Thailand Lanna Coffee: 4 Pound Bundle

Thailand Lanna Coffee – Huay Ma Liem – Washed Processed

Tasting Notes: Best at a medium to dark roast: bigger bodied and darker toned. This lot is a bit higher acidity and fuller bodied. Lighter roasts will show stronger lemony floral tones, with good body but will balance with a bit of herbal/vegetal darker tones, kind of like an African coffee, will not fully develop the nice robust chocolaty factor that fuller roasts achieve. Medium roasts are where we thought it shined, just a small hint of citric sweetness upfront with a good balance of spicy chocolate notes, unique spice, more like the Indian coffees. Darker roasts get more like the Dominican with strong bakers chocolate and smoky tones, a hefty cup with very low acidity.

Roasting Notes: A easier one to roast but has a little higher chaff than average, not a light roast coffee for most, so error a little darker than lighter. A solid medium to dark roast creates a nice and unique cup.

Huay Ma Liem:
Story begins around three decades ago when its inhabitants, originally hailing from Burma and China, decided to settle in Thailand. Seeking a location with abundant water resources, they moved a few kilometers from their original settlement to the present-day village. The name Huay Ma Liem itself is a nod to a nearby river, a lifeline that mirrors the vitality flowing through the village.

The International Tribal Development Program (ITDP) has been an integral part of Huay Ma Liem for the past two decades, fostering sustainable practices and empowering the community. This partnership not only aids in the cultivation of coffee but also extends to various aspects of community development.

For 25 years, coffee has been an integral part of Huay Ma Liem’s agricultural landscape. The first coffee trees were planted by the villagers themselves upon their arrival. The first harvest marked the beginning of a journey that would intertwine the destiny of the village with the aromatic allure of coffee.

What sets Huay Ma Liem’s coffee apart is its cultivation in the heart of Thailand’s main growing region. The natural forest canopy provides an ideal setting for shade coffee, eliminating the need for irrigation. The soil, enriched by organic matter from the surrounding trees, promotes sustainable farming. A thick layer of composting leaves acts as a natural mulch, eliminating the need for herbicides or other chemicals.

The coffee journey doesn’t end at harvest. In Huay Ma Liem, the coffee beans are pulped and wet processed in the village before being carefully dried. The beans then make their way to ITDF for further processing and grading, ensuring that the final product mirrors the dedication and craftsmanship of the villagers.

Huay Ma Liem’s coffee, predominantly of the Catimor variety, boasts cherries ranging from vibrant red to sunny yellow. This harvest season, the village proudly produced 10 tons of this exceptional coffee, a testament to the meticulous care invested in every step of the process.

Thailand Lanna Coffee – Baan Ku Klong – Honey Processed

Tasting Notes: A good cup from light to dark, in the medium roast range was our favorite. Light roasts are clean and bright, medium to full bodied, it will have a pretty strong citric tone upfront that balances nicely a little hint of fruit and spice, on the nuttier side with a little herbal note in the aftertaste. Medium roasts similar to most of the Thailand coffees brings out a nice and more potent chocolate note, reducing the citric and accentuating the classic Asian spice. Still noticeable acidity at the medium roasts but its more buzzy than citric, not an overly sour cup but will leave your tongue a bit dry: provides some great depth of flavor. Not a fruity cup, but one might see some hints as the cup cools. Darker roasts get real hefty with a lower perceived acidity, herbal, chocolate, smoky and roasty. Good body and mouthfeel.

Roasting Notes: Tastes a little more like the washed processed, but will roast like a natural. Higher chaff levels and slightly uneven. We still consider it an easy to roast coffee due to it being tasty from light to dark roasts. Would recommend starting at your preferred roast level. To accentuate sweetness and the brighter characteristics, take it lighter, to get bold, chocolate and spice tones, darker is better.

