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Take a sip of coffee in Vietnam
Exploring cultures, learning languages and travelling have driven my life decision in my early twenties. I spent one year in Mexico for my last year of bachelor. After leaving Mexico, I did a 4-month internship in Vancouver, Canada. Then continued with one year in Germany for my master moving quickly through classes to go to Singapore in the second year of my master degree. Finally, I ended up in Vietnam in January 2019 working for a Vietnamese NGO while writing up my master thesis.
During all these years, I did not drink a drop of coffee. I drank tea, water, coke but not coffee. I did not like coffee, and to be honest I still do not really like it. My main personal connection to coffee is through my brother, who has a passion for the trade. Personally, I have a passion for trees, human-nature interactions, and saving the world from climate change. I also love to learn things and I always wanted to get a PhD.
All these variables brought me to search on Google “CIRAD” “Coffee” “Vietnam” and find Dr. Philippe Vaast online. After a short exchange of emails, we met at the World Agroforestry office in Hanoi in 2019. I signed up for an internship with Philippe under the Breedcafs project and moved to Son La while waiting for funding to start a PhD. Before moving to Son La, I learnt from Philippe how to measure sapflow by connecting probes, cables and data loggers in…
