54 > 0:42:56including some of the most iconic creatures on earth.
0:43:02 > 0:43:03Xin chao.
0:43:07 > 0:43:08Bunh Cam.
0:43:08 > 0:43:09And you?
0:43:10 > 0:43:11Muk.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14'These elephants are domesticated,
0:43:14 > 0:43:17'cared for by their trainers, known as mahouts.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21'Their wild cousins have almost completely disappeared here.'
0:43:26 > 0:43:29Muk, why has the number of elephants fallen so dramatically then?
0:44:03 > 0:44:08At the end of the Vietnam War there were up to 2,000 wild elephants
0:44:08 > 0:44:11in Vietnam. There's now just a few dozen left.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Loss of their habitat, including for coffee farms,
0:44:14 > 0:44:16is one of the biggest problems facing them,
0:44:16 > 0:44:21which means it's incredibly important that it's protected.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28Elephants are just one victim of the environmental catastrophe
0:44:28 > 0:44:30caused by the clearance of Vietnam's forests.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36The Javan rhinoceros was declared extinct here recently
0:44:36 > 0:44:40and there are no more than 30 tigers left in the entire country.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46The Vietnamese government's not doing much
0:44:46 > 0:44:49and some conservation groups are actually giving up hope
0:44:49 > 0:44:52of protecting Vietnam's remaining endangered wildlife.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01Now here's a sight.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05'Muk and his family now survive on the money they earn
0:45:05 > 0:45:09'from providing elephant rides to tourists.'
0:45:09 > 0:45:11Do you normally bring your ellie home with you?
0:45:14 > 0:45:16Bless her health?
0:45:16 > 0:45:19Oh, fantastic. Can we watch? Can we see it?
0:45:48 > 0:45:51It's not only the environment and wildlife that suffered
0:45:51 > 0:45:53during Vietnam's great rush for coffee.
0:45:55 > 0:46:00Muk and his family are part of an ethnic grouping called the Ede people,
0:46:00 > 0:46:04one of around 50 minority groups in Vietnam who make up almost 15% of the population.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13They're distinguished from the majority Kinh people by religion and heritage.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17Some are Christians and some sided with the US during the Vietnam war.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Ever since, they've been treated with suspicion and hostility
0:46:22 > 0:46:24by the Vietnamese government.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28Many hill tribes were forced off their farmland when
0:46:28 > 0:46:32the majority Kinh people arrived in their millions to grow coffee.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40There have been violent protests against what many tribal people have seen as a land grab.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46This unverified footage is thought to show protests
0:46:46 > 0:46:47and a government crackdown.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55We know that hundreds of ethnic minority activists have been arrested
0:46:55 > 0:46:59and imprisoned for campaigning for rights for their people.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04Ethnic minorities here have really had a tough time of it.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09Any discussion of ethnic minority rights
0:47:09 > 0:47:12is extremely controversial here.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15If I was to start asking people questions about
0:47:15 > 0:47:18the ethnic minority situation, I would be putting them in danger.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22So, to find out more, I need to leave the country.
0:47:31 > 0:47:32I flew to Bangkok,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35the capital of Thailand, several hundred miles away.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45Thousands of people from Vietnam's ethnic minorities
0:47:45 > 0:47:47have fled the country to live in exile abroad.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54We managed to arrange a meeting with two men who say they've escaped persecution in Vietnam.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59Their identities have been concealed to protect them.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04Can you describe to us what happened in ethnic minority areas in Vietnam
0:48:04 > 0:48:09as millions of farmers from other regions started moving in there?
0:48:12 > 0:48:14TRANSLATION: They took our lands away
0:48:14 > 0:48:16to build a huge state development.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19Without land, we had no way to earn a living.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31- TRANSLATION:- Last October I saw it with my own eyes, hundreds of police
0:48:31 > 0:48:34and soldiers came and they uprooted all our coffee plants.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38They said the land now belonged to the authorities.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Not even the whole village could stop them.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43They beat us.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47My nephew was beaten unconscious, it was impossible to stop them.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53The government confiscated the land.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59When they came and uprooted our coffee, we had to fight back.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02For that they beat and tortured our people.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06It was unfair because that land was passed down to us by our ancestors.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12The regime has clamped down hard on signs of dissent.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19TRANSLATION: They arrested me for handing out leaflets.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Leaflets asking young people to come and defend human rights
0:49:25 > 0:49:27and freedom in Vietnam.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32They said, "How dare you?"
