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After that first sip, he wanted to learn more. He
scoured the internet for information and watched
everything he could find on YouTube. But he realized that
“one of the things that Thailand was missing, like the Thai
People are missing at the moment was the education about
coffee.” He didn’t mean formal training or deep scientif-
ic understanding, but rather the basics, “the knowledge
where they can start to observe and understand how the
coffee can taste, and what the real coffee looks like, and
how to brew it correctly to get some results, get good
flavor and everything.”
He started a Facebook page called 50 Mill Street and
focused on brewing education and showcasing equipment
to help people level up their coffee experience. The Face-
book group grew from 5 people to 500 within a week, and
then to 5,000 within the first few months. He tells me,
“people looked for something different during the pandem-
ic and coffee is something you can do at home. Thai people,
at the time during the pandemic, jumped into coffee like
crazy. Like, it never existed like this before.”
With all the excitement around his educational ma-
terials, he started selling equipment with major success.
As he got deeper and deeper into the coffee industry, it
was a natural move for someone living in a coffee produc-
ing country to connect with the farmers responsible for
the delicious coffees he and his followers enjoyed. He
started visiting farms, talking with producers, learning
more about Thai coffee, and sharing it with his rapidly
growing and insatiable audience.
Jane Veraworawet, 2023 Thai Barista Champion and
Operating Manager/Co-Founder of Fika & Co. in Bangkok,
noticed the same enthusiasm for specialty coffee from her
customers. “Since the pandemic, there has been a notable
increase in the number of home brewers who have developed
a keen interest in coffee, particularly in understanding the
intricate details surrounding its origins, terroir’s influence
on taste, and the various coffee processing methods em-
ployed by producers.”
This collapsed distance between producers and con-
sumers has allowed the Thai coffee scene to set itself apart
from other coffee growing, and other coffee consuming,
countries. Consumer demand fuels innovation on the farm,
and vice versa.
Thai Coffee on the World Stage
Another place where Thai specialty coffee has been
Through price fluctuations, Thai producers creating a buzz lately is on the World Barista Stage, thanks
still have one advantage over those from to Veraworawet. She competed in the World Barista Cham-
pionship earlier this year in Athens, Greece, and advanced
other countries : proximity to their customer. all the way to the semi-finals, placing 13th overall using
a Thai coffee.
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