Where does java coffee come from, and how does the Vietnam koi cafe fit in?

Amix Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City filled the floors of its two stories with water about 25 centimeters deep and stocked them with live fish, an idea marketed as a koi cafe. Customers remove shoes and socks and wash their feet before stepping into the pool. The concept drew attention but also criticism over animal welfare, hygiene and safety.

The first floor holds small ornamental fish and the second floor large Japanese koi, supported by a three-layer filtration system and oxygen pumps. Critics say the fish could be crushed or spread disease. The case has renewed debate about animal-themed cafes, following South Korea's ban on displaying wild animals outside zoos. Whether coffee comes from Java or elsewhere, the shop's draw here is the fish, not the beans.

Animal-themed cafes have been springing up around the world in recent years, with cat, dog, alpaca and other cute-pet cafes already commonplace. However, a cafe called Amix Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, has taken a different approach by filling the floors of its two stories with water and stocking them with ornamental fish and Japanese koi, creating what is being called a "koi cafe." Customers must take off their shoes and wash their feet before entering the pool to interact with the fish up close. While this idea is eye-catching, it has also sparked fierce debate over animal welfare, hygiene and safety. Some netizens have criticized the practice as inhumane, saying it could crush the fish to death or spread disease. Meanwhile, South Korea has announced a ban on displaying wild animals outside zoos, bringing the question of where to draw the line for animal-themed cafes back into the public eye.

Cafes that use animals as a selling point always attract large numbers of young people to take photos, check in and spend money. The more common ones include cat cafes, dog cafes, pig cafes and alpaca cafes, where the small animals are cute and amusing, and customers enjoy their coffee while petting other people's cats until the fur flies.

But an animal-themed cafe in Vietnam came up with a rather unusual idea — raising goldfish on the floor and opening a "koi cafe," which successfully grabbed the attention of many customers.

This trendy animal-themed cafe is called Amix Coffee and is located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. According to media reports, the shop has two floors, both of which have floors filled with water about 25 centimeters deep, with live fish swimming in it. The first floor houses small ornamental fish, while the second floor houses large Japanese koi.

To enter this artificial pool, customers must first take off their shoes and socks at the entrance and wash their feet. Only after completing these steps can they step into the fish pool and come into close contact with the goldfish.

Anyone who has kept goldfish knows that whether in an aquarium shop or at home, fish tanks are usually equipped with special filtration systems and oxygen pumps to keep the goldfish in the best condition and give viewers a good experience. This cafe installed a three-layer filtration system and equipped the fish with oxygen pumps for this purpose.

However, even with a full set of proper equipment for the fish, it is still hard to avoid problems caused by some customers' poor behavior — some throw food into the water to feed the fish, and some even use their hands to scoop the fish out. In an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE, the cafe owner said that if such situations occur, the shop will ask these customers to leave.

Although the koi cafe idea is quite novel, it has also drawn criticism from netizens. Some netizens have attacked the practice, saying it brings unnecessary danger and stress to the fish in the pool, and some fish may inevitably be stepped on and killed by customers. Moreover, people step into the pool barefoot — feet that may smell bad — and the fish living in an unsanitary environment are prone to illness. This is inhumane behavior and amounts to animal abuse.

If you search for this cafe on Facebook, you can see on-site photos shared by netizens. In the photos, customers' feet are soaked in the same pool as they happily pose for pictures.

Some netizens worry that if one customer has athlete's foot, and everyone shares the same pool water, could there be a risk of infection?

The proliferation of animal-themed cafes has made many true animal lovers very unhappy. Coffee Workshop previously reported that an animal cafe was stopped after a petition; as early as January, South Korea's Ministry of Environment announced a full ban on displaying wild animals outside zoos, including private businesses such as the wildlife cafes that have become quite popular in South Korea in recent years.

Image source: EFE, Facebook, internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.