Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a cross‐country study comparing Colombia and Vietnam, two of the major coffee exporting countries in the world, in terms of their infrastructures, the roles of external shocks, technology adoption at different stages of production, added value, positioning in both domestic and global markets, internationalisation patterns, marketing and branding innovations, regulatory frameworks, and policy environments. This study also explores other aspects linked to production, and marketing strategies that open niche markets such as speciality coffees, and socially‐, labour‐ and environmentally‐responsible trade. Furthermore, it identifies opportunities of cooperation and competition between these two countries.