0:49:32 > 0:49:34and six of them started beating me around the head.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40They beat me unconscious and I can't remember anything else.
0:49:42 > 0:49:43There are still marks on my head.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49After that, they threw me into a morgue.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54When I came round, they carried on interrogating me.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01This man says he was held in prison for six months.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05When he was released, he fled the country.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10Are you frightened of the Vietnamese government?
0:50:10 > 0:50:13Do you think you'll ever be able to go home?
0:50:14 > 0:50:16We can't return.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19We're afraid because they have arrested us,
0:50:19 > 0:50:21interrogated and tortured us.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23How can we go back to Vietnam?
0:50:24 > 0:50:27What would happen to you if you returned home?
0:50:27 > 0:50:29I would be put in prison until I die.
0:50:29 > 0:50:30You're certain of that?
0:50:32 > 0:50:33Yes, I am.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39We're scared because the Vietnamese government is different from other governments.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47Once someone is charged with a crime they are imprisoned, locked up.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51The government uses any means to make sure they stay in jail for ever.
0:50:55 > 0:50:56And why would they imprison you?
0:50:56 > 0:51:00On what grounds and for what crimes?
0:51:01 > 0:51:05Opposing them is an offence, that's why they arrest us.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13The international group Human Rights Watch
0:51:13 > 0:51:16has described Vietnam's human rights record as atrocious
0:51:16 > 0:51:18and says conditions there are getting worse.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21There is widespread press censorship
0:51:21 > 0:51:25and across the country people who question or challenge the regime
0:51:25 > 0:51:28face harassment, jail and torture.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32It seems clear to me that Vietnam does not get
0:51:32 > 0:51:36the attention that it deserves and would be warranted, frankly,
0:51:36 > 0:51:40for the scale of human rights issues and abuses that are happening there.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45I have a view, or at least I had a view before starting this journey,
0:51:45 > 0:51:49of Vietnam as being a poor but fairly friendly and
0:51:49 > 0:51:53welcoming country which was an ideal place for a backpacker holiday.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56I'm not suggesting it's not,
0:51:56 > 0:51:59but I think you've got to see the political aspect as well
0:51:59 > 0:52:03and the scale of the abuses that are happening there and that are
0:52:03 > 0:52:11largely hidden from international view and international attention.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31The end of the coffee trail took me to the south of Vietnam.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37Ho Chi Minh City, which used to be called Saigon,
0:52:37 > 0:52:39is Vietnam's biggest and most modern city.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53Nearby is the destination for many of Vietnam's coffee beans,
0:52:53 > 0:52:55a Nestle factory and warehouse.
0:52:57 > 0:52:59Wow, this place is huge.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04Nestle's the world's largest food company.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08It supplies the UK with more than half our instant coffee.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12Their manager here is Nakle Kattan.
0:53:17 > 0:53:22This coffee is coming from what we call upcountry.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25A large proportion of Vietnam's coffee bean harvest
0:53:25 > 0:53:28ends up in Nestle's warehouses.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34In fact, just a few giant multinational companies
0:53:34 > 0:53:36dominate the global instant coffee industry.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44Here it's Nestle that makes big profits by turning the beans into Nescafe.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50The process begins by filtering out the impurities.
0:53:56 > 0:53:57Wow.
0:53:59 > 0:54:04It's a mass of piping that to me, of course, means absolutely nothing,
0:54:04 > 0:54:09but to the guv'nor here, there's a purpose to everything, of course.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13'After that, the beans are then roasted in a huge drum.'
0:54:13 > 0:54:17Yeah, this is the coffee that you've just seen before,
0:54:17 > 0:54:18it came through the roaster
0:54:18 > 0:54:22and now it is roasted and going to the extraction.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26Right, and the extraction bit is the secret bit?
