Spring is here which means that fresh crop coffees keep coming at Vesta Coffee! We’re beyond excited to offer another beautiful naturally processed coffee from Thailand this season. As always; we picked this coffee to highlight its exceptional sweetness as well as some incredible producers who make this all happen. Thailand's specialty coffee is growing in popularity each year and this year is no different, producers like Nawin Yaesorkoo are leading the charge. We’re proud to offer this elegant coffee to our guests.
Nawin inspecting his crop on raised beds
Harvested in the serene misty mountains of Mae Suai; one of the largest coffee growing areas in Thailand. The Akha Hill Tribe grows several varieties of coffee cherries including Catuai, Typica, Chiang Mai, and SJ133. This coffee is processed using a Red-Honey post-harvest processing method, at Nawin’s mill. Freshly harvested coffee cherries pulped with their mucilage retained on the seeds for drying. Laid out in a thin layer on raised beds to dry for several days reaching 11% humidity. The coffee is finally milled, sent off to the dry mill.
Filling fermentation tanks with fresh picked cherries
Mae Suai Red Honey is sourced from exporters, Beanspire Coffee. Beanspire assists Thai coffee farmers in developing and exporting high quality green coffee beans to the international specialty coffee market. Co-Founders, Fuadi Pitsuwan and Jane Kittiratanapaiboon are part of the young generation moving the Thai coffee industry forward. Domestic consumption demands are high and regularly outpace the country’s production volume. Only around 5% of Thailand’s coffee is exported each year while the rest is enjoyed by Thai coffee drinkers.
Coffee drying on raised beds
Coffee Farming is still a relatively new industry in Thailand, and one that has been proving to be attractive to your entrepreneurs like Nawin, Fuadi and Jane. Thailand's coffee history dates back to the 1970s , when an opium eradication campaign started by the King of Thailand introduced the first coffee trees to areas of degraded land in an effort to reforest these areas. These efforts proved to be extremely successful, farmers’ mountain properties are flourishing today with many of the original planted varieties thriving in healthy production.
Mae Suai Tasting Notes - Plum, Blackberry, Floral, Winey