Coffee Shops In Chiang Mai

[Rinrada]

...Dont talk about restaurants...............

Have you noticed that those guys who live up in the sticks (C.Rai Forum)have got a nice little info thread going on the coffee shops up there and appear to be doing it without any arguments...

so surely on this most civilised of subjects we can do the same thing in C.M.

My idea of a "Korr-fee Chop" is somewhere that I can sit in quietly (usually Con deo) for a while over a decent cup full of whatever blend,read my book/paper/bank statements,savour the ambience,dream a little,enjoy a cool breeze and just watch the world go by.................luvly...so where do you recco in C.M.?

I have included a bit of a list but its only general with no personal involvements and would suggest maybe an approvals rating......say out of.. 10

I usually stay in the Done - 2 -One and although its a nice joint etc its not quite what I was thinking about so would give it say 6/10

DUANGTAWAN COFFEE SHOP........................................6/10

Duangtawan Hotel, 132 Loi Kroh Rd. ChiangMai 50100

so......where are all those little french/algerian/left bank places with the croissonts/baggettes and je ne sais......

....

F.I.Only......

CAT EYE

44/7-9 Morakot Rd.ChiangMai 50300

CHANG PUAK COFFEE SHOP

Novotel Chiang Mai Hotel 183 Chang Puak Rd. ChiangMai 50200

CITY COFFEE SHOP

Felix City Inn Hotel, 154 Ratmanka Rd. ChiangMai 50200

GIGI’S

68/2 ChiangMai-Lamphun Rd. ChiangMai 50000

HARD ROCK CAFE’

66/3 Loi Kroh Rd. ChiangMai 50100

HUAY KAEW COFFEE SHOP

Holiday Garden Hotel, 16/16 Huay Kaew Rd. ChiangMai 50300

KANGSADAL HIGHTECH SHOP

Anodard Hotel, 57-59 Ratmanka Rd. ChiangMai 50200

KATTALEEYA 14

Hassadhisewee Rd. ChiangMai 50200

KLUAY MAI COFFEE SHOP

Tapae Place, 2 Soi 3 Thapae Rd. ChiangMai 50100

LANNA CAFE’

Lanna Palace Hotel, 184 Chang Klan Rd. ChiangMai 50100

LANNA COFFEE SHOP

Amari Rincome Hotel, 1 Nimmanhemin Rd. ChiangMai 50200

MAENAM COFFEE SHOP

Diamond Riverside Hotel, 33/10 Charoen Prathet Rd. ChiangMai 50100

MAERIM COFFEE SHOP

ChiangMai Orchid Hotel, 23 Huay Kaew Rd. ChiangMai 50200

MAMMOTH COFFEETHEQUE

Iyara Hotel, 199 Chang Puak Rd. ChiangMai 50300

MONTHIEN COFFEE SHOP

Prince Hotel, 3 Tai Wang Rd. ChiangMai 50300

PANDORA CAFE’

Chiang Mai President Hotel, 226 Wichayanon Rd. ChiangMai 50300

PORNPING CAFE’

Pornping Tower Hotel, 46-48 Charoen Prathet Rd. ChiangMai 50100

PUANG ZAD COFFEE SHOP

Quality Chiang Mai Hills Hotel, 18 Huay Kaew Rd. ChiangMai 50200

RINKAEW COFFEE SHOP

Rinkaew complex, 183/4 Wualai Rd. ChiangMai 50100

SANKAMPANG COFFEE SHOP

Lotus Pang Suan Kaew Hotel, 99/4 Moo 2, Huay Kaew Rd. ChiangMai 50200

SAYURI COFFEE SHOP

3 Soi 2 Bumrungrajd Rd. ChiangMai 50000

SRI TOKYO COFFEE SHOP

Sri Tokyo Hotel, 6 Boonruangrit Rd. ChiangMai 50200

SUREERAT COFFEE SHOP

Chiang Mai Phucome Hotel, 21 Huay Kaew Rd. ChiangMai 50200

TEA SHOP

Next to Chiang Mai University, Huay Kaew Rd. A.Muang, ChiangMai 50200

THE PLACE COFFEE SHOP

Kinaree Place, 9-9/1-3 Moonmuang Rd. ChiangMai 50200

[ThaiPauly]

