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Article and Photos by Coffee t&i Thailand
Thai Coffee In The Eye of The World

harvesting season in March, moisture would have degraded the
beans by September - October.”
Another point that contributes to negative perspective
of Thai coffee is the processing technology. According to Miguel,
Thailand-made huller tend to break a lot of beans. Thailand hull-
ing technology is incomparable to the high standard hullers used
in Colombia. Grading after hulling presents another problem in
Thai coffee. After hulling, Thai coffee would only be graded by
its size, but leading coffee producing countries are now using
density table or colour sorter. These countries sometimes use a
more advanced pulper which can control how much fresh and
mucilage, from 20-80%, you want left on the beans. Good sorting
and grading during the production process can result in an extra
point or two on the coffee score.
“Bangkok and Chiangmai are the major markets for
Thai coffee industry. Farmer and developers constantly try
to experiment different coffee variety and coffee processing
method. Although some may be unsuccessful, they can still be
sold, and that poses a problem. Being able to sell unsuccessful
International coffee industry, coffee variety developer, defected batches make us think the coffees are ok and keep us
buyers, and suppliers are not familiar with Thailand when it on the wrong track.” A lot of Thai coffees are honey-processed
comes to coffee origin. Even Miguel, the seminar speaker, didn’t which would not be such a big problem if the country has a drier
know Thai coffee until 2012 when his Taiwanese friend who climate like Brazil, but in reality, Thailand has high humidity and
works as assistant coffee developer in Jomtong, Chiangmai, high rainfall.
Thailand, send him a sample of Thai coffee which immediately
caught his interest.

What needs to be done?
The most recognized Thai coffee is Doi Chaang coffee
as it has the quality and capability to host a booth at interna-
tional events. Nonetheless, many still perceive Thai coffee as
low quality coffee because the region lacks altitude for quality
coffee. Even Doi Chaang coffee is still grown at lower than ideal
altitude. Further, most coffees are Catimor, although there are
other varieties. Storage is another downside of Thai coffee as
moisture content usually becomes a problem. Domestically, stor-
ing for a period of time is preferable as the coffee gets to rest, but
the international market prefer fresh new beans. Although cof-
fee professionals have negative perception towards Thai coffee,
consumers, on the other hand, perceive it quite well. “Hawaiian
coffees are mostly typical, and Kona coffee is very popular. Developing Quality & Brand
However, specialty coffee buyers don’t usually buy it! Hawaii During Miguel’s first Thailand visit, he saw the envi-
and Thailand is similar in a way that people has positive image ronment and the processes of Doi Chaang coffee and he im-
of the places,” Miguel said. mediately knew it needed higher altitude. After they found the
During Miguel’s early Thailand trip in 2012 – 2013, he land with the suitable altitude, coffee trees were planted and
did some research on high scoring Thai coffee on CQI website. harvested. The harvested cherries were carefully processed and
He found one with 86.1 points and knew a roaster who uses the presented overseas to show the potential of Thai coffee.
coffee. Miguel asked for some sample green beans to cup and he The next step of the project was finding young genera-
immediately spotted a defect. He called the producer and was tion of coffee farmers who were not afraid to try different culti-
surprised by the lack of coffee storage knowledge. Coffee stor- vation and processing technique. There years after that, sample
age is a very delicate process, but Thailand lacks the expertise in lots were sent to coffee importers around the world, and the
the area.” This problem is not limited to Thai coffee as the whole feedbacks varied. “Most sample coffees were getting the score
region is very humid. If coffee beans are stored badly during of 82 to 85. It may not sound very high, but only 1% of all coffee

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