Stone Fruit // Tropical Sweetness // Winey Depth // Silky Body
Think ripe plum and lychee with a winey, almost jammy sweetness and a silky, lingering finish. Thai coffee doesn't often make it onto my radar, but this one genuinely stopped me. It's doing something exciting.
Doi Pangkhon sits in the highlands of Chiang Mai province, one of Thailand's most celebrated coffee-growing regions. At altitude, cooler temperatures and a distinct dry season slow cherry development, building complexity and sweetness that punches well above what most people expect from Southeast Asian coffee.
This lot comes from the Merlaeku brothers, a family of producers in the Doi Pangkhon area whose meticulous approach to farming and processing has earned them a serious reputation in the specialty world. It's exported by BeanSpire, a Bangkok-based exporter dedicated to elevating Thai specialty coffee, and imported into Europe by This Side Up. We're offering this as a European exclusive — This Side Up haven't taken any of this lot for spot, so you won't find it anywhere else on the continent.
Processing
After harvest, ripe cherries are collected and cleaned before a culture of Lactic Acid Bacteria is introduced to the fermentation environment. This controlled inoculation encourages a lactic fermentation — producing the smooth, creamy acidity and complex fruit character that defines this style — before the coffee is dried whole-cherry on raised beds. The result is a cup with the wild sweetness of a natural and the structured, silky texture of a lactic ferment.
Origin: Doi Pangkhon, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Producers: Merlaeku Brothers
Exporter: BeanSpire
Importer: This Side Up
Varietals: Mixed (mainly Chiang Mai, SJ133 & Typica)
Process: Lactic Anaerobic Natural
Brewing
As a filter, this coffee is lush and expressive — stone fruit sweetness, tropical complexity, and a silky, winey finish. As an espresso, it's rich and jammy; add milk and you've got a deeply fruity, dessert-like latte that'll raise a few eyebrows in the best possible way.
