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8/7/2019 Bangkok Airways in-flight magazinei-march 2011
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/bangkok-airways-in-flight-magazinei-march-2011 1/4
Ti coffee is reltively new ddition
to te jv economy, but one tt’s fst
expnding. Scott Coates trvels to
nortern Tilnd were e discovers
vibrnt ill tribe-led industry
BrewedAwakenıng
Thaa
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8/7/2019 Bangkok Airways in-flight magazinei-march 2011
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8/7/2019 Bangkok Airways in-flight magazinei-march 2011
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worn around their necks are quickly lled. The picking season
runs rom late October to early February and it takes about three
years or each new tree to produce usable, tasty beans. Cofee is
interesting in that the ruit o the berry is discarded and it’s the
seed that’s used.
There’s nothing easy about the long and meticulous process o
producing a world-class cup o cofee, explains Wicha. “You have
to get up early in the morning, pick the berries, take them to the
washing station, pre-wash them, pulp them, then dry-erment
them or a day. Underwater ermentation takes another day, then
we soak the beans in natural spring water or another 24 hours,
drain the water and naturally sun-dry them or seven to eight
days. The entire process takes about 14 days. Then you have to
store the beans or another six to seven months, pulp them to get
the parchment of the green beans and then, nally, roast them.”
The work day begins at
dawn in the mountains and,
thankully, Doi Chaang’s
cofee shop is open. We dive
in to rich cups o Americano
beore bidding arewell. We
board our 4x4 and tackle a
challenging dirt road down
the mountain to Chiang
Rai city and on to our next
destination, Doi Tung. Along
the way, it’s obvious that many
cofee shops have sprung
up over the past ew years,
testimony to the act that
Thailand is now the third largest producer o cofee in Asia, ater
Vietnam and Indonesia.
Operating under the direction o the Mae Fah Luang
Foundation, which was established by the king’s late mother
in 1988, Doi Tung Cofee was the rst Thai producer to gain
national acclaim. As in Doi Chaang, cofee was introduced here
as an alternative crop to opium and as a means o improving
ชาวอาขาท าไรกาแฟวนกบการเกบผลกาแฟสกงอมสแดงใสตะกราทคลองคอ ชาวไรตองรอกวาสามปกวาตนกาแฟจะใหผลกาแฟทมคณภาพรสชาตดทนาสนใจไปกวานนคอผลแดงๆจากตนกาแฟจะถกทงไป เหลอเพยงแตเมลดขางในทจะ ามาผลตเปนกาแฟ คณวชากลาววา กวาจะไดกาแฟระดบโลกสกแกวนน ไมใชเรองงายๆ เนองจากตองผานกระบวนการมากมาย ชาวไรตองเกบกาแฟแตเชาตร นาผลไปลาง าไปหมกแหงหนงวน หมกเปยกอกหนงวน จากนนก าไปแชในนาสะอาดอก 24 ชวโมง กอนจะตากแดดใหแหงทใชเวลาเจดถงแปดวน รวมกระบวนการทงหมดประมาณ 14 วนกอนการ าไปเกบรกษาอกราวหกถงเจดเดอน จากนนกสกาแฟเพอแยกกะลาแหงออกจากเมลดกาแฟ แลวจง าไปคว
the environment. According to Doi Tung’s executive director
Khunying Rungroi, “Our main intent was to gure out how we
could keep man and orest together so the orests wouldn’t be
destroyed again. We did several trials and ound that cofee worked
well under the shade o the pine trees that we had planted to
reorest the mountains.”
Today, Doi Tung is home to 1.7 million trees armed by more
than 1,000 hill tribe people. The trees produce 200 tons o
beans annually. As well as providing work and support or local
communities, the oundation is committed to conserving the
environment. “We say our cofee is ‘bird-riendly’’’, says Khunying
Rungroi. “It’s a cofee term meaning that when the birds eat the
cofee they don’t drop dead. They can live on the cofee as we
don’t use pesticides but let it grow naturally.”
As the sun sets, we make our way down the mountain via
a dirt track that passes by
mandarin orange and lychee
orchards as well as a temple
amous or its horse-riding
monks. It’s hard to believe
we’re only 45km rom Chiang
Rai. Ater an overnight stay
in the city, we head north-
west to one o Thailand’s
most vibrant towns, Doi Mae
Salong, to visit a small-scale
cofee arm.
Kuomintang (KMT)
soldiers rom Yunnan
province in southern China
settled in Doi Mae Salong in the 1970s and it’s more Chinese
than Thai. It is also home to 12 ethnic hill tribes that mainly
arm tea, which was another crop introduced in place o opium.
