Chiang Mai Coffee Mania
After Japan, we wanted to take a few days off and get used to the heat before embarking on more sightseeing in Chiang Mai. This gave me a chance to really explore the coffee scene. Having joined the local Facebook groups before coming, I knew that there were a lot of high quality coffee shops in the city, but I was not prepared for the madness that we’d discover.
First of all there are coffee shops everywhere
Coffeeshops in Chiang Mai, found on Facebook. Veracity not guaranteed 😁
Chiang Mai is also the place for mixed coffee drinks. Here, if you get a coconut coffee, it’s not going to be mocha with coconut syrup, oh no, it’s gonna be a work of art, with fresh coconut chunks, layers of coconut water and stellar espresso, as a baseline. Orange coffee drinks, mango coffee drinks, even durian! The mind boggles
Roas8ry menu, @chiangmaimaster.com
The premier shop in Chiang Mai, winning multiple international competitions is Roast8ry, with three shops in the Nimman area. Aside from from the creative concoctions, they also sport some of the finest pour over I’ve encountered. And for just double the price, they’ll even draw you a picture
Their flaghship store is the largest, with lots of seating and the most innovative fruit-oriented menu. R8stery Lab and the original Ristr8to locations are smaller, with more milk-oriented menus.
Interestingly, I came across other cafes in the city also actively preparing for competitions (like Trailer Coffee on the east side).
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However, though Googlemaps search results feel overwhelming, not every well ranked shop will actually be good, or have seating. The other standouts I found later are
Barisotel - offering awesome coffee creation with Thai-specific ingredients and plentiful seating
Fohhide - likewise offers some great creations, with a fifth-story view and confusingly spectacular scones an added bonus
Beyond that, though, many of the other well-ranked places either had poor atmosphere or little to no seating: Ray coffee, Roastiv, Toffee roasters, Blue coffee, Duciotto.
But all of that is primarily from the Nimman area, where we lived for most of our stay. There are doubtlessly lots of great coffee spots in Old Town. For example, see this survey for a bunch of places I never came across. If I missed some of your favorites, leave a comment, as we can’t wait to go back and sample more!