However if you want a Coffee Shop in Hang Dong than my Wife's place "The Secret Garden" has many types of coffee available - (she buys from Starbucks, but charges half their prices). Papers. magazines, choose your own music.. sit inside or in a sala.. choice is yours.. a very peaceful haven...try it if you are out that way

[Rinrada]

However if you want a Coffee Shop in Hang Dong than my Wife's place "The Secret Garden" has many types of coffee available - (she buys from Starbucks, but charges half their prices). Papers. magazines, choose your own music.. sit inside or in a sala.. choice is yours.. a very peaceful haven...try it if you are out that way

"The Secret Garden"....sounds like a 10 out of 10

[Guest endure]

There's that little place at the front of Central.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

There's that little place at the front of Central.

Ah, the lovely ambience of rush hour traffic all day, to the bouquet of diesel fumes.

Ingredients for a lovely coffee.

[JXXXL]

However if you want a Coffee Shop in Hang Dong than my Wife's place "The Secret Garden" has many types of coffee available - (she buys from Starbucks, but charges half their prices). Papers. magazines, choose your own music.. sit inside or in a sala.. choice is yours.. a very peaceful haven...try it if you are out that way

TP,

directions please.

[rishi]

There also is a highly recommandable, little place down at Ratchapakinai - about 100 meter south of Ratchadamnern, between a Japaneese restaurant and a tailor. They serve the most exclusive tasting coffee in this town. Excellent Thai grown Robustas an Arabicas. You should taste their freshly ground Rama Arabica, picked from the remote, misty mountains of Chiang Mai province.

They also serve a variety of teas, fresh juices, smoothies, shakes and lassies. Their food can't be recommended, though - it's easymade fastfood mainly aimed at those of their Internet users / wifi-laptoppers that are too busily engaged in their surfing to go elsewhere.

[Guest endure]

They also serve a variety of teas, fresh juices, smoothies, shakes and lassies.

I thought Lassie was a dog?

[Rinrada]

They also serve a variety of teas, fresh juices, smoothies, shakes and lassies.

I thought Lassie was a dog?

If they want to serve up a variety of LASSIES...whos objecting?........but suppose we really are talking Koffi Shops

[rishi]

.......but suppose we really are talking Koffi Shops

Then what exactly is a Koffi Shop?

When I try to enter it into my favorite online dictionary it says 'no matches found' and asks me if I mean: .... and then a long list of obscure suggestions - none of which has anything to do with the word: coffee.

[Steve2UK]

Not wild about hotel coffee shops myself - unless I found myself in the mood for tourist-watching. But the one in front of Central is (IMO) great for the free street theatre you get to see.........

Love the small place on the right near the top of Soi 1 which drops south from Sri Phum Road (north-east corner of the moat) - small, intimate, choice of inside/outside tables and gateaux etc to die for. Sorry - name escapes me for now.

Other favourite is the one on Chiang Mai-Lamphun Road - first place you see before Riverside Restaurant heading north. Love to sit outside on the terrace and watch the river go by. Sorry - yet another name that escapes me right now (it's late ). Or is it Gigi's - as Rinrada mentioned?

Edited February 22, 2006 by Steve2UK

[ThaiPauly]

However if you want a Coffee Shop in Hang Dong than my Wife's place "The Secret Garden" has many types of coffee available - (she buys from Starbucks, but charges half their prices). Papers. magazines, choose your own music.. sit inside or in a sala.. choice is yours.. a very peaceful haven...try it if you are out that way

TP,

directions please.

Take the Hang Dong Road out of CM.

You will see plenty of signs pointing you towards Bann Tawai Handicrafts Centre.

Once you get to Hang Dong which is the first proper town about 9 cliks up from Central Airport Plazza, hook a left at the traffic lights,. The Secret Garden is exactly 1 klik up on the left, slightly set back from the road.

