Joseph Nguyen Has a Taste for Reinvention
Joseph Nguyen, FOX ’20, is not yet 30, but he already speaks six languages, runs a coffee company sourcing beans from Vietnam to Philadelphia, works as a government auditor and is training to become a pilot. His newest endeavor—combining sushi with coffee—might be his biggest leap yet.
By Eddy Kosik
Joseph Nguyen, FOX ’20, graduated less than a decade ago, and he is already learning his sixth language. He grew up speaking English and Vietnamese and learned French and German through a combination schooling and shadow learning, a process of immersing oneself in a target language through repetition. Joseph is refining his Spanish, which proved useful a few months ago when his Instagram-based coffee company, The Coffee Connoisseur Club, released a Colombian strain of beans, and is currently working through Russian. Luckily, he didn’t need that when he visited the two coffee farms he owns in Vietnam. He managed to get by almost exclusively with French, German and Vietnamese.
“The languages help with business,” Joseph said. “Because I can yap with the farmers.”
When Joseph spoke with Temple Beyond, he was driving back to Philadelphia from Virginia after meeting with an NGO (non-governmental organization). In addition to his coffee company, Joseph runs his own consulting practice, performing audits for government and corporate clients. He is quick to note that he does not look the part, wearing a leather jacket while driving a car crowded with rowing oars and boxes of coffee. In addition to the languages, the coffee business and his work as an auditor, Joseph also competes in Muay Thai and is training to become a pilot.
Joseph is not afraid to step outside his comfort zone to try something new. “I know that I don’t know everything,” he said, “but I’m dumb enough to try to figure anything out.” He describes himself as someone who goes down rabbit holes, driven to absorb everything about a subject until he comes out the other side with a comprehensive understanding. “I’m weird,” Joseph joked. “I know way too many numbers of pi.” His life story is filled with obstacles that could have easily upended another person’s path, yet Joseph consistently finds a way forward. Where others might see a dead end, Joseph navigates with a well-timed pivot.
Even when he was a teenager, life did not go according to plan for Joseph. He had imagined himself eventually joining the Navy, but he struggled with school and had a quick temper. “I wasn’t the brightest kid in high school,” he said. “I got into a little trouble.” A car accident that left him with a few concussions sealed the deal. Fortunately, his involvement with the high school rowing team led to him being recruited to Temple by coach Brian Perkins, who became a long-term mentor. Joseph would learn a saying from Coach Perkins that became his life philosophy: “How you do anything is how you do everything.”
Joseph remembers Temple as a time of hustle and hard work. He completed as many internships as possible, eventually landing one in the summer of his junior year that led to a promotion to data analyst and, six months later, to partner liaison.
Joseph serving his coffee at his oma-cafe event at 637 Sushi Club.
Joseph serving his coffee at his oma-cafe event at 637 Sushi Club.
He continued rowing until his junior year, even making Team USA’s coastal rowing team, until his lung collapsed. He could no longer row, another obstacle, so he focused his energy on starting a CBD-infused cold brew business with two peers called Bandito Joe’s, which he entered into Fox’s Be Your Own Boss Bowl competition. Joseph did not win, but he caught the attention of La Colombe, a sign that he was onto something.
“Temple taught me resilience,” Joseph recalled of that era. “Everything at that time of my life was a setback for me.” But Joseph refused to quit. “I just had to work as hard as I could to see what was next.”
After graduating, he moved into auditing and consulting full time. It was not until 2024 that Joseph founded The Coffee Connoisseur Club. With CCC, he works directly with farmers to import their beans, which he then roasts and sells to restaurants and coffee shops in Philadelphia. His partnerships in the city include Dodo Bakery, Huda, Poe’s Sandwich Joint, Streetside and Yanaga Kappo-Izakaya.
“I’m building a backlog of hundreds of strains of coffee,” Joseph explained. “Then coffee shops and restaurants approach me. I ask them: What do you want to taste? They’ll tell me what flavor profile they want; I’ll bring six strains, and we’ll do a cupping. Then we’ll keep doing that process until we settle on a strain.” He also sells beans directly to customers through CCC’s Instagram. “I do monthly releases of super rare strains. Last month I released a strain called Gesha from Colombia. I worked with that farmer for three years to get it released.”
Oma-Cafe = ☕ + 🍣
Joseph Nguyen, FOX ’20, during one of his oma-cafe events with Chef Kevin Yanaga, owner of 637 Sushi Club. Photos courtesy of Paolo Jay Agbay.
Joseph Nguyen, FOX ’20, during one of his oma-cafe events with Chef Kevin Yanaga, owner of 637 Sushi Club. Photos courtesy of Paolo Jay Agbay.
Joseph Nguyen, FOX ’20, during his oma-cafe event at 637 Sushi Club.
Joseph Nguyen, FOX ’20, during his oma-cafe event at 637 Sushi Club.
Joseph Nguyen, FOX ’20, during his oma-cafe event with Chef Kevin Yanaga, owner of 637 Sushi Club.
Joseph Nguyen, FOX ’20, during his oma-cafe event with Chef Kevin Yanaga, owner of 637 Sushi Club.
Joseph calls CCC a passion project. “Vietnam’s No. 1 coffee producer approached me and tried to buy out my book of business. I told them that’s not what I’m here for. I’m here to innovate.”
One of the farms that Joseph uses his to grow his coffee beans.
One of the farms that Joseph uses his to grow his coffee beans.
He has integrated knowledge from his consulting work on sustainable and renewable agriculture into his two farms in Vietnam and he is a part of the fair trade movement for farmers in that country. “We’ve gotten a few offers to sell out. I say no every single time because this is my baby.”
Recently, Joseph has taken what some might say is his biggest risk yet: pairing his coffee with sushi. He has partnered with Kevin Yanaga, the chef and owner of 637 Sushi Club, to start an omakase series they are calling “oma-cafe.”
“I’m big on slow coffee culture,” Joseph said. “In Vietnam and Japan, people sit down and take their time. Instead of drinking alcohol, they sit and have coffee or tea. In Japan they call it kissaten. It’s a café model where you stay, not a churn and burn model. There’s an intention behind it. Sushi is the same. When you sit for omakase, you’re not going for volume. You’re going for pairing and experience.”
Joseph said that he and Chef Yanaga are the first to do the pairing in the United States. One recent pairing featured a Japanese flash brewed Colombian Gesha with notes of blueberry tea alongside a wagyu negitoro bowl with rice, fatty tuna, scallion, wagyu and caviar. “It was crazy,” Joseph said. “The flavors layered on your tongue, and you could taste every component individually.”
Joseph plans to keep doing “oma-cafe” once a month for the foreseeable future, though he admits that he’s not one for goals. “I just operate with the mentality of 1% better every day,” he said. It’s a mentality that echoes that advice that Coach Perkins gave him years ago while he was on the rowing team at Temple: “How you do anything is how you do everything.”
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