5 Cool Cafés Worth a Try in Chiang Mai

5 Cool Cafés Worth a Try in Chiang Mai

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5 Cool Cafés Worth a Try in Chiang Mai

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5 Cool Cafés Worth a Try in Chiang Mai

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5 Cool Cafés Worth a Try in Chiang Mai

5 Cool Cafés Worth a Try in Chiang Mai

minimum dose size?

Jan 31, 2024 |

I use the Hario switch to brew my coffee and am trying to reduce my caffeine consumption. Hence I would like to brew smaller cups of coffee. I am currently using 10g of coffee with 160g of water. (1:16 Ratio) I am wondering if there is a minimum amount of coffee...

5 Cool Cafés Worth a Try in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai, one of Thailand’s most fascinating cities, is home to a vibrant specialty-coffee scene, with many cafés and roasteriess often offering locally grown coffee.

BY TANYA NANETTI
SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT

With a population of 3 million, Chiang Mai is a little (by Asian standards) gem in northern Thailand, most famous for its Old City surrounded by canals and filled with beautiful Buddhist temples.

In fact, the central part of the city is relatively small, with its alleys of one- and two-story buildings, old temples, and plenty of cozy cafés and restaurants.

Outside the Old City, the rest of the city seems perpetually stuck in gridlock. But it offers unexpected and beautiful neighborhoods hidden behind huge buildings, filled with hipster cafés, restaurants, and boutiques ready to welcome the most adventurous explorers.

The common feature between the Old City and the rest of Chiang Mai is the abundance of specialty-coffee shops and roasteries. Most of them serve coffee grown in the mountainous area between here and Chiang Rai, three hours farther north.

Here is a short list of cool cafés in Chiang Mai, both inside and outside the old city.

Nowhere Coffee Brewers roasts coffee grown locally by the owner’s family. Photo by Tanya Nanetti.

Nowhere Coffee Brewers

The area near Wat Chiang Man, the city’s oldest temple, is probably one of the prettiest in the Old City, with quaint corners reminiscent of Kyoto, Japan, and hipster juice bars and yoga classes that allow one to feel in the heart of Ubud.

In one of these corners, shaded by a huge bougainvillea, is Nowhere and its lovely patio, shared with a small art gallery and an even smaller ramen store.

Behind the café, the friendly owner, Trakool Roikaew, roasts coffee grown by his family in the nearby mountains. If you want to learn more about the coffee produced in the area, Nowhere is definitely the place for you.

Bart may be small, but their unique space and fantastic coffees are worth seeking out. Photo by Tanya Nanetti.

Bart Coffee

Not too far from Nowhere, Bart probably wins the prize as the smallest café in town. This tiny room’s walls are decorated with millions of writings and sticky notes (to which you can add your own thanks to the markers available on the table). A small coffee counter is graced with a beautiful classic La Marzocco. Outside are a few benches in the shade of a tree that actually grows in the space. Bart is a simple place, yet it’s just perfect, with the lovely owner/bartender making tasty espressos for locals and tourists alike.

Gallery Drip Coffee, which shares a courtyard with the Chiang Mai City Arts & Cultural Center, offers a large selection of Thai coffees. Photo by Tanya Nanetti.

In the heart of the Old City, one block from the Three Kings Monument, Chiang Mai City Arts & Cultural Center shares its beautiful courtyard with Gallery Drip Coffee.

Friendly and welcoming, Gallery offers probably the largest selection of Thai coffee in the entire city, best enjoyed—as the name suggests—as hot or cold filter, as well as espresso.

And if you fall in love with the place, remember that if you ever return to Bangkok, you will have the chance to double your luck by also visiting the other Gallery Drip Coffee, housed in a similar setting in the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre (BACC).

For a real Thai-style coffee exerience, check out A-Roon, a kiosk serving up Thai tea extracted by espresso machines. Photo by Tanya Nanetti.

A-Roon Coffee

If you want to go “full-Thai“ and enjoy your coffee at a kiosk, little A-Roon is definitely the place to be. Conveniently located between a 7-Eleven (which is “the“ drugstore here) and the local bus/taxi stop, A-Roon offers delicious espresso drinks (both hot and cold) and the classic Thai iced latte, a local delicacy.

Made with condensed milk, milk, cream, and regional tea extracted (surprisingly) by an espresso machine, Thai tea latte is rather sweet but extremely good. Beware: Once you try it, there’s no going back!

World Latte Art Champion Arnon “Tong” Thitiprasert and a group of other award-winning baristas opened Ristr8to Original and the Roast8ry flagship. Photo by Tanya Nanetti.

Roast8ry & Ristr8to

As a reward for the brave who venture out of the Old City and wander the beautiful streets of Chiang Mai’s Nimman district, many delightful cafés will welcome coffee lovers with their delicious beverages. One of these is the flagship store of Roast8ry and the central branch of Ristr8to.

Both developed by local coffee hero and coffee champion Arnon “Tong” Thitiprasert, the two brands were created more than a decade ago by Tong and a group of award-winning baristas. Their goal was to offer the best possible coffee experience in every aspect, from roasting to tasting to latte art.

Head to Ristr8to Original for the Nordic, minimalist style, or to the not-too-distant Roast8ry flagship store for a more industrial space. In both cases, you’ll find tasty coffees and obsessive attention to every detail of your chosen brew.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tanya Nanetti (she/her) is a specialty-coffee barista, a traveler, and a dreamer. When she’s not behind the coffee machine (or visiting some hidden corner of the world), she’s busy writing for Coffee Insurrection, a website about specialty coffee that she’s creating along with her boyfriend.

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The post 5 Cool Cafés Worth a Try in Chiang Mai appeared first on Barista Magazine Online.

5 Cool Cafés Worth a Try in Chiang Mai

Perfect Little Beans

Chinmey Hill Coffee uses specialty-grade beans with zero primary defects (such as black beans or sour beans) and less than five secondary defects (such as broken beans). This is important because primary defects will greatly affect the taste of the coffee. Having zero defects allows the coffee to be the most optimal flavor.

Window for Optimal Flavor

Chimney Hill Coffee ships our coffee the same day it was roasted, so you will receive it before it enters the window of optimal flavor.  This means you’ll never miss the opportunity to enjoy the coffee’s peak flavor.

Coffee Ratings

Coffee undergoes many scoring processes by professionals who achieved their Q Grader certification. Coffee is first graded when it’s green. If there are defects the coffee is determined to be “not-specialty grade”. For those coffees that pass green grading, they are sample roasted and cupped. (Cupping is the official term for critically tasting and scoring coffees. The official cupping form is standard worldwide, and where the 100-point scoring system comes from.) A coffee’s dry fragrance, wet aroma, flavor, aftertaste, body, acidity, balance, and overall impression are taken into consideration while uniformity issues and defects, will lower the overall score.

Specialty Coffee

Specialty coffee, coined by Erna Knutsen in 1974, refers to a coffee that receives a quality grading score of 80 percent or higher. While “premium” or “gourmet” seem like they’re synonymous with “specialty,” they simply are marketing terms with no defined standards. Specialty coffees are grown in specific and ideal micro-climates, and have distinctive and unique flavor profiles, with little to no defects.

Third-Wave Coffee

We’re currently in the third wave of coffee. The first wave of American coffee put pre-ground, vacuum-sealed cans in kitchens across America. The second wave started with the late ‘60s introduction of Peet’s coffee (by Alfred Peet) through the proliferation of Starbucks. The third wave of coffee focuses on origin transparency, nuanced flavors, and artisan roasting. The term “third wave” is synonymous with specialty coffee.

5 Cool Cafés Worth a Try in Chiang Mai

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