Just a heads-up; if you’re like me and need a great cup of coffee to start your day and prefer brewing your own, it can be difficult to buy decent coffee at a reasonable price in Pattaya.  Most will agree that Benjamet Coffee Shop and Friendship Super Market are your best bet.  I disagree!

 

I moved here to Pattaya from Chiang Mai and was really disappointed with both stores.  Benjamet was OK (just barely) but quite expensive, and nothing close to the quality and price of coffee beans I was able to buy in Chiang Mai.  Friendship had a decent variety of coffee beans but they are not roasted daily or (who knows when), and they are not stored in a way that protects them from air or light...pretty bad actually if you are really into fine coffee.

 

Worse yet, both places sell coffee beans or ground coffee at PREMIUM prices.  Pretty rediculous that there is nowhere in the Pattaya area that roasts a really good coffee bean daily at reasonable cost IMO!

 

Well, I just found out i can actually get my beloved Chiang Mai coffee sent to me here in Pattaya...from a store in Bangkok! They ship by Kerry for only 50 baht and you have it in hand in a couple of days.

 

....and the best part; 500 grams of truly PREMIUM-QUALITY coffee beans costs 239 baht!  Both Bejamet and Friendship cost at least twice as much and the beans are noticeably inferior compared to the brand from Chiang Mai.

 

The name of the roaster in Chiang Mai is HILKOFF  COFFEE (http://hillkoff.com/index.php?lang=th).  If you doubt my word, you can see plenty of feedback about them here on ThaiVisa in the Chiang Mai forum or see their rating in Google Maps.  Almost everybody rates them with 4-stars!

 

The store that distributes for them down here in the south is RATIKA of Bangkok ( http://ratika.com/index.php?lang=th ).  You place your orders on LINE app. (Or by phone, by LINE is easiest way), or of course in person if you are in Bangkok.

 

My favorite coffee from them is THAI BLACK (very rich dark roasted Arabica) but they have quite a few choices, and you can order whole beans or have them ground to whatever fineness you need...and again, the beans are roasted DAILY!

 

I agree with your opinion about the local options. Thanks for the suggestion.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Found these good : http://www.duangdeehilltribecoffee.net/category/8/coffee-beans-kilogram

 

 

Yes I agree, and of course it's cheaper to buy directly from the supplier in Chiang Mai.  
But if you do not want to wait for a package to arrive from Bangkok, there is another place worth mentioning. 

 

Red Hill Coffee , in Jomtien.

The owner also owns the farm in Chiang Rai and harvest his own beans.  And I would say the quality is exceptional.  Premium beans light drip roast are 380 baht last time I checked, but you can ask for a discount.  

https://www.facebook.com/Redhillcoffee/?rf=730735410466513

 

 

 

2 hours ago, balo said:

Yes I agree, and of course it's cheaper to buy directly from the supplier in Chiang Mai.  
But if you do not want to wait for a package to arrive from Bangkok, there is another place worth mentioning. 

 

Red Hill Coffee , in Jomtien.

The owner also owns the farm in Chiang Rai and harvest his own beans.  And I would say the quality is exceptional.  Premium beans light drip roast are 380 baht last time I checked, but you can ask for a discount.  

https://www.facebook.com/Redhillcoffee/?rf=730735410466513

 

 

 

Good to know; I’ll check it out.  The Chaing Rai region is known for outstanding coffee beans!  Thanks.

Try Back Fabrik Jomtien..

 

http://www.back-fabrik.com

 

Lao Coffee, after 3 cups strong brewed you can see noises.. 

I find some of the CM coffees bitter.  If they are mixed with another bean seems better to me.

Lanna coffee is good.

Probably for here like McDonald's to some, but a fine grind Boncafe Expresso does it ok for me.

 

 

Another coffee topic? ????

On 4/12/2019 at 5:15 PM, balo said:

Yes I agree, and of course it's cheaper to buy directly from the supplier in Chiang Mai.  
But if you do not want to wait for a package to arrive from Bangkok, there is another place worth mentioning. 