Cofee has started to catch on here in the past ew years, but at
1,000m, the town is just barely high enough to produce arabica
that can compete with that o Doi Chaang and Doi Tung.
In a small Ahka village, our host introduces us to Meechu, a
“‘Bird-friendly’ is acoffee term meaning
that when the birds eatthe coffee they don’t drop dead. They can
live on the coffee as wedon’t use pesticides
but let it grownaturally”
CLOCKWISE FROMTOP LEFT: hills o Doi
Mae Salong; Akhavillagers; an excellentcup o coee; chillingout with a cappuccino
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90-year-old woman he has known or a number o years. She
pufs away on her pipe – deying the notion that smoking kills
– and it’s hard to drag ourselves back to the dirt ootpath to
resume our journey. An hour later we emerge rom the orest and
walk right into a small cofee shop, where the owner treats us to
steaming cups o brew made with beans rom Thailand, Arica
and South America. As we gaze at the mountains through which
we’ve just trekked, we learn that there are some cofee armers
close by and decide to drop in on them.
Wilai and Weeral Cheewinwon, both rom Doi Mae Salong,
spent many years working in Taiwan and in the Thai beach
resort town o Pattaya beore returning home in 2006. The
couple had grown tired o cities, craved a more peaceul lie and,
upon hearing about cofee’s potential, decided to give it a try.
It hasn’t been easy, according to Wilai, but things are starting
to look up: “We have about 2,500 trees, which produce 400kg
o roasted beans per year. It’s not a lot, but they can etch up toUS$15 per kg and since the trees are only three years old, this is a
pretty decent yield.”
The next day, ater a journey o 200km, we’re at 1,600m,
high above Chiang Mai city and its most amous temple, Doi
ชาวเขาบนดอยแมสลองเรมปลกกาแฟเมอไมกปทผานมา ระดบความสงของดอยแมสลองกดจะเพยงพอ าหรบการปลกกาแฟอราบกาแขงกบดอยชางและดอยตงได คณวไลและคณวรา ชวนวร เปนคนดอยแมสลอง หลงจาก างานทประเทศไตหวนและรสอรทในพทยาหลายป ทงคกยายกลบมาสดอยแมสลองหลงจากไดยนเรองกจการกาแฟบน
ดอย แมวาจะไมใชเรองงายๆ ทวาคณวไลกคดวาสงตางๆกเปนไปไดดวยดคณวไลมตนกาแฟกวา 2,500 ตนทผลตกาแฟไดราว 400 กโลกรมตอป แมวาจะไมมากนก ทวากาแฟกไดราคาราว 15 เหรยญสหรฐตอกโลกรมทเดยว
Top Coffee SpoTS
Doi Chaang
Doi Chaang Coffee Shop: www.doichaangcoffee.com
Chiang Rai
Le Petit Café:194SankongnoiRd,tel:+66(0)53756761
Doi Chaang @ Art:RattanakhetRd,tel:+66(0)53752918Doi Mae Salong
Sweet Mae Salong:41/3DoiMaeSalong,tel:+66(0)53745028,http://sweetmaesalong.multiply.com
Doi Tung
Care Doi Tung: DoiTungRoyalVilla,tel:+66(0)53767015,www.doitung.org/cafe_our.php
Mae Suay
Doi Chaang Mae Suay: Hwy118,tel:+66(0)53950332
TRavel WiTh
Smiling Albinohasbeenleadingunique,custom-madeexperiencesinnorthernThailandsince1999.Expertsintheregion,SmilingAlbinoofferseverythingfromsoftexperiencestravellingbyprivatecartomountainbiking,dirtbikingandmotorcyclingthroughouttheregion.www.smilingalbino.com,[email protected], tel: +66 (0)2 718 9560
Suthep. We’re here to visit Thailand’s original cofee elds – and
the scenery is unorgettable. The Highland Research Facility
is located in Doi Suthep National Park, next to a Hmong hill
tribe village, and it’s here that the Royal Project or hill tribe
development introduced arabica cofee back in 1974.
Later, while ying back to Bangkok, I review my notes and
stumble upon a quote by Wicha o Doi Chaang Cofee: “I’m
quite sure you can grow good cofee anywhere in Thailand
above 1,000m, but the really important thing is processing,” he
says. “Most people are lazy and don’t take the time to process it
properly. It took us ve years to gure out the process. I’m sure in
the next ve years people around the world will know a lot more
about Thai cofee.”
I’ll drink to that.
Meechu, a 90-year-oldwoman who defes thenotion that smoking kills
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