What if you can find three cultures blended into one that will make you travel to south east asia? Wouldn’t it be amazing to find it in a cup of coffee? I personally would and this is my recount of my first time discovering this balanced blend of three coffee from different countries with different characteristics and history.

Thailand is certainly not a familiar name in the coffee world. For many coffee lovers, Vietnam and Indonesia are more familiar to the ears, let alone laos. In many cafes in Indonesia, they don’t generally sell any south east asian coffee products. The cafes around are mostly selling coffee from either South America, Africa or Indonesia itself with its rich profile and flavour beans. This is why this discovery is quite interesting because it’s not something familiar that I can find anywhere back home, perhaps you too.

Interesting Trivia About Thailand And Laos Coffee

Now before I tell you further about the experience, there is actually an interesting fact that I found from reading the history of coffee in the world. According to the book, in Laos and Thailand, the coffee plant is actually replacing the growth of opium poppies. However even in Thailand itself there are some problems in the coffee farm especially the water shortage that is partly influenced by the golf course that needs a lot of water all around bangkok.

The coffee that is produced in Thailand, Laos, and Indonesia are also different. As the map in the book shows, Thailand produces mostly Robusta and some arabica while Indonesia is the reserve and Laos is producing the hybrid excelsa which produces an interesting coffee characteristic. Certainly, the surrounding plants affect their taste too and for example, I sampled excelsa that tasted like jackfruit. But the one I tried here has interesting characteristics due to the blending.

Truth be told, I found the cafe by accident. I was only trying to find a cafe nearby and as I walked, I found a spot called Okay Okay Cafe. When I saw the sign that they had interesting blends, I ended up trying both of the blends. They also offer single-origin too which was either from EU or Africa, I couldn’t really remember.

The cafe is pretty small and has a similar setting like most Indonesian cafes except it also is equipped with many sockets and I spotted a guy who was working on his laptop. So, I suppose, it’s something fine to do in the area.

My experience sipping Indonesia/Thai/Lao Blend

At first, I tried caramel macchiato. When I asked the barista, he was using the first blend of the coffee which has a flavour characteristic of dark chocolate/raisin/nutmeg/honey. It tasted divine and I have to say, the blend is quite balanced. My next homework is actually figuring out which Indonesian beans they use because it was an interesting sip that I’ve had in my entire life. After that sip, it got me wondering, what’s Thai coffee like?

I started scribbling on my notes and on my way back, I ended up reading my encyclopaedia of coffee and read interesting facts about the coffee from there especially from Thai and Lao as they both sound pretty fascinating and unfamiliar to me compared to Indonesia and other regions in the world.

My exploration didn’t stop there, I went for the 2nd round for my second blend. I ordered an espresso and the blend number 2 has dried fruit, brown sugar, and nutty flavour. I have to say there was a slightly ash burnt aftertaste and the dried fruit wasn’t as smooth as I thought it to be, it was also less sweeter than the first blend. I suppose, if one enjoys a chocolate flavour, the first blend would be better than the second blend.

After evaluating the two, I certainly prefer the first blend because it was sweet and has a smoother taste than the second blend. In terms of roast, they are both in the medium spectrum but as you can see, one is slightly more and the other aren’t.The roast also affects the taste of the coffee which is why it’s also important to know your preferred roast. For me, since I enjoy medium roast, it was just perfect and the way I wanted it to be.

I suppose all these time, I have either focused too much on South American coffee instead of Asian coffee. All these time, I personally, I have tried so many different variants of Indonesian coffee beans and also different varieties of beans including coffee excelsa which is basically a hybrid. I have to say that I also mostly tried South American coffee because they’re also more available and accessible. As for the excelsa, I thought that they were grown mostly in Indonesia, in east-java and I have even visited the coffee farm of it. But apparently, they are also grown in Laos and are quite significant beans over there. This exploration opened up my eyes that there could be a unique flavour from blends that I have not tried in this world.

Also, if you ever get the chance to find this blend, I am really suggesting you to try it because it has a unique touch to it and definitely you’d be travelling to southeast asia just from a cup of coffee.

My reference is this book The World Encyclopedia of Coffee by Mary Banks et al.

See you in my next Roaming for Roast!

Previously on Roaming for Roasts : Meet Taobin, The Smart Robotic Barista

Roaming For Roast is my newest series about all-things-coffee experience. If you enjoy coffee and cafe experiences, don’t miss out on this series.