If you can hang on till the end of the month there will be Crossaints and English breakfasts available as well

Cheers

TP

[too true]

Not wild about hotel coffee shops myself - unless I found myself in the mood for tourist-watching. But the one in front of Central is (IMO) great for the free street theatre you get to see.........

Love the small place on the right near the top of Soi 1 which drops south from Sri Phum Road (north-east corner of the moat) - small, intimate, choice of inside/outside tables and gateaux etc to die for. Sorry - name escapes me for now.

Other favourite is the one on Chiang Mai-Lamphun Road - first place you see before Riverside Restaurant heading north. Love to sit outside on the terrace and watch the river go by. Sorry - yet another name that escapes me right now (it's late ). Or is it Gigi's - as Rinrada mentioned?

the small place on Sriphum Soi 1 is called Charcoa. Never been there, but have heard similar opinions from other people.

I think the one by the Riverside is called the Brown Bean, or something like that.

Anyone know anything about the Wawee coffee shop near the new Lotus?

[Norman d'Plume]

However if you want a Coffee Shop in Hang Dong than my Wife's place "The Secret Garden" has many types of coffee available - (she buys from Starbucks, but charges half their prices). Papers. magazines, choose your own music.. sit inside or in a sala.. choice is yours.. a very peaceful haven...try it if you are out that way

TP,

directions please.

Take the Hang Dong Road out of CM.

You will see plenty of signs pointing you towards Bann Tawai Handicrafts Centre.

Once you get to Hang Dong which is the first proper town about 9 cliks up from Central Airport Plazza, hook a left at the traffic lights,. The Secret Garden is exactly 1 klik up on the left, slightly set back from the road.

If you can hang on till the end of the month there will be Crossaints and English breakfasts available as well

Cheers

TP

Look forward to dropping in there some time soon.

[polecat]

Aux Amis du Monde opened at the end of last year on Rachadamnoen, just around the corner from Wat Chedi Luang. As far I know it is the only genuine creperie in Chiang Mai - and they are delicious. Coffee wise, it's a little limited and you're best to ask for the (ironically) Italian blend. I think this is a smashing little place, although they do seem to have a problem with flies from the street. It's very wee (have to use neighboring hotel's toilet, but check it out

[Steve2UK]

the small place on Sriphum Soi 1 is called Charcoa. Never been there, but have heard similar opinions from other people.

I think the one by the Riverside is called the Brown Bean, or something like that.

Anyone know anything about the Wawee coffee shop near the new Lotus?

Thanks for the memory jog . The one by the Riverside is actually "Coffeee Bean".

[chanchao]

What a sad misappropriation of the Thai 'Coffee Shop' we have to endure here... But if you're really interested in a place that sells coffee then the best coffee AND environment can be found at: Mandalay, next to Mike's burgers, Brown Bean on the river next to The Riverside, and of course spotlight, which has the best coffee in ANY bar of that format it the Kingdom. Try it if you don't believe

[Rinrada]

and of course spotlight, which has the best coffee in ANY bar of that format it the Kingdom. Try it if you don't believe

The Spotlight for...Coffee....well well.........tasty

[Ulysses G.]

'Rinrada' date='2006-02-22 20:46:42' post='654520']

and of course spotlight, which has the best coffee in ANY bar of that format it the Kingdom. Try it if you don't believe

The Spotlight for...Coffee....well well.........tasty

Well, I like the atmosphere better than Starbucks.

Edited February 22, 2006 by Ulysses G.

[skylar]

They also serve a variety of teas, fresh juices, smoothies, shakes and lassies.

I thought Lassie was a dog?

If they want to serve up a variety of LASSIES...whos objecting?........but suppose we really are talking Koffi Shops

Lassis are Indian drinks.. fruit mixed with yog and milk mainly but also with a bit of other stuff. Yum.

[just_Elaine]

On another thread, Saibaijai recommended Libernard as a place to get fresh roasted coffee. We've bought coffee beans there a few times and really like it. We also tried espressos (before we bought the coffee beans) and they were really, really good. We've only run in and out so I can't say anything meaningful about the atmosphere.