0:54:26 > 0:54:30Yeah. In the extractions, we extract first the solid,
0:54:30 > 0:54:35but also this aroma, you know, of Nescafe, when you open your jar.
0:54:35 > 0:54:40But that's the secret bit of your process that we can't see, isn't it?
0:54:40 > 0:54:43'The Nescafe formula is a closely guarded secret
0:54:43 > 0:54:45'and it's hugely lucrative.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48'The instant coffee industry is worth billions every year,
0:54:48 > 0:54:51'but very little of that profit stays in the country,
0:54:51 > 0:54:53'which isn't great for Vietnam.'
0:55:03 > 0:55:07Although Vietnam is one of the world's biggest coffee producers,
0:55:07 > 0:55:09nobody seems to know about it.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12When you think about it, whoever asks for a cup of Vietnamese coffee?
0:55:14 > 0:55:18Starbucks, even Starbucks here in Vietnam,
0:55:18 > 0:55:22doesn't actually promote and market coffee from Vietnam
0:55:22 > 0:55:26the way it does coffee from other coffee-producing countries.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29Again, not great for Vietnam.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32Will Frith is a Vietnamese-American coffee consultant
0:55:32 > 0:55:35who's moved here to get involved in the national coffee industry.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41The big global coffee chains don't seem to promote
0:55:41 > 0:55:44and market Vietnamese coffee the way they do
0:55:44 > 0:55:47coffee from other coffee-producing countries.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49- Right.- What's going on?
0:55:49 > 0:55:51In terms of the coffee industry here,
0:55:51 > 0:55:57they're aiming for quantity, which necessarily drives the quality down.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01Will wants to encourage Vietnamese farmers to switch from growing
0:56:01 > 0:56:04low quality instant coffee to planting the more valuable beans
0:56:04 > 0:56:08that go into expensive cappuccinos and espressos.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10He thinks the country has no choice.
0:56:10 > 0:56:12If they don't, I'm afraid that
0:56:12 > 0:56:15a lot of the signs are pointing towards complete failure.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18Is complete failure of the industry actually a possibility?
0:56:18 > 0:56:20Yes.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22We're entering sort of a perfect storm of conditions right now
0:56:22 > 0:56:26where the soil is being sucked dry by monoculture.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30So, the soil is basically becoming exhausted, knackered almost,
0:56:30 > 0:56:32it's having the goodness sucked out of it.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35Absolutely, and to compound the problem
0:56:35 > 0:56:37there's climate change to think about.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41And I've actually seen some models that essentially wipes out
0:56:41 > 0:56:44more than half of the growing regions here.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47And that would just be horrific for farmers here.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49It would be devastating. It would be devastating for
0:56:49 > 0:56:52more than just farmers, you've got processors and traders
0:56:52 > 0:56:56and people whose livelihoods depend directly on the coffee industry.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15The next day, I headed to the country's biggest port.
0:57:16 > 0:57:19Thousands of tonnes of coffee leave Vietnam from here
0:57:19 > 0:57:22and heads off across the sea to Europe and America.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26I've come to the end of the coffee trail.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28Clearly, this country has come a long way economically
0:57:28 > 0:57:31in the last few decades, but they have got a lot further to go.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34They've got to diversify their economy,
0:57:34 > 0:57:37they've got to move on from producing massive quantities
0:57:37 > 0:57:41of one type of low quality, low value coffee.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44At the moment, the situation's quite good for us because
0:57:44 > 0:57:46we get a cheap cup of coffee, but
0:57:46 > 0:57:50it's not so good for the environment here in Vietnam, and actually
0:57:50 > 0:57:53in the long term it's not that great for Vietnam's farmers either.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00Our humble cup of instant coffee is linked to some of Vietnam's
0:58:00 > 0:58:03greatest political problems and human rights abuses.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09But it's also helped to create modern Vietnam,
0:58:09 > 0:58:11providing jobs for huge numbers of people
0:58:11 > 0:58:15and helping to lift this country from the ashes of war.