bangkok airways in-flight magazinei-march 2011

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Ti coffee is reltively new ddition

to te jv economy, but one tt’s fst

expnding. Scott Coates trvels to

nortern Tilnd were e discovers

vibrnt ill tribe-led industry

BrewedAwakenıng

Thaa

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worn around their necks are quickly lled. The picking season

runs rom late October to early February and it takes about three

years or each new tree to produce usable, tasty beans. Cofee is

interesting in that the ruit o the berry is discarded and it’s the

seed that’s used.

There’s nothing easy about the long and meticulous process o

producing a world-class cup o cofee, explains Wicha. “You have

to get up early in the morning, pick the berries, take them to the

washing station, pre-wash them, pulp them, then dry-erment

them or a day. Underwater ermentation takes another day, then

we soak the beans in natural spring water or another 24 hours,

drain the water and naturally sun-dry them or seven to eight

days. The entire process takes about 14 days. Then you have to

store the beans or another six to seven months, pulp them to get

the parchment of the green beans and then, nally, roast them.”

The work day begins at

dawn in the mountains and,

thankully, Doi Chaang’s

cofee shop is open. We dive

in to rich cups o Americano

beore bidding arewell. We

board our 4x4 and tackle a

challenging dirt road down

the mountain to Chiang

Rai city and on to our next

destination, Doi Tung. Along

the way, it’s obvious that many

cofee shops have sprung

up over the past ew years,

testimony to the act that

Thailand is now the third largest producer o cofee in Asia, ater

Vietnam and Indonesia.

Operating under the direction o the Mae Fah Luang

Foundation, which was established by the king’s late mother

in 1988, Doi Tung Cofee was the rst Thai producer to gain

national acclaim. As in Doi Chaang, cofee was introduced here

as an alternative crop to opium and as a means o improving

ชาวอาขาท าไรกาแฟวนกบการเกบผลกาแฟสกงอมสแดงใสตะกราทคลองคอ ชาวไรตองรอกวาสามปกวาตนกาแฟจะใหผลกาแฟทมคณภาพรสชาตดทนาสนใจไปกวานนคอผลแดงๆจากตนกาแฟจะถกทงไป เหลอเพยงแตเมลดขางในทจะ ามาผลตเปนกาแฟ คณวชากลาววา กวาจะไดกาแฟระดบโลกสกแกวนน ไมใชเรองงายๆ เนองจากตองผานกระบวนการมากมาย ชาวไรตองเกบกาแฟแตเชาตร นาผลไปลาง าไปหมกแหงหนงวน หมกเปยกอกหนงวน จากนนก าไปแชในนาสะอาดอก 24 ชวโมง กอนจะตากแดดใหแหงทใชเวลาเจดถงแปดวน รวมกระบวนการทงหมดประมาณ 14 วนกอนการ าไปเกบรกษาอกราวหกถงเจดเดอน จากนนกสกาแฟเพอแยกกะลาแหงออกจากเมลดกาแฟ แลวจง าไปคว

the environment. According to Doi Tung’s executive director

Khunying Rungroi, “Our main intent was to gure out how we

could keep man and orest together so the orests wouldn’t be

destroyed again. We did several trials and ound that cofee worked

well under the shade o the pine trees that we had planted to

reorest the mountains.”

Today, Doi Tung is home to 1.7 million trees armed by more

than 1,000 hill tribe people. The trees produce 200 tons o

beans annually. As well as providing work and support or local

communities, the oundation is committed to conserving the

environment. “We say our cofee is ‘bird-riendly’’’, says Khunying

Rungroi. “It’s a cofee term meaning that when the birds eat the

cofee they don’t drop dead. They can live on the cofee as we

don’t use pesticides but let it grow naturally.”

As the sun sets, we make our way down the mountain via

a dirt track that passes by

mandarin orange and lychee

orchards as well as a temple

amous or its horse-riding

monks. It’s hard to believe

we’re only 45km rom Chiang

Rai. Ater an overnight stay

in the city, we head north-

west to one o Thailand’s

most vibrant towns, Doi Mae

Salong, to visit a small-scale

cofee arm.

Kuomintang (KMT)

soldiers rom Yunnan

province in southern China

settled in Doi Mae Salong in the 1970s and it’s more Chinese

than Thai. It is also home to 12 ethnic hill tribes that mainly

arm tea, which was another crop introduced in place o opium.

Cofee has started to catch on here in the past ew years, but at

1,000m, the town is just barely high enough to produce arabica

that can compete with that o Doi Chaang and Doi Tung.

