Thailand is not traditionally known as a specialty coffee producing country, yet it has been producing Arabica coffee since the early 80's. It started off as part of the Thai King’s opium eradication project. Because Arabica coffee thrives in a similar condition as opium, it was selected as a substituting crop against the cultivation of the illicit plant. Today, Thailand produces about 8,000 tons of Arabica coffee, mainly in the mountainous north of the country. On top of that, Thailand produces about ten times as much Robusta coffee, making it the third largest coffee producer in Asia. Thai specialty coffee is rarely seen in the top specialty roaster segment abroad. The main reasons for this are twofold. Thailand is a middle-income country and has a thriving local coffee market. That means relatively high production costs for a relatively undemanding coffee market.

Having said this, a strong specialty coffee segment is emerging. At least on the consumer side, the Third Wave is quite well established, with artisan roasters and cafés in Bangkok and Chang Mai. These roasters have recently begun to develop and buy local coffees too, not in the least because of import tariffs on foreign coffees. However, this scene is still very small and for now, hardly creates enough incentives for farmers to improve the quality of their coffee to specialty grade. So even though they have been doing a great job at pushing the limits of Thai coffee, the specialty coffee scene would be greatly aided with more specialty coffee knowledge and global integration. 

Why We Care

This Side Up sees an important opportunity to showcase Thai coffee to the world's specialty coffee scene, not despite but precisely because of the higher production prices and living standards. Exposure to the specialty coffee phenomenon in relatively stable economies like Costa Rica and Panama has made them leaders in innovation, labour and environmental protection - and equally importantly, has made coffee farming, even on a micro-mill scale, lucrative for the next generation. On a larger scale, the gigantic coffee traders will eventually run out of cheap places to source bad coffee, and specialty coffee will surely continue to grow and disperse. These factors, in our view, mean that equality, quality focus and integration will slowly but inevitably become the future of the entire coffee producing world.

As a global society, we should be getting used to consumer prices that reflect a higher level of country development and social justice. We therefore have the ambitious goal to demonstrate, however small we are, that by kickstarting an increase in exposure and quality investment, stable Thailand and its young generation of coffee entrepreneurs could enter into a race to the top, become a country known internationally for its superb coffees - and in time set an example for all of East Asia.

Beanspire

Enter Beanspire, an exporting company made up of a group of young Thai specialty coffee enthusiasts who exist to provide a window for Thai specialty coffee smallholder farmers to the world. Their mission is much like that of This Side Up - but since they are mainly based in origin, our combined value was apparent from the start. Fuadi Pitsuwan was introduced to me by a mutual friend and tea expert, Janjarang Pat Kijitkhun and we quickly became sparring partners about the possibilities of Thai coffee in the European market. We decided to do a pilot project with the 2016 harvest aimed at attracting the interest not only adventurous roasters, but of other, larger importers as well.