Akha Coffee Entrepreneur Promotes Village Grown Coffee

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Under the spotlight

Lee of Akha Ama Coffee

By Shana Kongmun

Tucked away in a little corner of the Santhitham area is a little coffee shop called Akha Ama Coffee, and while you may not cast a second look in its direction you would be wise to not only look, but stop, go in, have a cup of delicious coffee and a chat with the very personable owner; a young man named Lee Ayu Chuepa.

Lee is very knowledgeable about coffee and is more than happy to explain

to you the differences in coffees and the terms coffee aficionados use when

drinking coffee. Photo by Martin Vanderklooster.

Akha Ama Coffee is a rare find in Chiang Mai, one of the winners of the World Cup Testers competition, two years running. In fact, last year, the first year Lee submitted the village’s coffee, they were one of 21 to win out of over 2000 submissions. But it almost didn’t happen. The competition requires a 350 Euro submission fee, which of course, a tiny little Akha mountain village is unlikely to be able to raise, much less send off to Europe. Lee negotiated with the committee and grasping the idea that if they wanted everyone represented, including the small growers, they would need to consider how to help. Committee members found friends who pitched in and paid the fee for the villagers.

The gamble paid off for both the donors and the villagers as Akha Ama coffee gained international renown. Robust with a good balance of bitter and sour, the coffee is also very good as espresso as well as just a regular cup of coffee. The prices are extremely reasonable considering the effort these mountaintop villagers take to grow and harvest the coffee.

Akha Ama Coffee proprietor and all around go to man is a young man named Lee, who hails from a small Akha village in the Mae Suai District in Chiang Rai and who started his coffee journey in a rather unusual way; first going to a temple school, then as the first person in his village to go to university and finally doing social work for hilltribe children with a charity called Child’s Dream Association which focuses on education for underprivileged children.

But it was a return trip to his home village that made him start wondering what he could do a bit closer to home. With only 32 households in his tiny village, he knew that whatever he did could have an impact, so he looked around to see what the options were. Villagers were already growing coffee trees obtained from the Highland Research and Development Institute and he realized that the high quality beans they were producing could help the villagers out. The problem however, was that they had no processing abilities and were forced to sell their beans at a low price to middlemen. So, Lee, as the only English speaking person in his village as well, started studying various processing methods from around the region and around the world.

He returned to his village and helped set up a small processing plant so that the villagers could produce their own parchment coffee, which is wet processed coffee and then dried with the dry parchment skin still attached.

After being turned down by the SME Bank and commercial banks for a loan because he couldn’t guarantee repayment he turned to private donations to help obtain the equipment the village needed to start processing their coffee beans. However, within 6 months, they were making enough to cover their expenses so he has high hopes that as they sell more coffee, the villagers will be able to add more equipment.

Drop in for a visit with this informative, personable and knowledgeable young man and you will find out about coffee, Akha village life, and may end up spending the afternoon chatting, like I did!

Akha Ama coffee is available at Rimping Supermarket, Kasem Store and many smaller coffee shops around Chiang Mai. Lee is also offering ‘coffee journeys’ to interested parties; a visit to his village to meet the farmers and see the coffee as it starts out from fruit on the tree, to processed and finally the finished product. Interested people can contact Lee at info(at)akhaama.com or www.akhaama.com.

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[Kered]

As a regular customer for some time now I can endorse the quality of the Akha Ama coffee. I have also met Khun Lee at the coffee shop who is a very pleasant and capable young man who has used his education and ability to help the villagers create a viable business, something that is not seen often in Thailand. He is to be congratulated and I recommend a visit to the coffee shop, the location is shown on the website, where you will enjoy good coffee in a great entrepreneurial atmosphere. I always take some beans home and grind them myself but have not yet been able to re create the taste achieved at the coffee shop.

I have no interest in this business other than an admiration for what they have achieved and I wish Khun Lee and his team continued success.