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■ Black Coffee
I’m feelin’ mighty lonesome haven’t slept a wink. I walk the floor from nine to four in between I drink Black Coffee, love’s a hand-me-down brew. I’ll never know a Sunday, in this weekday room I’m talkin to the shadow. One o’clock till four and Lord, how slow the moments go and all I do is pour

Cà Phê Sữa Đá

When I first moved to Jacksonville, in December 2024, the house wasn’t exactly in living condition. We didn’t have a stove, so we ended up eating out practically every day. We ate so much Pho that I compiled Pho Ever Yours.

I also made the mistake of not bringing my Keurig Coffee Maker, so I had to make coffee the old fashion way: the traditional slow drip coffee of Ca Phe Sua Da.

Recently (today), there is a Star Tribune article called Vietnamese coffee shops are leading the Twin Cities’ next coffee wave. It would seem that Vietnamese Ca Phe are the next big thing, at least in the Minneapolis/St Paul area.

I wanted to talk about the history of Vietnamese Ca Phe from my memory (so I could be wrong on a few things). Coffee was not native to the country, and how it got introduced into the country was during the French occupation in the 1800s. Since cows were also not native to Vietnam, they had to get milk delivered as canned condense milk (this also solve the lack of refrigeration in that time period).

Using a metal coffee filter that was based on Indian coffee filters, you add hot water in the coffee metal filter and the coffee will slowly drop to your cup (which already has some condense milk). After mixing the coffee and milk, you then pour it to another glass with ice, and so you’ll have my favorite cà phê sữa đá (which literally translate to “Coffee Milk Ice”).

Some people don’t like the ice part, so optionally you can drink it hot… but traditionally, it’s served with ice.

The coffee that my family prefers and uses is Cafe Du Monde Coffee, with Chicory. That is a flower, but I’ve always thought it was a bark of a tree, because the coffee has a ‘wood’ flavor to it. Although my family swears by Café Du Monde, I’m not really a fan because of the Chicory. That company also makes a French Roast version, which is my cup of tea.

Nowadays, since I have my Keurig here, it’s much faster and easier to get instant coffee in less than 30 seconds. If you don’t mind setting up and boiling water and waiting for the drips, and waiting 10+ minutes… when you finally get to drink your coffee, it was worth the effort and time.

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■ Jamie Fine
Jamie Fine is a Canadian singer-songwriter based in Ottawa, Ontario, who is best known as one half of the former Canadian pop music duo Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine, a first season winner of CTV’s singing competition The Launch. She emerged as a solo artist in 2020, where she has achieved moderate radio promotion and success. Her debut EP, “eight gardengate”, was released on November 4th, 2022.

Jamie Fine

Queer Canadian pop powerhouse artist Jamie Fine’s latest offering is called “cups of coffee.” The song is a reflection of past love and features Jamie’s signature vocal hooks and earnest and open songwriting.

Jamie explains the inspiration saying:

cups of coffee is really about honouring your first love; the one you genuinely thought would last forever. I think we all have that person that you build routines with, sit across from in quiet coffee shops and imagine an entire lifetime beside.” She continues to say, “For me, I kept coming back to this visual of two people just… drinking coffee together. It’s such a simple thing, but it represents comfort, consistency, and the belief that this is who I’ll always be with. But the song is about realizing that if those cups of coffee had never stopped, if that relationship had lasted exactly the way I imagined, I wouldn’t have met the other loves in my life. I wouldn’t have grown the way I did. I wouldn’t have experienced the depth, the heartbreak, the healing, the expansion that came after. It’s not a breakup song in a bitter way – it’s more of a thank-you, even though it didn’t last forever. Because I truly believe every relationship, the good, the bad, and the ugly, leads you somewhere. Nothing is wasted.

Fine just played the 7th Street Entry on March 27.

Remaining Tour Dates

Apr 4 – Boston, MA – Cafe 939
Apr 14 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Revolution Live *
Apr 16 – Orlando, FL – The Plaza Live *
Apr 17 – Atlanta, GA – The Tabernacle*
Apr 18 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl – Nashville*
Apr 21 – Washington, DC – The Anthem*
Apr 22 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore*
Apr 23 – New York, NY – Terminal 5*
*with Calum Scott

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■ Putumayo
Putumayo World Music is a New Orleans-based record label that specializes in compilations of world music, jazz and blues.

Coffee Culture

Our favorite world music label Putumayo released Coffee Culture last November, under their Putumayo Discovery banner. The collection features Vietnamese guitarist to Haitian compas and East Africa rhythmic grooves. This cuppa will serve up nicely as a companion to their Café Feminina collection.

The Coffee Culture artist track list includes:

Flier (Kenya): Kenyan artist Flier blends hip-hop, R&B, and Afro-fusion, combining Nairobi’s indie spirit and youth culture with emotionally honest, self-produced music.
Camila Costa (Brazil): Rio-born singer and guitarist Camila Costa fuses samba, ijexá, maracatu, and bossa nova, highlighting Brazil’s Afro-Atlantic heritage through inventive, contemporary arrangements.
Yazeed Fahad (Saudi Arabia): Saudi songwriter Yazeed Fahad combines traditional Arabic melodies with modern pop, offering warm, introspective songs rooted in regional heritage and contemporary youth culture.
NOANDA with Feven Yoseph (Germany / Ethiopia): Germany-based fusion group NOANDA and Ethiopian vocalist Feven Yoseph blend downtempo electronica with Amharic vocals, creating atmospheric, cross-cultural soundscapes.
Lakou Mizik (Haiti): Haiti’s multigenerational collective Lakou Mizik, unites rara, vodou rhythms, and Caribbean roots to celebrate cultural resilience and communal spirit.
Doãn Hoài Nam with Mạc Mai Sương (Vietnam): Hanoi composer Doãn Hoài Nam crafts delicate, introspective acoustic music, blending contemporary Vietnamese folk with poetic vocals by Mạc Mai Sương.
Lucas Hill (Colombia): Colombian singer-songwriter Lucas Hill merges Latin American folk warmth with indie introspection, offering poetic, understated compositions rooted in modern songwriting traditions.
Ashimba (Tanzania): Tanzanian singer-songwriter Ashimba blends Swahili folk, Afropop, and acoustic traditions, celebrating East African storytelling and contemporary cultural identity.
Havana Meets Kingston (Cuba / Jamaica): The Havana Meets Kingston project unites Cuban and Jamaican musicians, blending reggae, son, salsa, and timba into a groundbreaking cross-Caribbean collaboration.
George Telek (Papua New Guinea): Papua New Guinean icon George Telek blends Melanesian rhythms, Tolai traditions, and contemporary grooves, sharing the rich cultural spirit of the Pacific.

Type O Negative Coffee

Iconic goth band Type O Negative launched the Official Type O Negative Coffee last October. The gimmick is that the coffee comes in a blood bank IV bags. I think it looks absolutely revolting, but also such a cool merchandise if you are a fan of the band.

Concept Cafes is the company manufacturing the idea and coffee. Founder Mike Tonsetic had this to say:

Surprisingly simple some might say, but blood is universal truth, the great equalizer, the bond that binds us in symbiotic union; the irony of that which cycles our mortality and stains our immortality, the sobering substance just beneath the surface. Type O doesn’t cater to the mold, & neither does their private label; but their cellular construct is centrifuged into our collective DNA and spreading like a virus.

The coffee is still available directly at conceptcafes.com or alternatively via hottopic.com.