In a small Ahka village, our host introduces us to Meechu, a

“‘Bird-friendly’ is acoffee term meaning

that when the birds eatthe coffee they don’t drop dead. They can

live on the coffee as wedon’t use pesticides

but let it grownaturally”

CLOCKWISE FROMTOP LEFT: hills o Doi

Mae Salong; Akhavillagers; an excellentcup o coee; chillingout with a cappuccino

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90-year-old woman he has known or a number o years. She

pufs away on her pipe – deying the notion that smoking kills

– and it’s hard to drag ourselves back to the dirt ootpath to

resume our journey. An hour later we emerge rom the orest and

walk right into a small cofee shop, where the owner treats us to

steaming cups o brew made with beans rom Thailand, Arica

and South America. As we gaze at the mountains through which

we’ve just trekked, we learn that there are some cofee armers

close by and decide to drop in on them.

Wilai and Weeral Cheewinwon, both rom Doi Mae Salong,

spent many years working in Taiwan and in the Thai beach

resort town o Pattaya beore returning home in 2006. The

couple had grown tired o cities, craved a more peaceul lie and,

upon hearing about cofee’s potential, decided to give it a try.

It hasn’t been easy, according to Wilai, but things are starting

to look up: “We have about 2,500 trees, which produce 400kg

o roasted beans per year. It’s not a lot, but they can etch up toUS$15 per kg and since the trees are only three years old, this is a

pretty decent yield.”

The next day, ater a journey o 200km, we’re at 1,600m,

high above Chiang Mai city and its most amous temple, Doi

ชาวเขาบนดอยแมสลองเรมปลกกาแฟเมอไมกปทผานมา ระดบความสงของดอยแมสลองกดจะเพยงพอ าหรบการปลกกาแฟอราบกาแขงกบดอยชางและดอยตงได คณวไลและคณวรา ชวนวร เปนคนดอยแมสลอง หลงจาก างานทประเทศไตหวนและรสอรทในพทยาหลายป ทงคกยายกลบมาสดอยแมสลองหลงจากไดยนเรองกจการกาแฟบน

ดอย แมวาจะไมใชเรองงายๆ ทวาคณวไลกคดวาสงตางๆกเปนไปไดดวยดคณวไลมตนกาแฟกวา 2,500 ตนทผลตกาแฟไดราว 400 กโลกรมตอป แมวาจะไมมากนก ทวากาแฟกไดราคาราว 15 เหรยญสหรฐตอกโลกรมทเดยว

Top Coffee SpoTS

Doi Chaang

Doi Chaang Coffee Shop: www.doichaangcoffee.com

Chiang Rai

Le Petit Café:194SankongnoiRd,tel:+66(0)53756761

Doi Chaang @ Art:RattanakhetRd,tel:+66(0)53752918Doi Mae Salong

Sweet Mae Salong:41/3DoiMaeSalong,tel:+66(0)53745028,http://sweetmaesalong.multiply.com

Doi Tung

Care Doi Tung: DoiTungRoyalVilla,tel:+66(0)53767015,www.doitung.org/cafe_our.php

Mae Suay

Doi Chaang Mae Suay: Hwy118,tel:+66(0)53950332

TRavel WiTh

Smiling Albinohasbeenleadingunique,custom-madeexperiencesinnorthernThailandsince1999.Expertsintheregion,SmilingAlbinoofferseverythingfromsoftexperiencestravellingbyprivatecartomountainbiking,dirtbikingandmotorcyclingthroughouttheregion.www.smilingalbino.com,[email protected], tel: +66 (0)2 718 9560

Suthep. We’re here to visit Thailand’s original cofee elds – and

the scenery is unorgettable. The Highland Research Facility

is located in Doi Suthep National Park, next to a Hmong hill

tribe village, and it’s here that the Royal Project or hill tribe

development introduced arabica cofee back in 1974.

Later, while ying back to Bangkok, I review my notes and

stumble upon a quote by Wicha o Doi Chaang Cofee: “I’m

quite sure you can grow good cofee anywhere in Thailand

above 1,000m, but the really important thing is processing,” he

says. “Most people are lazy and don’t take the time to process it

properly. It took us ve years to gure out the process. I’m sure in

the next ve years people around the world will know a lot more

about Thai cofee.”

I’ll drink to that.

Meechu, a 90-year-oldwoman who defes thenotion that smoking kills

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bangkok airways in-flight magazinei-march 2011

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