This month, City Boy Coffee is releasing a phenomenal honey processed coffee from Thailand, a country that, despite it’s proximity to Vietnam, the world’s second largest coffee producer, did not see much coffee until the 1970s when the government introduced it to provide a profitable alternative to opium farming.
While Thailand is beginning to make a strong showing on the world stage, initially, most of their coffee wasn’t very good. So they brewed it in a long sock shaped filter called a tung dtom kaffee with a mixture of spices and served it on ice.
This month’s coffee is from Law Wu, a small village in Northern Thailand with just nine farmers. It has a very classic Thai profile with notes of dark chocolate, apple pie, and black tea which makes it a perfect coffee for Thai Iced Coffee (Oliang.) We wanted to help you brew Thai Iced Coffee at home, but we couldn’t get around the fact that it’s unlikely for any of you to own a tung dtom kaffee. So, we’ve decided to create a cold brew version. It gives you coffee that’s strong enough for Oliang and incorporates traditional ingredients. Even though it’s cold brew, we think it’s more similar to what you’d get in Thailand than most of the Thai Iced Coffee you’ll find in the states.
Thai Cold Brew Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp rice
- 4 cardamom pods
- 120g of coarsely ground coffee
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- sweetened condensed milk
Bring to a boil 800 milliliters of water with rice. Reduce to a simmer until the rice is soft. Let water cool to room temperature, then remove rice and set aside.
Place rice, brown sugar, cardamom pods, sesame seeds and coffee in a container and pour 600 milliliters of the now room temperature water (that you used to boil the rice) into a container. You can use any container but if you’ve got a French Press, it’ll be easier to strain later. Let the coffee steep in your refrigerator (very important) for 16-18 hours. When it’s done, strain it and mix the concentrate with 600 milliliters of cold water.
Now you’ve got your Thai Cold Brew. It can last in the fridge for about a week. Pour yourself a glass and top with sweetened condensed milk.
Our Coffee
This month we partnered with Lanna Coffee whose mission is to end the cycle of poverty within the hill tribes of Northern Thailand. Members of these tribes are refugees. They are not citizens of Thailand and they cannot return to their homeland. Lanna partners with an NGO called Integrated Tribal Development Foundation. They have been providing funds to help establish members of hill tribe families as coffee farmers since the 90s and have given them tools and training that allow them to produce coffees that compete with the world’s top producers. While the villagers of Law Wu may not be recognized as Thai citizens, they and other farmers in hill tribe villages, have made Northern Thailand a rising star in the coffee world.
Subscribe or Buy
Our single-origin coffees are available to our Coffee World Tour subscribers first. We then sell a small amount to those who may wish to try an origin without subscribing through our Featured Coffee page.
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Flavor profile
rich and luscious
dark chocolate, apple pie, black tea
Roast
medium-dark
Process
black honey process
Altitude
1700 meters
Varietal/Cultivar
Catimor
Producer
Law Wu Cooperative
Law Wu Village, Northern Thailand
Relationship Established: 2021
Country
Thailand
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Photo of Thai coffee stand courtesy of thaidirect.co, and photos from the farms provided by Lanna Coffee