Thailand Lanna Coffee – Law Wu – Natural Processed

Tasting Notes: A wonderful very clean example of natural processing, best served in the light to medium roast levels. Medium acidity levels, comes off a bit on the lemon side, medium bodied with a pretty strong red fruit tone upfront, definitely on the sweeter side. Super light, cup picks up a bit of nutty and herbal contrast but this will develop into more spice and chocolate tones just a little after first crack. Thicker and stronger than an Ethiopian Natural, with more of an emphasis on the fruitiness and spice notes. Darker roasts accentuate the spice, pretty similar to the other Asain coffees, would put in on the rustic chocolate side with sweet and fruity overlays and a full body.

Roasting Notes: An easy coffee to roast, we recommend avoiding super light, or super dark roast points, generally erroring lighter than darker. Roasts pretty even for a natural, a bit higher chaff. Slight development past first crack is good. A longer setup time really smoothed out the cup but also muted a little bit of the fruitiness, we liked it after 24 hours, but folks who want to minimize citric like tones may want to wait a couple days before drinking it.

Law Wu:
The villagers of Law Wu belong to the Lahu tribe, an indigenous group originally hailing from China and mainland Southeast Asia. The village’s location at 1,700 meters above sea level offers an ideal environment for coffee cultivation. The cool climate, consistent shade, and unique terrain of the region create the perfect conditions for growing exceptional coffee. Although coffee has only been grown in this area for about 15 years, the quality and flavor of the beans have steadily improved, attracting the attention of those looking for standout microlots.

Partnership with Law Wu began in 2017, and in that time they have shown tremendous growth. In the first season it was just four dedicated farmers. After seeing the consistency and quality of the work, the village expanded to include five more members. Today, the village’s nine coffee farmers represent a growing community of people committed to cultivating top-quality coffee beans.

Much of the coffee from Law Wu is shade-grown, allowing the cherries to mature more slowly and develop a fuller, more complex flavor. Given the higher elevation and cooler climate, this unique geography enables the beans to retain their distinct characteristics, leading to a richer, more layered profile.

Lanna Coffee:
 “Coffee from Thailand?” you might be wondering. After all, Thailand is far from a traditional growing region for coffee. Most of us are used to seeing coffees from places like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Colombia. But Thailand isn’t exactly where people think of when they think of where their coffee came from. So, what is it about Thai coffee that makes it special? Why is it a mainstay of the Lanna Coffee lineup?

For over a century, refugees fleeing political and social upheaval in China and Southeast Asia have migrated to Northern Thailand. Stateless, these refugees live in poverty without many chances for a better life. It isn’t in any one person’s power to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across the world, but, when we work together, we can do great things.

When Lanna was founded, we had one thing in mind: service. How could we serve our coffee farmers as well as our customers? We wanted to roast premium coffee from a nontraditional region, but we also wanted to ensure that our business could improve lives in the communities we sourced from. To achieve this, we partnered with an NGO with a similar goal: the Integrated Tribal Development Foundation.

The ITDF is an organization committed to improving the lives of poor hill tribe communities “in many aspects of life, including clean water, sanitation, agriculture, education, health, and cash crops.” For the past thirty years, the ITDF has been partnering with these communities to equip them with the training and equipment to produce stellar coffee. Today, over 40 villages are a part of Thailand’s first certified fair trade coffee co-op, immeasurably improving the lives of the people living there.

We are proud to say that Lanna Coffee is the largest buyer of Thai coffee in the U.S. Thanks to your support, we’ve been able to demonstrate our commitment to Thai coffee and encourage other farmers to convert their crops to one that provides a more stable revenue source for themselves and their communities. Every time you purchase from Lanna, you directly contribute to this goodwill that has allowed coffee production in Northern Thailand to flourish.

Today, over 400 coffee farms in Northern Thailand are 100% farmer owned. We purchase single-source, pesticide-free coffee beans directly from these farmers and are constantly grateful for the literal fruits of their labor. Whether this is your first or your hundredth bag of Lanna, know that it’s thanks to your purchase that we are able to continue serving the hill tribes of Northern Thailand. You can make a difference, even if it’s through something as simple as a cup of coffee.