 

Red Hill Coffee , in Jomtien.

The owner also owns the farm in Chiang Rai and harvest his own beans.  And I would say the quality is exceptional.  Premium beans light drip roast are 380 baht last time I checked, but you can ask for a discount.  

https://www.facebook.com/Redhillcoffee/?rf=730735410466513

 

 

 

 

Anyone know how to order their beans through Grab?

Red Hill Coffee can be found on the Grab app, but coffee beans are not listed there.

 

@wavehunter

The link you gave (ratika) doesn't work. Have another one?

I like Arabic coffee. Unroasted beans, ground with cardamoms. Any chance of getting them here. Goggle search with no luck

I too like the local coffees.  I buy mine from foodland, Thapraya. 

What is wrong with vaccum sealed coffee beans?  Does it really need to be roasted recently to be good?  I know that can be the case with ground coffee, but not coffee beans.  At least not espresso.  I buy vaccum sealed beans and grind as needed.  Tasts better than anything I can get at Starbucks or wherever that's for sure.  

19 hours ago, Jack Mountain said:

@wavehunter

The link you gave (ratika) doesn't work. Have another one?

Just checked; http://ratika.com works fine; try again.  Perhaps the site was just temporarily down for maintenance.

1 hour ago, shdmn said:

What is wrong with vaccum sealed coffee beans?  Does it really need to be roasted recently to be good?  I know that can be the case with ground coffee, but not coffee beans.  At least not espresso.  I buy vaccum sealed beans and grind as needed.  Tasts better than anything I can get at Starbucks or wherever that's for sure.  

No need to buy beens vacuum packed IF they have recently been roasted and you plan to use them within a week or so IMHO.  If they are going to sit on store shelves or in your cupboard for longer however, vacuum packed makes sense. 

 

Same is true of refrigerating them; no need if you use them quick enough. Personally I think oily type of beans taste better if they are at room temperature when ground.  Maybe it's just my imagination but the coffee seems to taste a little richer.

 

Some people actually freeze beans.  Personally, I think that's a big mistake.  Perhaps I'm wrong but I think freezing them and then thawing them out causes ice crystals to damage integrity of bean and thus affect flavor.  Just my personal opinion based on trying it and noticing a difference in flavor I did not like at all.

 

3 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

No need to buy beens vacuum packed IF they have recently been roasted and you plan to use them within a week or so IMHO.  If they are going to sit on store shelves or in your cupboard for longer however, vacuum packed makes sense.  Same is true of refrigerating them; no need if you use them quick enough. 

 

Some people actually freeze beans.  Personally, I think that's a mistake.  Perhaps I'm wrong but I think freezing them and then thawing them out causes ice crystals to damage integrity of bean and thus affect flavor.  Just my personal opinion based on trying it and noticing a difference in flavor I did not like at all.

 

Both freezing and keeping beans in a fridge is not to be recommended (although some say possible).

Most experts(?) say keep in a dark sealed container in the cool – the obvious problem is the ambient temperature in Thailand is high. If one is lucky enough to have a wine fridge then that is perfect !

 

13 minutes ago, JoePai said:

Both freezing and keeping beans in a fridge is not to be recommended (although some say possible).

Most experts(?) say keep in a dark sealed container in the cool – the obvious problem is the ambient temperature in Thailand is high. If one is lucky enough to have a wine fridge then that is perfect !

 

Makes sense to me.  I guess that would be the real mark of a true coffee connoisseur, buying a wine fridge...for your coffee beans!  Maybe take it even a step further and dig a nice cool wine cellar for them. ???? 

 

Practically speaking though, I think it's the oil of the bean that's most susceptible to becoming degraded so keeping the beans in an airtight container is the most important thing.

 

2 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

Just checked; http://ratika.com works fine; try again.  Perhaps the site was just temporarily down for maintenance.

Yup! Works now. Thx.