Libernard Cafe's location - From Chaiyapoom and Chang Moi Rd, pass Mike's Burgers and a Photo Shop on Chiyapoom Road, then turn left.

Elaine

[Puwa]

I've become a fan of Cafe Wawee. I know of three branches: Talad Kam Tiang/JJ's Market, around the corner from the Lotus on the Superhighway; ground floor of the Suriwong Book Center; Nimmanheimin Soi 7 (or 5?), which has just had a flashy new Starbucks open up next door. Wawee has a nice atmosphere and sells coffee that is purportedly grown in the north. The various kinds on offer are named after places (Doi Wawee, Doi Inthanon). I don't know if Eung Faa is a mountain as well or just a flower. Comfy couches, good coffee, well-run, successful local business.

Lanna Cafe on Huay Kaew, near the corner of Sirimangkalajan, not too far from Central, has a Fair Trade deal goin on with hilltribe coffee growers, backed up by a Japanese NGO.

What's interesting to me is that until a few years ago it was hard to get good fresh-brewed coffee anywhere in Thailand except expensive hotels and restaurants. Meanwhile hilltribes were growing coffee in opium crop-substitution programs, but couldn't make much off of it because the international coffee market is ruthless. Now suddenly there is a growing domestic coffee market, and what looked like a failed highland development strategy is finally finding a market. If local varieties can be successfully branded and marketed, Thai coffee growers may have some insulation from the race-to-the-bottom global coffee glut.

I was on a road trip last July, covering a lonesome stretch between Pitsanulok and Uttaradit, and stopped for gas. There, next to the minimart, was a local woman making a go of it with her espresso machine.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

Why does Liberand get a seemingly permanent listing in Lonely Planet. It is expensive, it is nothing out of the ordinary, and has a pretty crap location.

I could name 20 coffee shops I'd rather go to.

[Rinrada]

Why does Liberand get a seemingly permanent listing in Lonely Planet. It is expensive, it is nothing out of the ordinary, and has a pretty crap location.

I could name 20 coffee shops I'd rather go to.

Grant ...keep them coming.

This topic is developing quite well with lots of good opinions and reccos.

Drinking coffee (and cha-lon-Nom-nam som etc)in convivial surroundings on a quiet warm fresh morning in a sidewalk cafe is one of lifes greatest civilised pleasures and if it can be enjoyed in Chiang Mai with and to the same level of the ambience of a Parisian Arondissimont tabac then cest tres bien....tres jollee..& pour quoi non....

[Steve2UK]

Reading what Puwa said about hilltribe coffee reminded me of another place I like - although it's not primarily a coffee shop as such.

Vitality Zone is an open air cafe/juice bar whose main business is fresh-prepared juices and is sited in a mini-garden just next to the main entrance of Wat Phra Sing on Samlan Road - very professionally run by an expat lady called Marieke and her Thai husband Nui. Their hilltribe coffee is organic and served in a cafetiere - also available to buy in 250gm packs. Being half-German, I'm something of a coffee fetishist and this has turned out to be my all-time favourite brew.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

Why does Liberand get a seemingly permanent listing in Lonely Planet. It is expensive, it is nothing out of the ordinary, and has a pretty crap location.

I could name 20 coffee shops I'd rather go to.

The author enjoys some time there, perhaps?

Yeah, does the author still live in CM? I bet he has a sackful of coffee beans in his kitchen c/o Liberand.

I'm not saying the coffee is bad though, just - WHY?

[Ulysses G.]

Why does Liberand get a seemingly permanent listing in Lonely Planet. It is expensive, it is nothing out of the ordinary, and has a pretty crap location.

I could name 20 coffee shops I'd rather go to.

The author enjoys some time there, perhaps?

Yeah, does the author still live in CM? I bet he has a sackful of coffee beans in his kitchen c/o Liberand.

I'm not saying the coffee is bad though, just - WHY?

