Brown Coffee – Popular Coffee in Cambodia

Drinking coffee becomes a matter of routine of Cambodia people including adults and elderly people. They get together to discuss their studies, works, businesses and other activities. While there’s high beverage competition in the country, brand coffees have spread rapidly and attracted more and more coffee lovers.   

Today, many great coffee shops can be found in Phnom Penh. If you ask people in the city what is the no.1 coffee shop in the city. The appropriate response is most likely "Brown". Indeed, even among the expats and travelers who have visited Phnom Penh many times, the appropriate response is probably the same.   

 

Brown is the most popular cafe among Phnom Penh's younger crowd and was established by four Cambodian cousins. Chang Bunleang, managing partner and co-founder, is in charge of running the business. Kang Hok is the architect, while Chhong comes in as pastry chef and interior designer, and Kang Sen as structural engineer. All four had returned from studying overseas in the belief they would be more "useful" in their home country, which is crying out for young entrepreneurs. They opened the first coffee shop on Street 214 in Phnom Penh in 2009. It is locally known as “Brown Samdech Pan”. The brand "Brown " is synonymous with "Tnort", which is Khmer for the color brown and the national tree of Cambodia.    

Now Brown has 13 stores in the Phnom Penh capital and one in Siem Reap province on prime areas, which has turned out to be prominent hang-outs among students, young professionals, middle aged people, and expats. Starbucks made its debut here in 2015 and has since had 5 outlets at traveler spots, such as BKK1 and Eon Mall. As a matter of fact, there are different players in the business other than Brown, and Starbucks. They can be found at practically every corner in the city center, among them Gloria Jean's, Café Amazon, Costa Café, and local coffee shops. However, Brown is obviously outstanding in terms of architecture, interior design, food on the menu, and particularly the staff, who take orders from the table. Coffee quality is the thing that nobody can detract from Brown. It's the local hero, similar to "Jack the Giant Slayer" in Cambodia's coffee business.