Sheffield’s favourite Vietnamese café is going back to its roots – with a brand-new roastery in Kelham Island and a bold mission to put Asian coffee on the UK map.
When Jim and Melissa Rose opened the doors to Năm Sông in 2017, they were taking a leap of faith. Inspired by a backpacking trip across Southeast Asia, the couple returned to Sheffield with a love for Vietnamese coffee culture – and a bold idea to introduce it to the city.
“We just kind of thought, why not really?” Jim tells Exposed. “We’d finished uni, travelled around Asia and fell in love with Vietnam especially. On our first day in Saigon we tried cà phê sữa đá – Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk – and we were blown away. It tasted chocolatey, caramelly, unlike anything we’d had before. And we certainly hadn’t seen anything like it in Sheffield.”
What began as a quirky café in Broomhill with Vietnamese banh mi baguettes and traditional ‘phin filter’ brews soon evolved into something bigger. Over the years, Năm Sông experimented with expansion, adding new locations in Leeds, Cutlery Works and Dyson Place. But the rapid growth took its toll. “We spread ourselves too thin,” Jim admits. “We moved too quickly and it stopped being fun for us and the team. Me and Melissa just looked at each other one day and said, are we happy? And we weren’t.”
That honest reflection led them back to their roots. Today, Năm Sông is thriving once more with its single, much-loved site in Broomhill and a conscious return to the business’s original inspiration: Vietnamese phin filter coffee.
And now, in the heart of Kelham Island, the next evolution is taking shape – a dedicated roastery space, housing their very own production and distribution hub for specialty coffees exclusively sourced from Asia.
“To our knowledge, we’re the only company in the UK doing this – specialising purely in Asian specialty coffee,” Jim explains. “Vietnam is the world’s second-largest producer of coffee, but people rarely think of that region when they think of high-end brews. We want to change that.”
The space is being used for a bigger push into wholesale and retail, with a range of bespoke products available online, in-store and at a stand in Red Brick Market.
In particular, they’re championing the phin filter – a traditional Vietnamese brewing method that has become Năm Sông’s signature. “It produces a drink that’s like a cross between a filter coffee and an espresso,” says Jim. “There are no paper filters, it’s sustainable and it tastes really unique.”
They’re not just showing, either – they’re teaching. Head to their socials and you’ll find straighforward instructional reels, guides and in-store demonstrations to help customers brew phin filter coffee at home. As such, the new roastery space will be used not just for production, but as a backdrop for sharing stories and celebrating the culture behind the coffee.
“We’ve had so many customers over the years send us their travel photos from Asia. We’ve put them up on the walls at Năm Sông. People come in and go, ‘I’ve been there!’ and it sparks all these memories. That’s what this is about, really – more than just coffee. It’s about helping people reconnect with those experiences and shine a light on a part of the world that’s often overlooked in the coffee world.”
As the roastery takes shape, the focus remains on showcasing Asian-grown coffee – while staying true to the stories and flavours that first sparked the idea for Năm Sông.
And if you’ve never tried a traditional Vietnamese coffee, now might be the time. “It’s still our biggest seller,” Jim says. “Even though we’re technically a restaurant now, we sell more phin filters than anything else. People just love it.”
Stainless steel phin coffee filters are priced at £14 for the 8oz size and £20 for the 12oz. A full coffee set – including a filter, condensed milk and 220g of roasted coffee – costs £28. Browse the full range online at namsong.co.uk and stay updated on socials by following @wearenamsong.
