Coffee, with a market volume of over $471.30 billion in 2022, is the largest segment of the global hot drinks market which is valued at $722 billion. It is a barometer of Western influence on the rising middle class in Asia, explaining the 1.5 percent growth in Asia’s coffee consumption in the past five years, ahead of the 0.5 percent growth in Europe and 1.2 percent in the USA. The boom is even more pronounced in Southeast Asian countries. The rise of emerging markets across Southeast Asia for more than two decades has brought about a stunning rise in coffee consumption in the region’s already fast-expanding economies.
From the biggest players in the traditional markets like the Philippines and Japan to new giants such as China, South Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam, this is a dawning development for the coffee market and analysts expect the Asia coffee boom to set new records for the world growth in coming years. Alambe, a coffee company from Southeast Asia, is positioned as a high-quality coffee roaster at a reasonable price and real value for money.
Alambe offers six different qualities for its customers to choose as their preferences. All the coffee is sourced and roasted in Vietnam. Set up by Hiep Pham, Alambe was initially a small roastery in his garage, where he set himself the goal of roasting Vietnamese coffe to perfection without additives (in Vietnam, industria margarine or even fish sauce is often added to the roasting process).
After much experimentation, he achieved a quality of coffee that cannot be found in this form in Vietnam. Alex Gruber has been in the coffee business for 30 years, almost 20 of them in the Vietnamese coffee market. His expertise and knowledge about Vietnam and its coffees are therefore almost unsurpassed. Alambe's vision is to become the leading brand name and benchmark in Vietnam and globally, for roasted high-quality Vietnamese coffee.
The Beat of the Global Coffee Industry
Asian consumers are traditional tea drinkers. Countries like Japan and Korea have developed over the last decades to mature coffee markets. Southeast Asian countries are currently seeing strong growth rates of coffee consumption.
The demand for all kinds of coffee is increasing, including Instant coffee, or 3 in 1, or fresh roast & ground coffee. Cafes multiply like mushrooms, packed with students, businesspeople, and tourists. In the big cities of Southeast Asia coffee is becoming part of the daily culture. In December 2018, Hiep, Alex and his wife Bernadette took the decision to build coffee roaster plant together and formed the company Master Roasters Service Saigon.
It also founded the brand Alambe – finest Vietnamese coffee to promote domestically and globally the unique blends and single-origin coffees, Hiep has created over the years. The brand name Alambe embodies the coffee expertise of Alex Gruber, the roasting know-how of Hiep Pham and the artistic eye of Bernadette Gruber. In July 2019, the company started its roasting activities at the new plant in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Breathing New Life into Coffee Culture
Alambe has a wide offering of quality flagship products. Alambe Dak Lak and Alambe Saigon are traditional Vietnamese roasts and blends without using additives. Alambe Lam Dong and Alambe Kontum are Italian Style Espresso Coffees. Alambe Da Sar and Alambe Da Lat are rarities and truly speciality Arabica Coffees, a unique experience for the coffee connoisseur. The Co-Founder & Director, Alex says, “My partner and I bring 60 years of experience within the coffee industry. We trained our Master-Roaster for 10 years, and have built up a small, loyal and knowledgeable team.
” Owing to their in-depth market experience, Alambe located each coffee variety in the best area in Vietnam and works closely with the respective supplier for over 15 years to ensure the quality standards are met. Upon arrival at its coffee roastery plant, each batch is sampled bag by bag, roasted and cupped. Only after approval, the batch enters the inventory. All the coffees are hand-roasted in small batches, and Alambe pays high attention to roasting at low temperatures but for a longer time.
“All The Coffees Are Hand-Roasted In Small Batches, And Alambe Pays High Attention To Roasting At Low Temperatures But For A Longer Time "
“We engage in B2B and B2C, and for each category the requirements are different, and each customer has different specific requirements. As mentioned earlier, coffee is an emotional consumer product, without heart blood and offering service 7/7 you won’t succeed to have satisfied customers”, explains Alex. Alambe is constantly looking out for new trends, new products and new technology. For now, it continues to promote singleserve sachet products containing fresh roast & ground coffee.
“All we need do is fix them on our coffee cups, and pour hot water over them for a real coffee experience everywhere we are. No need for a capsule machine, and no need to drink single-serve Instant Coffee or 3 in 1 mix”, signs off Alex.
Alexander is the Chairman of Alambe, a roasted coffee brand startup in Vietnam, which he founded in 2019. He established the business development plan, acquired investors, and set up yearly/monthly budgets, among other responsibilities. Prior to his current position, Alexander was the Trading Manager for Coffee at RCMA Group in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where he worked for seven years. He also served as Director at Oriental Coffee & Commodities in Vietnam for six months in 2011. Alexander is skilled in commodity trading, hedging, and trading, and has received endorsements from his colleagues and industry experts.
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