Any nice cafés with below-average prices?

[BadCash]

I use my laptop for work and study, and sometimes (quite often it seems!) it just gets too boring to work from home. I also like coffee. Solution - coffee shop.

 

I have yet to find a coffee shop which combines comfortable seating, relatively quiet atmosphere, good wifi and good prices. Usually, the cheapest thing on the menu will be an espresso or americano for 60-80 baht. While not really expensive, I sure could find the same deal (or a better deal when combining it with something to eat) back home. Going for more elaborate drinks like "iced mint cafe mocha" at a TomnToms will cost up to, and above,140 baht - this, IMHO, is just ridiculous in Thailand, since you can find a meal at a decent restaurant for the same price! The same correlation would be absurd back home. If it was only the international chains like Starbucks, TomnToms and Holly's Coffee that had these prices, it would be one thing. But I find that local coffee shops and domestic chains such as True Coffee have similar prices. If you ask someone, they'll usually say "it's because it's imported" - well, we don't exactly grow coffee in Sweden either... So I'm curious about why coffee seems so overpriced relative to most things in Thailand?

 

Also, I'm curious if there are any coffee shops with lower prices, and still fulfilling the other criterias - comfortable seating, relatively quiet atmosphere, good wifi?

 

(Funnily enough, McDonalds in some locations fulfill most requirements with prices as low as 40-50 baht for an americano - if you are über cheap and just  want the WiFi, I guess you can find something on the menu for 20-30 baht even... Unfortunately, most locations are noisy and busy - and the WiFi lasts only 45 minutes...)

Edited March 12, 2017 by BadCash

[impulse]

You're not just paying for the coffee.  You're paying to rent the air conditioned, wifi enabled seat, which is just about as expensive in a 1st class building in BKK as it is anywhere in the world, and a lot more expensive than it is in Fish Shack Wisconsin.

 

Suck it up and pay your fair share.   Unless you're a struggling student.  They get a pass until they're making their nugget...  But then they need to pay their fair share.

 

With 4G speeds nowadays, a few hundred baht a month for a SIM and data plan takes away the need to hunt down free wifi anyway.  Amortized over 20 working days in a month puts it well within your budget and you can sit in a nice park or a bench in a mall, not displacing paying customers (one of my pet peeves when I go into a cafe or fast food joint and can't find a place to sit and enjoy what I just bought- for all the "students" taking up the tables).

 

Edited March 12, 2017 by impulse

[fruitman]

51 minutes ago, BadCash said:

Unfortunately, most locations are noisy and busy - and the WiFi lasts only 45 minutes...)

Edited 45 minutes ago by BadCash

That's why good places are expensive, noisy students go to Macdonalds and can't afford it. Also at IKEA loads of students do homework in their restaurants...also adult Thai go sit in Macdonalds in groups without ordering anything.

 

There are/were some good internet cafe's downtown though but i haven't been there for ages. You can't compare Thailand with Sweden and yes Bangkok costs more if you want quality.

 

And if you find a good place better not mention it on this forum or tomorrow the farang with crying babies will also sit there all day.

 

[impulse]

BTW, now that my tirade is over, what part of town is it you're interested in?

 

And fruitman's right about keeping it off the radar...

 

Just in my building at Asoke, I can buy a cuppa for anywhere from 30 baht to 200 baht, depending on which shop I drop in to.  But none of the chains -even the local chains- are on the 30 baht end of that spectrum.  It's the independents on the low end, and probably why they don't last very long before the next sign with a catchy name goes up.

Edited March 12, 2017 by impulse

[Spaniel]

Here is a place you might want to check out, it's a coffee shop located on Sukhumvit Soi 19 appropriately enough named  "on nineteen coffee shop".     It's located about 200 M in the soi from Sukhumvit on the left side, before you get to the Honey Hotel.    I was in that area a few days ago and stopped in for a latte, which was excellent for B70.        Friendly owner/staff, free wifi, food and snacks too.

 

[BadCash]

50 minutes ago, impulse said:

You're not just paying for the coffee.  You're paying to rent the air conditioned, wifi enabled seat, which is just about as expensive in a 1st class building in BKK as it is anywhere in the world, and a lot more expensive than it is in Fish Shack Wisconsin.

 

Suck it up and pay your fair share.   Unless you're a struggling student.  They get a pass until they're making their nugget...  But then they need to pay their fair share.

 

With 4G speeds nowadays, a few hundred baht a month for a SIM and data plan takes away the need to hunt down free wifi anyway.  Amortized over 20 working days in a month puts it well within your budget and you can sit in a nice park or a bench in a mall, not displacing paying customers (one of my pet peeves when I go into a cafe or fast food joint and can't find a place to sit and enjoy what I just bought- for all the "students" taking up the tables).

 

True that the coffee is just one small part of the product I'm paying for - but the same goes no matter what country you're in. But I agree - and often forget - that Bangkok is a special case and might not really be comparable to other cities in Thailand and not even in many other countries.

 

I'm a student, but I wouldn't say I'm struggling (except with passing my courses), so I feel I have at least some right to question prices and be a bit cheap sometimes. But mostly I'm just curious about why the prices of some things seem so out of sync with others, and especially with salaries in Thailand...

