As the coffee growing industry grows stronger in Thailand, the children of farmers who once moved away are returning to the land. With new approaches and an embrace of new methods, they are taking Thai coffee to exciting new places. Having left careers in accountancy and engineering behind, Nui and Aoy Jaisooksern decided to return to the land of their parents to grow coffee.
Doi Saket is the oldest coffee growing area in Thailand, located in Chiang Mai province. The first few trees of Arabica coffee that were part of the opium replacement program of the Thai King were tested here. As a result, heirloom varietals, particularly Typica, are still commonplace in many old farms. The area of Doi Saket is the epitome of shade grown coffee farms. Typica trees are grown under a forest with many micro mills each producing about one ton of green beans per year.
At 1300 - 1500 meters, Doi Saket is situated at a lower altitude than many of the farms we work with. However, at 19 degrees north of the equator, the altitude is very high for coffee - in Thailand, coffee cannot grow in Thailand above 1550 meters. The result is a coffee with a level of complexity usually associated with coffees grown at higher altitudes.
