XLIII Coffee
Formerly 43 Factory.

XLIII runs a flagship roastery and training space in Da Nang, alongside cafes in Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An and Hanoi. The rename from 43 Factory Coffee Roaster is cosmetic — XLIII is simply forty-three in Roman numerals — but the operation behind it is among the most disciplined in Southeast Asia.

What sets it apart is how it buys. Each lot arrives with a full spec sheet — origin, farm, variety, crop year, altitude, process — and is roasted light enough to read like the paperwork. For a member calibrating a palate, XLIII is a shelf of reference coffees from producers you would otherwise have to chase across a dozen importers.

The spine of the catalog is single-estate traceability, often at the auction tier. XLIII carries lots from Daterra's Masterpieces Auction in Brazil — a native-yeast Guarani, a natural Laurina — and estate Geshas from the Mierisch family across Honduras and Nicaragua. Peru's Nueva Alianza shows up in five varieties at once; Colombia's Cafe Granja La Esperanza brings Sudan Rume, Sidra and Pink Bourbon.

It is the kind of range that only makes sense if the buyer is cupping obsessively and roasting to preserve, not to standardize.

Two threads mark XLIII as a restless buyer. The first is Ninety Plus — Panama estate Gesha processed through their proprietary Criolic method, an anaerobic ferment that pushes yuzu, custard apple and jasmine to an intensity most coffees never reach.

The second is Malaysian Liberica — a different species entirely, grown near sea level in Johor and fermented anaerobically for weeks. Banana, sarsi, cocoa: it tastes nothing like arabica, and almost no specialty roaster carries it. XLIII carries three versions.