IM:MI Coffee Roasters—In a District 1 Ho Chi Minh City Alley, Immersing in Single Origins at a Chessboard Roastery

269/2 Nguyen Trai street — the sound and scent of roasting fill a back alley

269 Nguyen Trai street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. In the second shop down the alley extending behind this number is "IM:MI Coffee Roasters." This roastery café, opened in early 2026, wraps you the moment you enter in the sweet smoke smell of coffee beans roasting.

Handling it is Nguyen Hoang Trung Hung. If you're a Ho Chi Minh City café lover, he's the founder of S'mores Saigon Caffe, which you'd know. At IM:MI he further sharpened the concept of "the fusion of space and coffee" built at S'mores.

"Immersive × Mimesis" — the philosophy in the name

The name IM:MI is a coined word multiplying "Immersive" and "Mimesis (imitation/reproduction)." The concept is "reproducing overlooked moments in daily life with the scent of coffee and music."

The key phrase is "Sitting with yourself." Time to put down your smartphone and face yourself. The location of a back alley cut off from Ho Chi Minh City's clamor physically supports this concept.

Space design — a labyrinth of chessboard and vinyl

IM:MI's interior takes the checkerboard (checkered pattern) as a motif. A white-and-black pattern repeating on the floor, walls, and counter. The chess pawn objects placed there carve the message of "advancing one step at a time" into the space.

With materials centered on wood and stone, warm yellow lighting makes soft shadows. The two-story space has a roasting area and counter on the first floor and a relaxed lounge on the second. There are also garden terrace seats, with an openness you wouldn't expect of a back alley.

Sound system — a vinyl experience designed by District M

IM:MI's other pillar is music. The acoustic design is handled by Ho Chi Minh City's acoustics-specialist team "District M."

The record jackets lined up across a wall function as interior décor too,COI listening barplacing it in the context of an "ear-enjoyed café" in the lineage of listening bars like it. Jazz, city pop, and ambient switch by time of day, in a design where the coffee's flavor and the music resonate.

Coffee — single origin drunk at the roasting site

The menu centers on specialty-grade single origins. The roaster is a few meters from the seats, and the cracking sound and smoke of roasting are part of the space.

In addition to Vietnamese arabica (Da Lat, Kon Tum), it handles world origins like Ethiopia and Colombia.The article on the wellness coffee trendWith an approach different from the Vietnamese wellness coffee trend covered in it, IM:MI concentrates on "the pure taste of coffee."

The price range starts from around 50,000 VND (about 290 yen). It's a standard setting for a Ho Chi Minh City third-wave café. Hours are long at 8:00 to 23:00, covering everything from a morning coffee to a nighttime relaxation time.

Local voices — "This isn't a café, it's a meditation room"

• "The moment you enter the back alley, Ho Chi Minh City's noise vanishes. Walking the chessboard floor and going up to the second floor, there's a sense of your own time beginning" (a Japanese designer living there)
• "I liked S'mores, but IM:MI is clearly the next level. The acoustics are amazing. Coffee drunk while listening to the sound of records is exceptional" (a Vietnamese coffee lover)
• "Having the scent of the roasting in progress spread through the space as is, is a luxury. This experience for 50,000 VND is too cheap" (a Korean tourist)

Access for Japanese travelers

Nguyen Trai street is a main street in central District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City, extending toward Cholon (Chinatown). It's 10 minutes from Ben Thanh Market by Grab, about 20,000 VND (about 120 yen). The alley entrance is hard to find, but searching "IM:MI Coffee Roasters" on Google Maps drops a pin. Free bike parking available.

The current state of Ho Chi Minh City third-wave coffee

Vietnam is the world's second-largest coffee producer, but domestic consumption was mainly Robusta condensed-milk coffee. In the past few years, a third-wave swell paying attention to Da Lat and Kon Tum arabica has spread rapidly.

IM:MIThe Thao Dien café articlesets itself apart from the stylish café cluster of the Thao Dien district introduced in it. Savoring single origin at a back-alley hideaway while placing yourself at the roasting site — that's an experience of feeling firsthand Vietnamese coffee's "seriousness as a producing country."

Basic information

Summary — time to "sit with yourself" in a back alley

IM:MI Coffee Roasters is the latest reached point of Ho Chi Minh City's third-wave coffee scene. The scent of roasting, the sound of vinyl, the chessboard space — a coffee experience savored with the five senses, in a District 1 back alley. There's no reason not to add this roastery to your Ho Chi Minh City café-hopping.

Source

• District M – IM:MI Coffee Roasters
• Kenh14 – 8 new cafés in Ho Chi Minh City
• IM:MI Coffee Roasters Facebook