THAILAND AKHA

Espresso Roast

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A BIT ABOUT THIS COFFEE

This coffee is grown by young Akha farmers in the fertile hills around Doi Pangkhon, Chiang Rai. With small-scale (each household producing 1-2 tonne of parchment per harvest), sustainable farming practices and specialty processing techniques, all of the conditions for specialty coffee production here are ideal. This is a very approachable and crowd-pleasing example of the region's coffee offering.

This coffee is processed using a Kenyan method, whereby after picking, it is dry fermented for 12 hours before removing the skin. The coffee is then fermented for 12 more hours with water, before being washed, and soaked in water overnight, then dried on raised beds. If that whole sentence doesn’t mean anything to you just read: great processing = delicious coffee!!

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WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT

Something unique, something for everyone! Medium in body & strength, this coffee offers a balanced and unique character that pretty much people can’t not love. A neat syrupy mouthfeel meets a slight complexity in sweetness and acidity. Add milk and it's smooth with sweet notes of butterscotch and toffee.

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HOW TO BREW

We love it as: Espresso
Also good as: Plunger, Aeropress

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THE STORY

Our founders, Yose and Amelia, have had a love affair with Thailand since they were teenagers. It began as backpackers and blossomed with Amelia’s previous job giving her the opportunity to support community development projects in ethnic minority “Hill Tribe” communities for more than 3 years. Needless to say our little hearts are full to bring you this coffee!

Thailand has seen a huge uptick in local innovation by educated and passionate farmers and processors. We are seeing quality lots larger in size as well as some very interesting micro-lots with unique processing methods, as well as variety separation. We began sourcing coffee from Thailand in 2020, and are lucky to be working with innovative, young local partners on the ground.

Most of the growers are between 25-35 years old and have returned from the city to their villages to take up farming and producing high-quality coffee. Above average prices for specialty green coffee in Thailand means an economically sustainable future for young farmers and some exceptional environmentally sustainable coffees, a win-win!

Due to a booming domestic coffee scene, only a small amount of beans are exported each year, so we’re stoked to be able to partner with the Akha community to bring you this rare coffee! This double fermentation, washed coffee is a tasty example of what Thailand can deliver!

Arabica cultivation in Thailand began in the late 70's as part of an opium eradication program introduced by the King in order to mitigate the environmental and social problems of the illicit trade, while also creating an alternative means of income for the people of the region. Fast forward a few decades and specialty arabica production has become very sophisticated and the results are fantastic.