Description
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 higher end and in our opinion tastier Arabica lots. Doesn’t hurt that it is also a very feel good project run by awesome folks as well.
This is a Washed Processed lot. That means shortly after picking, all the fruit was removed before drying. This is the traditional premium processing method, generally not fruity and will provide more “classic” coffee tastes than Honey or Natural processing.
Tasting Notes: Best at a medium to dark roast: fuller bodied and darker toned. Lighter roasts will show stronger lemon & floral tones with good body, balancing with a bit of herbal/vegetal darker tones. Kind of like an African coffee at lighter roasts but will develop into robust chocolate and spice notes at fuller roast levels more similar to other Asian beans. 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.
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.
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