DISCOVERY

Thailand

High quality Thai coffees are still rather seldom seen on the menu of European roasters. The quality movement isn’t so established here as it is in Latin America and Africa, both in terms of production and in terms of supply chain. The growing speciality coffee movement in Thailand has led to a far greater demand for speciality lots, and therefore a larger incentive for producers to aim for quality and take advantage of the higher prices, both from local roasters and from further afield.

This month’s coffees are a showcase of what’s possible in Thailand, from the more traditional sweet and balanced profile of Doi Saket, to the wild and ripe lots from Mae Chedi.

Thailand

The Thai speciality coffee scene

We have been paying close attention to the Thai speciality coffee scene since the opening of our Bangkok location. The drive of the local market is impressive, and its effects can be seen not just in hip coffee shops on the streets of big cities, but also in the rural fields of the mountainous northern coffee regions. The quality movement isn’t so established here as it is in Latin America and Africa, both in terms of production and in terms of supply chain. Our new partners in the region, Beanspire Coffee, have made it their mission to introduce Thai coffees to the speciality market, creating a larger incentive for producers to create quality lots and therefore receive better prices.

Initially introduced to Thailand as part of the King’s opium eradication effort, coffee has slowly grown to be a rather important export in Thailand. Thailand’s Robusta production is larger than Arabica by a factor of 10; the high yields from these plants mean that Thailand is the third largest coffee producer in Asia. This small Arabica production is slowly becoming more quality focussed due to demand from local roasters, and the work of companies like Beanspire. The work happening here is truly inspiring, and the rise in quality so sharp that we feel confident to share these coffees with a wider audience than ever before.

Doi Saket

This lot was grown in Doi Saket province, on some of the oldest coffee plantations in Thailand. The Thai king had a concerted attempt to eradicate opium production in the late 1970’s, encouraging the growing of other crops such as Arabica coffee. During this first round of planting, mainly Typica was used, leading to a cup profile reminiscent of sweet and clean Central American profiles. Many of the trees here have never been replaced, so there are several farms with trees over 40 years old, with thick trunks and complex root systems. These older trees yield much lower than their younger counterparts, but through concentrating their energy into fewer cherries as sugar, they often produce very high quality. Processing takes place on the property of each smallholder, using a double soak washed method similar to that employed in Kenya.

This leads to a cleaner cup than many Asian lots we have tasted in the past, with deep and sweet notes of caramel and molasses lifted by dried apricot and a citric acidity.

Honey Mae Chedi

These two lots were produced by Watchara Yawirach in the Mae Chedi province. Other crops were also introduced here during the King’s anti-opium drive, but in Mae Chedi mainly tea was planted. Mae Chedi was also planted much later, so newer varietals were used, tailored to Thai soils and growing conditions. In this case, Watchara grows the Chiang Mai varietal, a local Catimor strain that has been back-crossed with SL28 in order to increase quality. Many coffee producers here also grow tea, and have borrowed some of their fermentation techniques from the tea industry. Often tea is fermented for much longer than coffee, and the cool conditions here allow for longer fermentations than we see elsewhere in the coffee belt.

Natural Mae Chedi

This is the case for both of this month’s lots, which have used the same pre-fermentation profile, but have dried differently. Watchara sealed the ripe cherries in plastic Grain-pro bags for 9 days, before either directly drying the cherries in the case of the natural lot, or de-pulping and drying with mucilage attached in the case of the honey lot.

This has resulted in two rather different flavour profiles, but sharing the same ripe fruit backbone. The natural lot is wild, bursting with ripe tropical fruit like mango and papaya, while the honey lot is more delicate and acidity driven, more reminiscent of soft strawberry and raspberry.

Cacao

Chanthaburi

Our new cacao release comes from the Chanthaburi region of Thailand. We’ve been taking a great interest in Thailand since we opened our location in Bangkok; travelling often to the city and outwards into the country. This lush green terrain has an incredible potential to produce very high quality coffee and cacao, and over the coming years we are committed to finding partners in both fields. This release is our first venture into sourcing cacao in Thailand.

As a subscriber, you can use your subscribers discount to purchase our new chocolate and ground chocolate, either as an addition to you upcoming subscription or through our regular webshop. We hope you will enjoy both this winter.

Chanthaburi chocolate Ground Chocolate

DISCOVERY

The potential of Thai coffees

The Thai coffee industry is moving impressively quickly. Even during our relatively short engagement in the scene there, the quality has increased markedly, both through attention to fermentation, as in the case of the two Mae Chedi lots, and in the preservation of traditional Arabica varietals, as in the lot from Doi Saket. We hope you enjoy this introduction to the potential of Thai coffees, in just a few of its many forms.