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Transcript/ScriptCOLORADO / VIETNAMESE COFFEE SISTERS
HEADLINE: Sisters Open Denver’s First Vietnamese Coffee Shop During Pandemic
TEASER: ti café Blends Traditional and Modern Vietnamese Culture
PUBLISHED AT: 3/18/2022 at 8:10am
BYLINE: SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE: Denver
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Bowman, MAS
VIDEO SOURCE (S): ALL VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __
TRT: 3:32
VID APPROVED BY: Jepsen
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO)) [[With many small businesses failing during the economic downturn of Coronavirus lockdowns, three sisters in the U.S. state of Colorado chose the pandemic to open Denver’s first Vietnamese coffee shop. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns went to their café to hear their story.]]
((Sashaline Nguyen, tí Cafe Co-owner))
We knew we always wanted to open up our own business together. We come from a family of entrepreneurial parents. They did their own business for the longest time, and we were always around that environment. What’s special to us? Vietnamese culture, embracing it, bringing something new. So: Vietnamese coffee shop.
((Shominic Nguyen, tí Cafe Co-owner))
The name ti, we say “tea” just so it’s easy to pronounce but it’s actually pronounced “thee” in Vietnamese, it is a term of endearment. It means small or tiny. But Vietnamese people, they also use it as a nickname for their kids or whatever. All these little characters are our drawings that my mom kept from when we were little. She kept all of our doodles and everything. So each of these characters represents one of us. This one is my doodle when I was little.
((Shasitie Nguyen, tí Cafe Co-owner))
I think that having a Vietnamese coffee shop is impactful for our generation just because we have so many coffee shops, and coffee shops are such a culture for everybody. But how many Vietnamese coffee shops can you actually think of?
((Sashaline Nguyen, tí cafe co-owner))
This is how we brew our coffee. This is the phin-drip process. These are little phin filters. We have a tamper to put on top. So it is essentially a slow-drip coffee. We source it directly from Vietnam, but we roast them here in America so they are super fresh.
((Shominic Nguyen, tí Cafe Co-owner))
We are taking a more modern take on coffee. We are not doing it traditional-traditional Vietnamese. We are doing it a little more modern, blending it with traditional. So we were very nervous in the beginning that older, older Vietnamese groups would judge us for that. We were so scared they would come in and be like, ‘This is not Vietnamese coffee.’ But we were willing to take that step because we want to push it more towards modern. I think that’s very important with Vietnamese culture because we are so stuck in tradition, we need to take that step forward.
((Shasitie Nguyen, tí Cafe Co-owner))
“I think that we opened during a peak time for people just because everybody was cooped up for such a long time and they were excited for new businesses. I think everybody came out of the pandemic a lot more openminded, so having new places to go visit, like Vietnamese coffee shops, everybody was just wanting to experience something that was new.”
((Shominic Nguyen, tí Cafe Co-owner))
Being those consistent faces you see every single day, being able to interact with people was definitely really important to a lot of our regulars-now, to our customers, because we all needed that interaction.
((Sashaline Nguyen, tí Cafe Co-owner))
As sisters, we are comfortable with each other. We know what pushes each other’s buttons. And sometimes we do it just out of spite, but in the end, we know that we have to put our differences aside to make it work. We have our moments. But we’re sisters. And we are always going to be sisters first, for sure. It’s all about compromise in a relationship, any kind of relationship. For the most part we are lucky that we can go into business as sisters and make it work.
((Nat sound))
“Thank you guys so much.”
“Thanks for coming in.”
“Tell him we say hi.”
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
Topic TagsFood
Vietnam
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateMarch 18, 2022 15:16 EDT
Description EnglishWith many small businesses failing during the economic downturn of Coronavirus lockdowns, three sisters in the U.S. state of Colorado chose the pandemic to open Denver’s first Vietnamese coffee shop. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns went to their café to hear their story.
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