One of Joe's best friends insists that their coffee is the best in Chiang Mai and I think that he has Mr. Cumming's ear as they hang out a lot.

I don't like it that much - too strong for me - but I'm no expert.

Also, the lady who owns it is very nice and polite.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

Why does Liberand get a seemingly permanent listing in Lonely Planet. It is expensive, it is nothing out of the ordinary, and has a pretty crap location.

I could name 20 coffee shops I'd rather go to.

Grant ...keep them coming.

This topic is developing quite well with lots of good opinions and reccos.

Drinking coffee (and cha-lon-Nom-nam som etc)in convivial surroundings on a quiet warm fresh morning in a sidewalk cafe is one of lifes greatest civilised pleasures and if it can be enjoyed in Chiang Mai with and to the same level of the ambience of a Parisian Arondissimont tabac then cest tres bien....tres jollee..& pour quoi non....

Rinrada, are you scottish?

Anyway, a really nice place to have a coffee is Starbucks on Nimmaheiman Road - they have a nice wee garden, with running water.

Another good place is in Viangbua Mansions on Viangbua Road. The coffee is excellent and also very cheap.

Doi Tung coffee is also good quality, they do mini-franshises - so you'll see them in Robinsons and Khun Mor Noodles - on Nimaheimen, Soi 17 - very cheap - usually around 35-45 baht.

In Carrefour and Lotus Hang Dong, they have a stall in the food court that sells fresh coffee - again cheap.

On Chiang Klan Road - opposite the Lanna Hotel, there is a stall outside video easy(?) their coffee is again, very good and very cheap.

If you want a seat there is a nice little restaurant a couple of doors up from the 7-11 - if I order one cup there, I inevitably end up ordering another...

Bake and Bite, also on Chiang Klan Road do a very good cup - but not quite as cheap as most on this list.

In Robinsons there is an internet shop on the third floor that does nice coffee - starbucks style, but about half the price.

JJs on Tha Pae Road do a lovely cup of coffee. But, not as good value as others here

If I write much more than this then no-one will read it, but should anyone wish me to name another 9 places better than Liberand (and most aren't in Lonely Planet) then I shall.

Edited February 24, 2006 by Grant

[JXXXL]

If I write much more than this then no-one will read it, but should anyone wish me to name another 9 places better than Liberand (and most aren't in Lonely Planet) then I shall.

If you appreciate fine expresso variations, you will understand why Libernard is so good. They roast their aribica beans on-site and create their own blends. The proprieter is also one of the only true baristas in CM and she makes cups to perfection.

I notice one theme in your reccos is 'cheap'. I can't remember the prices at Libernard, but it can't be more expensive than Starcraps. Libernard's new location also has a great deal of charm unlike a food court or one of Starbuck's 1,000,000,000,000,000 locations around the world.

Libernard is truely one of the special coffe places in CM and Thailand for that matter.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

If I write much more than this then no-one will read it, but should anyone wish me to name another 9 places better than Liberand (and most aren't in Lonely Planet) then I shall.

If you appreciate fine expresso variations, you will understand why Libernard is so good. They roast their aribica beans on-site and create their own blends. The proprieter is also one of the only true baristas in CM and she makes cups to perfection.

I notice one theme in your reccos is 'cheap'. I can't remember the prices at Libernard, but it can't be more expensive than Starcraps. Libernard's new location also has a great deal of charm unlike a food court or one of Starbuck's 1,000,000,000,000,000 locations around the world.

Libernard is truely one of the special coffe places in CM and Thailand for that matter.

Have you been to "Starcraps" on Nimmaheimen Road"? Libernard is more expensive.

I never understand what is wrong with Starbucks coffee? I only recomended the location anyway.

Coffee should be cheap if it's grown here. How do Libernard justify the price?

EDIT: But, I will admit that it has been a while since I tried their coffee, and I've stopped smoking since then - so maybe that affected the taste. I'll try and make an effort to go there soon, and see if you're right or not. I don't want to be responsible for the death of another good thread.

Edited February 25, 2006 by Grant