Thailand Doi Saket

You can tell from the outset that Beanspire faced an uphill battle, but they are still producing exceptional coffee. Like our friends at Cedro Alto, who provide most of our Colombian coffees, Beanspire is a Thai-only collective working hands-on with farmers to help them access international specialty markets. At Mostra, instead of focusing on self-promotion through specific trade types or certifications, we prioritize making the biggest impact by sourcing the best coffee available.

Doi Saket, located in Chiang Mai province, is Thailand's oldest coffee-growing area. In the late 1970s, the first Arabica trees, part of the Thai King's opium replacement program, were planted here and have never been replaced by higher-yield cultivars like in many other regions. As a result, heirloom varieties, particularly Typica, are still prevalent in many old farms. The coffee trees are 30-40 years old, older than the farmers! We aim to show the farmers that there are people who appreciate and are willing to pay more for the heirloom cultivar to compensate for its lower yield. Typica has become rare as farmers have switched to higher-yield, more rust-resistant strains.

This experimental lot from Doi Saket in Chiang Mai was developed by Beanspire in collaboration with Nui and Aoy, a young couple who left their white-collar jobs in the city to return to their parents' coffee farm five years ago. Nui, 34, is an engineer by training, while Aoy, 32, is an accountant by training. In this lot, we explore the possibility of creating cleaner, more complex coffee.

When cherries arrived at the mill at night, we pulped the coffee immediately and fermented the wet parchment in a closed anaerobic tank without water for three days. We then added water to the tank and continued fermenting the coffee underwater for three more days before washing, soaking, cleaning, and drying it on raised beds. This double-stage fermentation process, commonly carried out in Kenya, produces exceptional coffee. Once dried to the right moisture content, the coffee is delivered to the dry mill for hulling and sorting. In terms of green preparation, the coffee goes through a destoner, huller, size grader, density table, and hand sorting.