People travel for many reasons: to escape, to meet new people, to accumulate photos, to experience other cultures. I travel for the latter. I’ve always believed that traveling is one of the best ways to learn about one’s culture. To read about it is one thing, to see and experience it yourself is another. And one way to truly immerse in a culture is through food.
Unfortunately, I traveled solo so I didn’t get to sample as many Thai dishes as I would have wanted. What I had in plenty was coffee. Since I work at a coffee shop back home, I was ecstatic when I found out that Bangkok’s third wave coffee scene is very much alive and blooming.
This is not a piece about Thai coffee culture or their specialty coffee scene – the experts have weighed in on that here and here. I’m just taking you on a virtual tour of two of the cafés I visited in the Siam Square area.
Gallery Drip Coffee
Google third wave coffee shops in Bangkok and Gallery Drip Coffee is almost always in the top results. This small independent shop located on the ground floor of Bangkok Art and Culture Center is one of the most popular specialty coffee shops in BKK. Swayed by all the good reviews and lovely photos I came across online, I made sure that I would drop by. During my five-day stay, I had coffee here three times so you can say that I liked the café very much.
As you can probably guessed from the name, Gallery Drip Coffee keeps it classic by serving only drip coffee. Even their cold brew is done by slow, overnight drip! The beans are of Ethiopian and Kenyan origin but there are also beans from Chiang Mai, Thailand’s coffee capital. Of course, I had to try the local coffee. So on my first visit, I had iced Mae Ton Loung. On my second visit, I went for hot Pamiang. Then on my last night, I tried their cold brew which is a blend of their Thai beans. Both beans were lightly roasted (this is where I realized that I LOVED light roasts) but I liked Pamiang more because of its natural sweetness and fruity tones.
The menu is limited to coffees, teas, seasonal juices, and a few cheesecakes. I tried the blueberry cheesecake, which paired nicely with the iced coffee. Their passion fruit cheesecake was HEAVENLY. The combination of sweet and sour was so good, arresting at first but definitely refreshing after eating spicy Thai dishes. It was so, so good that I tried to eat it as slowly as possible just so I get to enjoy it longer. The passion fruit seeds also made the cake “crunchy”. I would love to go back and order it again.
Gallery Drip Coffee’s owner is a photographer and it shows. The space is a bit small, I would even say cramped but screams artsy. They have a lot of stuff around the shop – grinders, a shelf full of merchandise such as coffee beans, postcards, V60 drippers, filters, even flash drives! The place gives off a nice, friendly, warm vibe though. The staff are friendly, although not everyone seems comfortable speaking English. (I think they just find it weird that I look like them and yet I don’t speak Thai.)
The bar stools are a nice touch; they let you watch the baristas as they prepare your coffee. On my first visit, I was so amazed that the barista took the beans and hand-ground it before manually brewing it on a V60. Hand grind! That’s taking third wave on a different level!
Gallery Drip Coffee really takes coffee seriously and as someone who appreciates coffee geekery, I enjoyed watching their artsy, albeit exhausting (hand grinding!!!) process. The packaging of their coffee beans also show just how geek this joint is. They’ve outlined everything about the origin: region, process, altitude, cupping notes, even the suggested water temperature for brewing. I loved it!
Gallery Drip Coffee is located at the ground floor of BACC, 939 Rama 1 Road, near the BTS Skytrain National Stadium station. Open from Tuesday – Sunday, 11AM – 9PM.
I+D Style Cafe x Brave Roasters
It took me several minutes to locate I + D Style Café x Brave Roasters because it’s literally hidden in one corner of Siam Center, surrounded by shoes, bags, toys, magazines. It’s like an escape! I+D is a relatively new café. The guys at Brave Roasters, however, have been making a name for themselves. The brand is already award-winning!
Like Gallery Drip Coffee, Brave Roasters’ goal is to bring Thai coffee to the next level. Their micro-lot reserve line of coffee beans are sourced from Northern Thailand as well and they are proud of their coffee is high quality and socially responsible. I think that’s what’s amazing with the new specialty cafés in Bangkok – they make it a point to really be immersed in the coffee production by visiting the farms and talking to the farmers. How do I know, you asked? Well, I’ve been stalking some of these guys on Instagram and all the photos make me want to visit Chiang Mai soon.
I only went to I + D once and I didn’t stay long but I loved the place. The staff are also friendly (and super helpful when I was choosing beans to take home) but I + D’s industrial design gave it a no-nonsense, serious coffee connoisseur character. It stands for innovation and design, after all. While Gallery Drip’s pour-over artistry amazed me, I + D’s cold brew blew me away. Medium-light roast, Jomthong origin, slow overnight drip. This one had a heavier body than Gallery Drip’s cold brew, a hint of citrus and nuts. The most fascinating thing though was its packaging. It was served in a whiskey bottle and you can pour it over ice. After a day of walking around sunny Bangkok, this was a much need refresher.
I + D Style Café x Brave Roasters recently moved and is now on the 3rd floor of the newly renovated Siam Discovery, along Rama I Rd, Pathum Wan, Bangkok. Open daily from 10am to 10pm.
I only regret that I’ve only been to two specialty coffee shops in Bangkok. But that gives me a reason to visit again. 😉
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