 

Park benches and mall seating are definitely options, unfortunately they're usually nowhere near as comfortable and/or quiet as an air conditioned coffee shop with comfortable seating (I didn't mention electrical outlets, because that's what batteries are for :)

 

21 minutes ago, impulse said:

BTW, now that my tirade is over, what part of town is it you're interested in?

 

And fruitman's right about keeping it off the radar...

 

Just in my building at Asoke, I can buy a cuppa for anywhere from 30 baht to 200 baht, depending on which shop I drop in to.  But none of the chains -even the local chains- are on the 30 baht end of that spectrum.  It's the independents on the low end, and probably why they don't last very long before the next sign with a catchy name goes up.

I'm in the On Nut area, but I might have to do some more thorough investigation downtown then :) I'm usually relying on Google and Google Maps to find new places that seem to have at least some of the required attributes, but I realize I'm missing a lot of the smaller places that way. And I guess fruitman is right about keeping it off the radar - doesn't look promising for this thread then!

 

30 baht doesn't even sound like you would get a wooden stool in the public area of the building to sit on though..? :D 

[fruitman]

It starts with ground coffeebeans costing double the price of Europe...there is Douwe Egberts in Makro but the Thai don't know it, it tastes great and costs 150 baht 500 gram grounded. Coffeeshops pay that for 250 gram.

 

Than the coffeemachines are imported and more expensive in Thailand.

 

The locations around Sukhumvit/main roads also are very expensive in BKK.

 

Good chairs also cost more here than back home.

 

Wifi is also more expensive here than back home, they have fewer customers and all cables hang in the air and break sometimes/get sun exposure.

 

Trafficjam also makes things more expensive in BKK.

 

It all adds up...soon BKK will be more expensive that Germany...it already is for supermarkets/Mercedes cars/beer/wine and many things. Also the subway costs more than a taxi if travelling with 2 or more persons. This is all because of no management/corruption/no police and so on....

[cheapskatesam]

I don't understand these Digital Nomads who pretentiously like to pose with their laptops "working" in Coffee shops.

 

The best place to work is in your room in silence.. make your own coffee with a kettle.

 

Quote

Look at me everybody!! I'm WORRRRKING with my Macbook Pro (cost $1000 it's the 2017 model) 

 

Edited March 12, 2017 by cheapskatesam

[fruitman]

1 hour ago, cheapskatesam said:

I don't understand these Digital Nomads who pretentiously like to pose with their laptops "working" in Coffee shops.

 

The best place to work is in your room in silence.. make your own coffee with a kettle.

 

 

A macbook pro costs a lot more!

 

Maybe those digital nomads want to network in those internet coffeeshops? Or pick up an educated girly? 

 

Anyway, i don't understand the kids who do homework in the KFC every day....but there's so much i don't understand in Thailand.

 

Also not why he wants to study in Thailand if he's a Swede...but that's not my business.

 

I'm with you, have your own airconroom, fast internet, coffee kettle and nobody will disturb you there.

[BadCash]

4 hours ago, cheapskatesam said:

I don't understand these Digital Nomads who pretentiously like to pose with their laptops "working" in Coffee shops.

 

The best place to work is in your room in silence.. make your own coffee with a kettle.

 

Look at me everybody!! I'm WORRRRKING with my Macbook Pro (cost $1000 it's the 2017 model) 

Sure, there are probably people who like to "show off" their expensive equipment, but you know what - people went to coffee shops to work and study long before laptops were invented. There are actually those who are working (without quotation marks), and aren't trying to "show off" any more than someone who happens to wear his business suit outside of the office. 

 

FYI, my MacBook Air is over 4 years old and has a broken black plastic cover that hides the glowing apple, making it look like any cheap old laptop. My initial thought when I got the cover 4 years ago was that I wanted it to look like an anonymous random laptop, so it would be less attractive to thieves since I was travelling around Asia, mostly in places far more shady than a Bangkok coffee shop. I'm pretty sure if I would try to sell it to a Thai they would laugh and say "2012 model?! No way, that's old technology. I wouldn't want to be seen in public with that!".

Edited March 12, 2017 by BadCash

[dddave]

If the OP doesn't mind walking or taking a bus towards Phra Khanong, there is a very nice and reasonably priced (B40 Latte) coffee shop with excellent wifi on Sukhumvit, odd soi side, after you cross the canal, a few storefronts before the entrance to the Phra Khanong market (Zenith Condo) 

It is also a hostel. The interior is a nice design and the staff is very pleasant.

[Thainess]

The OP is one of those people (falangs) who likes to go into a coffee shop or restaurant with wifi, order the cheapest thing on the menu and then sit there working all day long while using their electricity and taking up a table. In other words, a selfish cheapskate. Thailand is full of such people who are basically living in Thailand because they couldn't afford to live in their developed First World country.

[BadCash]

3 hours ago, Thainess said:

The OP is one of those people (falangs) who likes to go into a coffee shop or restaurant with wifi, order the cheapest thing on the menu and then sit there working all day long while using their electricity and taking up a table. In other words, a selfish cheapskate. Thailand is full of such people who are basically living in Thailand because they couldn't afford to live in their developed First World country.

