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Susan's Thai Coffee Journey
Our Visit to Doi Chaang Coffee Farm Was…
Jun
Founder’s Diary — The Trips That Surprised Us Most
Stars, Valley Views and a Farmer Who Went His Own Way
By Susan, Founder of Coffee Culture Thailand — May 2026
“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” — John Lennon. Doi Chang was always on the map. A dot between Doi Mod and Pang Khon, the most logical place to rest our heads for the night. No agenda. No reservations about what we’d do or see. Just a stopover. That unplanned, unhurried moment ]turned into the highlight we didn’t see coming. A little holiday moment tucked inside a working trip. The kind of experience that reminds you why the best things in life are rarely the ones you planned for. So here is the extra story about the spectacular Doi Chang coffee farmer we met in Chiang Rai.
The Road Up Doi Chang Chiang Rai
The drive starts unremarkably. Wide highways, straight roads, the kind of driving where you set the music and let the kilometres pass. Then, in the last thirty minutes, everything changes. The road begins to climb. And then it really climbs. Perched along the edge of the mountains, with tea farms opening up the valley on either side. One-lane mountain roads with a long drop on one side and we were pulling over every once in a while just to look. The day was hazy. Farmers were burning their fields in the valleys below and smoke drifted across the ridges.
Doi Chang Coffee Village Between Seasons
When we arrived, Doi Chang was almost entirely closed. Cafes shuttered. Shops locked. Hotels run down. It looked, at first glance, like a place that had been left behind. Naturally, we were curious.
We found a small hotel perched on the ridge with a terrace that looked out over a 180-degree valley view. That evening, the stars came out in a way that only happens when there is no light pollution for fifty kilometres in any direction. We stayed up later than we should have.
We asked a local restaurant owner (we discovered a little too late that their place was also a bed and breakfast) who had built something special. A beautiful land perched on top of the hill, with a coffee farm and spectacular views right next door. They explained that this is simply how Doi Chang works. Most business owners here are based in Bangkok. Between harvest season and the tourist high season, the village goes to sleep. Come back after June 1st and it becomes a different place entirely.
Hia Tee, A Doi Chang Coffee Farmer Who Went His Own Way
There are those who farm coffee. And then there are those who are passionate about it. Always learning, always looking for ways to improve, always thinking one harvest ahead. Hia Tee (เฮียตี๋) was exactly that. And it is exactly the kind of farmer we look for when we source for Coffee Culture Thailand. And so one thing led to another and we of course immediately grabbed a bag of his green beans and brought it back with us. Here’s a story of the Doi Chaang Coffee Farmer who broke away from the Coffee giants.
The conversation that defined the evening started as a practical stop. We needed a few things before the minimart closed at 7pm. While we were paying for our basic necessities we spotted sacks of green coffee beans stacked by the counter. Then the door opened and Hia Tee walked in, carrying another sack of coffee over his shoulder. So we did what any coffee person would do. We got curious. What followed was one hour of conversation that we had not planned for and will not forget.
A Doi Chang Coffee Farmer Who Went His Own Way
As soon as we asked about the beans, he was more than happy to talk. Full of passion, full of pride. Hia Tee has farmed coffee in Doi Chang since the early days of the Royal Project, when the King and Queen’s initiative first introduced arabica to these highlands as an alternative to opium. Like most farmers of his generation, he sold his harvest to large corporate buyers on annual contracts. Fixed prices, no negotiation, no control. Then one day, he decided to break away from all of that. Separated from the corporate contracts, started selling directly and took control of his own prices. Today he farms 20 to 30 rai of land, combining his own harvest with that of his children to produce up to 20 to 30 tonnes of coffee a year.
He told us how unique his Doi Chaang coffee is. That there is nothing else in Doi Chang quite like it, because he cares for every plant without pesticides and picks only when the berries are perfectly ready. And with unmistakable pride, he told us about a new variety he recently planted called S80. Describing it, with a wide smile, as going to be even more delicious than anything currently grown in Thailand. He hasn’t tasted the first harvest yet. He is already excited about it.
What struck us most was the pride. Not pride in having gone his own way, though he clearly had. Pride in the coffee itself. In the plants. In the process. In the fact that what grows on his land in the mountains of Chiang Rai is genuinely exceptional and he knows it.
We went in for a bottle of water and a bag of snacks. We came out an hour later with a bag of his green beans.
What Doi Chaang Coffee Actually Is
Doi Chang sits at 1,000 to 1,700 metres above sea level in the mountains of Chiang Rai. It has EU Geographical Indication certification, the same legal protection given to Champagne and Parmigiano-Reggiano. It is not a marketing claim. It is a recognised, protected origin with a documented history and a measurable quality standard.
The coffee grown here tends toward a clean, well-structured cup. Honey and hazelnut notes are common. The body is rounded and the naturally lower caffeine content at altitude gives the cup a gentler quality that makes it easy to drink at any time of day.
It is not a flashy coffee. It does not try to surprise you. It is confident, consistent and very, very good.
Look Chin and the Morning Goodbye
Our son Damien had, over the course of the evening, made a new best friend. Look Chin (ลูกชิ้น), a puppy who had decided that Damien was his person for the duration of our stay. The feeling was entirely mutual.
The next morning, before we loaded the car and headed towards Pang Khon, there was a farewell that took slightly longer than the schedule allowed. Look Chin did not make it easy. Neither did Damien, if we are being honest.
Then we drove. The next farm was waiting and the road ahead, as we would soon discover, had a few surprises of its own.
