Doi Pangkhon, Lactic

Stone Fruit // Tropical Sweetness // Winey Depth // Silky Body Think ripe plum and lychee with a winey, almost jammy sweetness and a silky, lingering finish. Thai coffee doesn't often make it onto my radar, but this one genuinely stopped me. It's doing something exciting. Doi Pangkhon sits in the highlands of Chiang Mai province, one of Thailand's most celebrated coffee-growing regions. At altitude, cooler temperatures and a distinct dry season slow cherry development, building complexity and sweetness that punches well above what most people expect from Southeast Asian coffee. This lot comes from the Merlaeku brothers, a family of producers in the Doi Pangkhon area whose meticulous approach to farming and processing has earned them a serious reputation in the specialty world. It's exported by BeanSpire, a Bangkok-based exporter dedicated to elevating Thai specialty coffee, and imported into Europe by This Side Up. We're offering this as a European exclusive — This Side Up haven't taken any of this lot for spot, so you won't find it anywhere else on the continent. Processing After harvest, ripe cherries are collected and cleaned before a culture of Lactic Acid Bacteria is introduced to the fermentation environment. This controlled inoculation encourages a lactic fermentation — producing the smooth, creamy acidity and complex fruit character that defines this style — before the coffee is dried whole-cherry on raised beds. The result is a cup with the wild sweetness of a natural and the structured, silky texture of a lactic ferment.