Nuoc Mia Vien Tay: Stellar Sugar Cane Juice in Little Saigon

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Sugar Cane Juice Orange County

Nuoc Mia Vien Tay has been a longtime Little Saigon leader for sugar cane juice.

Back when Chuyen Nguyen and wife Thuy opened Nuoc Mia Vien Tay in October 1996, their sugar cane juice store was located on the fringes of the Vietnamese community known as Little Saigon. According to Chuyen, “It was outside Little Saigon’s main thoroughfare, so the rent was cheap. Now Little Saigon is growing and we’re in the middle.”

The Nguyens both hail from Vietnam, where sugar cane juice has been a popular refreshment for as long as Chuyen can remember. “Before the war was over, we did not have Coke or Pepsi. In a section (of market), you’d see up to ten stands of sugar cane juice.” Chuyen is from the countryside, but moved to Saigon to study, and during his time as a serviceman, he was stationed in Saigon. Thuy was born and raised in Saigon.


Sugar Cane Juice Orange County

When choosing a name for their store, the Nguyens referred back to Vietnam. Vien Dong Nuoc Mia is Saigon’s most famous sugar cane juice store.

According to Chuyen, “When you talk about Vien Dong, people think of sugar cane juice.” Vien Dong means “far east” in Vietnamese, and Nuoc Mia means “sugar cane juice.” Chuyen said, “When we opened the store, I said, why don’t we play with the words. They’re in the far east of Asia, and we’re in the far west of the United States.” Thus Vien Tay, which translates as “far west.”

Sugar Cane Orange County

According to Chuyen, sugar cane is ubiquitous in Vietnam, but finding it in California is difficult. He says, “American farmers have no reason to grow sugar cane.”

A lot of Vietnamese immigrants living in Little Saigon have two or three sugar cane bushes in their backyard. Chuyen said, “It’s a tradition. If you see that driving around, that house is a Vietnamese house.” Since the Nguyens sell so much sugar cane juice, they need a more reliable source, but they are restricted by regulations. According to Chuyen, “It’s against USDA law to bring it from Mexico, even though they have millions of acres. It’s against California law to bring in sugar cane from out of state. Florida and Louisiana have thousands of acres.” To solve his dilemma, the Nguyens lease land in the Imperial Valley, to grow their own sugar cane.

Under perfect conditions, the system works, but as farmers know, there’s no such thing as perfect conditions. Chuyen said, “I lost twenty acres in a fire in August of last year. Then last January and February, there was a cold front, and we lost a lot of sugar cane. The temperature dropped twenty-five degrees eight nights straight. The juice froze inside the cane.” Luckily for the Nguyens, the roots survived, and after a lot of hard work, the crops have returned full-force.

Kumquats Orange County

Kumquat is the only other ingredient that Thuy uses. Chuyen said, “After the war, they invented mung bean, pineapple, strawberry, different flavors, but the traditional Vietnamese style is with kumquat.”

The Nguyens have experimented with pineapple, which Chuyen describes as “pretty good,” but the Nguyens “don’t want to create another type of additive that we have to worry about. Sometimes you can’t find pineapple.”

Kumquat is difficult to find after the Tet season, when you have most kumquat. Kumquat trees bear fruit year-round, and in the summertime, a lot of people in Little Saigon use the fruit in lemonade. Chuyen said, “People will come and sell twenty pounds here, ten pounds there, from their back yards. They give them in exchange for a couple cups of sugar cane or a few bucks.”

Sugar Cane Juice Orange County

To make sugar cane juice, Thuy runs sugar cane stalks repeatedly through an electric press, sandwiching tiny orange kumquats between stalks.

The resulting juice empties into a pitcher, which they strain two or three times to catch stray cane. The green nectar is availalbe in small ($2) and large ($3) Styrofoam cups, poured over ice. I would never think of limiting myself to a small. Considering the main ingredient is sugar cane, the astoundingly good drink isn’t overly sweet, perfectly balanced by the tart kumquat.

Chuyen explained his wife’s mastery with sugar cane juice. “My wife is very picky how she prepares sugar cane juice. She has to clean it real well, pick the right stalk of the cane. The bottom is sweeter than the top. You don’t give a person too much top. You don’t give a person too much bottom. After 12 years, she knows exactly how much kumquat to put in. Then she has mixes it properly. That’s why her sugar cane is very famous.”

Chuyen also credits the store’s success to Thuy’s singular focus. “There are a lot of people selling sugar cane juice in town, but they sell it with different types of products. They focus on noodles. My wife doesn’t sell anything but sugar cane juice. She takes pride in being consistently good. You can’t afford to have good sugar cane today and bad sugar cane tomorrow. If people receive bad sugar cane juice, they won’t return.”

Thuy’s sugar cane juice has gained so much respect within the community that people from Europe, Canada and Australia have all stopped into the store while visiting Southern California.

While sugar cane juice is clearly the focus, Thuy also stocks a small selection of dry goods that she remembers from her youth, primarily imported from Taiwan and China. Items available at Nuoc Mia Vien Tay include specially prepared dried plums and dried tropical fruits that don’t typically exist in America. Fruits like tamarind and guava are dehydrated and prepared with sugar and hot pepper. These fruits are popular with young girls.

Nuoc Mia Vien Tay is supposed to be closed on Thursdays, but Thuy normally opens from 11 AM – 6 PM, depending on how much shopping and laundry she has to do.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

Blog Comments

Hi ,my name is Paula. I’m looking for sugarcane stalks for my juice business.
Also as a wholesale prices.
Please provide me more information.
Thankfully
My# 661-472 -3734 (Bakersfield )

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