Thailand – Lanna Coffee – Doi Inthanon – Honey Processed

Description

Although a Honey Processed coffee, these beans are quite different from many of the Central American or African Honey Processed.

Thai Coffee?!?!? A rare origin in the U.S. for stand up beans, turns out they grow a lot of coffee in Thailand. The specialty market has been up and coming and the beans getting better and better. Similar to origins like India but with more hybrid processing methods. These beans have a unique story and taste.

We have been looking for tasty Thai coffee for quite some time, had some friends on the ground over there for a bit but every time we got samples, tasted more like robusta with some overly earthy tones, reminded me of more European style espresso beans. We hooked up with Lanna coffee recently (awesome folks) to source some tastier feel good lots.

Tasting Notes: Tasty honey processed but reminds me more of a washed processed. Not much for a fruit forward cup profile,  bigger bodied and darker toned, reminds me a bit of the Nicaraguan Selva Negra Honey Processed. Lighter roasts will show some nice clean lemony floral acidity but do not fully develop the nice robust chocolaty factor, interestingly enough, one gets a bit of African herbal/spice in the cup at the lighter roasts. 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.

Doi Inthanon is a mountain area made up of multiple villages which have been growing coffee for many years. The villages in this area are very remote with robust, lush landscapes. Most farmers planted trees 10-15 years ago, but not much came of it because there was no infrastructure to help them develop and process the coffee.

Lanna coffees first year of working in this area was in 2018 and they aimed to help develop the area and create growing infrastructure for years to come.

This is a pilot project for Lanna Coffee Co. The villages in this area are very small, with no processing equipment, so they are combining the production from multiple villages to produce enough for export. Some villages still use a mortar & pestle to manually pulp the cherries!

Arabica Catimor- Red & Yellow
1600 meters (Approx. 4800 ft)
Lot produced by 20 members of the Karen tribe