 

So let me get this straight - you're saying that if a place offers no time limit on their WiFi, a chair to sit on, an electrical outlet and a drink at a certain price - I'm somehow a "selfish cheapskate" to take them up on the offer? You want me to donate charities to poor Starbucks for using the services they provide?

 

Regardless, you are wrong on all accounts. First, I don't go for the cheapest thing on the menu (which is usually Espresso), I order something I like. Second, you obviously have no idea how most places operate - they usually have a time limit on the wifi, often 1-3 hours per purchase, making your statement "sit there working all day" incorrect. There are also places who ban laptops all together - obviously they have a right to do so - and lose us "selfish cheapskates" as customers.

 

But you're right in that I couldn't afford to live the way I do here in Sweden. I couldn't afford to live the way I do in Sweden in a more expensive country, like Switzerland or Norway, either - according to your logic, I should move to the most expensive place available? Or maybe we should all move to North Korea and have no option to act like rational agents in a free market?

[gdgbb]

On 12/03/2017 at 7:31 PM, fruitman said:

 

Anyway, i don't understand the kids who do homework in the KFC every day....but there's so much i don't understand in Thailand.

 

 

Don't give the students doing their homework in these places a hard time, most of them have nowhere else to do it as many live in single rooms with the rest of the family.  At least they're doing their homework, they could be getting involved in much less productive activities!

[balo]

Plenty of 40 baht coffee shops around, even with aircon. But as always they are hard to find if you only stay in one area. And you dont want to spend 2 hours in traffic.

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[fruitman]

19 hours ago, Thainess said:

The OP is one of those people (falangs) who likes to go into a coffee shop or restaurant with wifi, order the cheapest thing on the menu and then sit there working all day long while using their electricity and taking up a table. In other words, a selfish cheapskate. Thailand is full of such people who are basically living in Thailand because they couldn't afford to live in their developed First World country.

You should see who are sitting on a drink all day in the Mac Donalds in Chinatown. 

 

If a coffeebar has some young farang sitting/working there it attracts Thai as well cause they'll look hi-so to sit among farang.

 

The Starbucks "drivethrough" Ratchaprueck is just a big library, very silent and everybody is working there on their topmodel laptops. They even have companymeetings at large tables with a beamer as well.

 

Also many Thai businesspeople use the Starbucks or Black Canyon to meet their customers. It's just how it works in thailand.

 

 

[BadCash]

56 minutes ago, balo said:

Plenty of 40 baht coffee shops around, even with aircon. But as always they are hard to find if you only stay in one area. And you dont want to spend 2 hours in traffic.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app
 

 

Any particular area that you would recommend (obviously not ridiculously far away from On Nut)? 

 

[Cinderella Man]

Rent a good condo...

 

Every higher class condo has a library with free wifi, comfortable seating and power outlets. Get coffee press for 250thb + good coffee for 100 thb per 250gram and you are sorted.

 

A lot of people told me I'm wasting money paying 24000 rent for 1 bedroom.

 

Except

 

- luxury building

- two pools, two gyms - 3000 thb a month saved

- free wifi in library with ac, wifi at one of the pools - great environment for your laptop with 15 second lift commute (instead of paying 4500thb a month for co-working space or the same for coffee etc at coffee shops)

- no traffic jams and (for Thailand) pretty expensive bts/mrt costs

 

[BadCash]

I'll go ahead and answer my own question - surprised nobody has mentioned the Café Amazon chain. Coffee from 35 baht and up, tasted just as good as a 100 baht cup to me. So far I've only tried two branches - one with unlimited WiFi and one with no WiFi. Pleasant staff and decent seating arrangements + electrical outlets for people with laptops. 

[bkk6060]

Actually for the price 7-11 may have the best freshly ground coffee. They grind the beans with each cup.  Usually good but I wonder about the water I had a cup a few weeks ago and it tasted a little like urine.

 

Edited April 8, 2017 by bkk6060

[smokie36]

There is a coffee shop between Soi 31-33 that fills the criteria.

 

Owner has purposely made pricing attractive so it can be affordable for daily use.

 

Good coffee and OK food in my experience. The area to the rear is always a tad quieter.

 

Mind you not sure how they react to the digital nomad 3hr visit on one coffee brigade. 

[lamyai3]

On 3/14/2017 at 10:37 AM, BadCash said:

 

Any particular area that you would recommend (obviously not ridiculously far away from On Nut)? 

 

On nut itself isn't bad, plenty of options down soi 77 in the 50 baht range for a latte, shops are often on the ground floor level in condos. Couple of places in the Big C there too, including a Black Canyon and another one next door, all much cheaper than Starbucks and I'd guess several have wifi in there. I'd expect similar around soi 71.

[JimCrane]

cafes here are a rip, and like everything else your going to get a small cup and a few sugar packets, of course.

 

given that there are almost no public benches for people to sit on in bkk, my guess is that cafes are mostly selling a comfortable seat for people who are tired of walking around in the heat.

Edited April 10, 2017 by JimCrane