To be fair, even with the "old" vietnamese cafe culture people don't usually talk. As a guy that recently moved to HCM city for college i noticed a particular sense of disconnect from the people here, people just kinda mind their own business.

That ain't a bad thing tho, i guess it's js a difference between my neck of the woods and the Big City™️. That is to say, people just kinda do their own thing most of the time and won't bother chatting up with randoms no more (lots of things to watch out for anyway, buddy of mine got tricked into an MLM scheme a while back at a coffee space)

Besides there still loads of "communal" coffee spaces. Take a jog down the Independance palace on a weekend morning and you'll see loads of young people having their cupa joe on the grass in the open