Finally found a good cappuccino in Chiang Mai - and it's a chain
I'm one of these people that tries to support the little guys and avoid chains if it is in any way possible. I refuse to buy coffee from Starbucks and am always on the lookout for a nice, family-owned coffee shop wherever I go in Thailand.
I have been trying for months to find a shop somewhat near my house that can make a proper cappuccino and I don't think I am incorrect when I say that this is likely the most common specialty coffee in existence. Yet I have been disappointed so many times by the small shops. I found an absolutely perfect cappuccino yesterday.
I mean just look at that! It doesn't even look real it is so perfect. The coffee that they used to make the espresso was "fresh" i guess or i dunno, just good. I'm not a coffee snob and I don't know the terminology.
It is not difficult to find a coffee shop in Thailand - they are friggin everywhere. However, as is the case with a lot of things in this country, the owners of most of these spots skip a rather major aspect of having such a shop: They apparently never learned to actually make the drinks they sell.
I've been to at least a dozen shops in the past month and all of them have gotten it wrong. I mean badly wrong. I find this extremely inexcusable if you have a coffee shop and you don't know how to make what is likely the most popular "specialty coffee" in the world.
Well anyway, the coffee shop that I found is called Wawee Coffee and while they aren't international they are a relatively massive chain. So now i'm kind of back where I started because I really would prefer to be supporting the small shops... However, if they don't know WTF they are doing, I'm not going to pay for an inferior product. Seriously, this is the first properly made cappu that I have had since I moved here and that is frustrating.
Wawee Coffee is all over the place in the north of Thailand and if you see one you can enter any of them with confidence. They have strict controls on quality and procedure and I suppose this is a big part of the reason why they are popular.
the one i went to was here, but seriously, they are all over the place
Off-topic: How easy/hard is it to move to Thailand for a non citizen? Id like to know
and if possible please write a piece on itas I am enchanted by everything you post about your country.I love coffee and the cafes are to die for even here. I should be posting some here, yes? ♡
Moving is easy and if you are employed by a school it is easy to stay. Otherwise you must enroll in a school and pay for it. This will only work for a couple years though. I'll write an article about it. Good idea
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I'd appreciate it a lot. I think I'd be fine living there even for just a short while 💞
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Are the prices decent? Part of the issue with the Bucks is that it costs you that just to get a beverage from them. If this place is making a good cup for a decent price you shouldn't feel bad about going there. Especially if it is a more local chain. No matter how big they are. I really dig some of the small chain restaurants, they are still small enough to be unique, but the fact that they have multiple locations tells you that the food must be on point for there to be a demand like that.
well, i don't know what it costs in Starbucks but i am certain it is the most expensive. Generally, the small shops charge $1, the mid sized ones (like this one) charge $2.
Just like you mentioned, the small shops tend to be more personal, but the fact that they oh so frequently do the friggin coffee wrong kind of eliminates them from contention in my book.
I do have the same mentality when it comes to some products. I believe Starbucks is overrated and that some local shops really have a better atmosphere. On the other hand however, there is at least something in the fact that a chain is successful. It cannot just be marketing and herd mentality... Although I sometimes struggle to see the difference with Apple products :)
The moral of the story I would say is that you should try a lot of different things, even if they are against your internal etiquette. They may well surprise you pleasantly :)
The coffee looks amazing :D
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Perhaps the only good coffee schools are located in Bangkok. Thai families would have to be really rich to have housing in Bangkok to go to school. So it seems that they are trying to bypass the schooling due to money and opportunity and are trying to just set up a little shop. I've been to Thailand several times. You're right. It's not easy to find a good cup of coffee.
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the thing I don't understand is that the distributors who sell these high end espresso machines offer free barista training to anyone who buys one of their overpriced machines. How did steaming milk properly (arguably the most important part of the process) not get covered during this training?
Now I'm beginning to wonder if Thailand has a coffee culture like western countries do, or not. You must feel frustrated without a good cup of coffee around. I guess you could go onto Alibaba.com and buy your own expresso machine and have it delivered to your door step. It'd be cheaper in the long run! But it IS a big investment. That's what one of my friends here in korea did. (She's from Australia).
Like these.
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yeah, i should probably just get my own machine but honestly, i need to leave the house more often than i do :)
Great and best coffee delivery I guess
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Gracias por compartirlo
My friend told me that they sell foods on the streets in Thailand, I wonder whether also the coffee.
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