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Instant coffee then made its appearance, and, with the added simplicity of the three-in-one packets, Thai coffee drinkers took to regular at-home coffee drinking. In the late 1990s, Starbucks introduced the world of espresso-based beverages to Bangkok, bringing with it an assortment of local espresso shops. It was then that the popularity of specialty coffee began to grow in Thailand. During our search for the perfect cup of coffee, we came across not one, but five specialty shops and roasteries throughout Bangkok that both surprised us with their high-quality coffee and gave our taste buds an opportunity to recover from our days of three-in-one. GALLERY DRIP COFFEE The first of these shops was Gallery Drip Coffee, which we happened to find while en route to a modern-art museum. Located on the ground floor of the Bangkok Arts and Culture Center (BACC), this small café would be better described as a pourover bar with two handmade wooden pourover stations— no espresso machine. After discovering the world of specialty coffee five years ago, Natthiti Ampriwan and Piyachat Trithaworn—cofounders of Gallery Drip Coffee—wanted to create a space where they could easily share their knowledge and love of coffee with the community. With the help of the BACC, which works to support entrepreneurial projects, they were able to open Bangkok's first pourover-only bar in May of 2012. Opposite page, at top: Head roaster Korn Sangoankeaw of Roots Coffee at the company's new café and roasting location on Soi Ekamai. Roots offers tastings as well as weekly brewing and barista training classes. Below: Owner and founder of Casa Lapin, Tonk, pulls a ristre o espresso shot from his single group, vintage Olympia Express Cremina lever machine, the same machine he used in the pop-up shops he previously opened throughout Chiang Mai. This page: Ekameth "Tay" Wipvasu i, founder and head of roasting operations for Brave Roasters, in his roasting room at One Ounce for Onion. With their dedication to brewing delicious pourovers, they also emphasize the importance of bean quality by directly sourcing local coffee and roasting it in their own handmade roaster. With the help of a friend trained in engineering, they were able to build a half-kilo hot-air roaster which, despite its incredibly small batch size, allows them to create what they believe is a much cleaner roasted coffee with greater control. While I was mesmerized by our delicious, full-bodied pourovers made with beans harvested in Chiang Mai, Robb was still craving the perfect espresso shot, so we said goodbye and left to continue our search. This led to our discovery of a small shop tucked into a dimly lit hallway just off of a busy street, where we were greeted by the coziness of two small tables, a few bar stools and a single-group, lever espresso machine. CASA LAPIN Surapan Tanta began honing his espresso-pulling skills while working in the flourishing coffee community of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. After learning as much about specialty coffee as possible by running a pop-up coffee shop in Chiang Mai and setting up his www.baristamagazine.com 31