Coffee in Bangkok has come a long way from the days of powdered sachets and lukewarm cafe lattes. These days, it comes with milk alternatives, custom extraction times and, occasionally, music. The city's obsession with coffee has taken on a life of its own – there’s the Sawasdee Cup Coffee Party (or ‘coffee rave’, if you're being cheeky), where beats meet beans, and espresso is served with a side of bass.
The city’s obsession has crept into every available nook – down alleyways, inside shopping centres, tucked behind plant shops and vintage racks. You’ll find pour-overs served with tasting notes more detailed than a wine list, and baristas who talk about terroir with the conviction of sommeliers. There’s a sense that coffee has moved past the morning ritual into something else entirely. And if you thought the caffeine curve had peaked, think again.
Thailand Coffee Fest, now in its tenth year, returns this July 10-13 from 10am-8pm at Impact Exhibition Centre, Halls 5-8. But it’s also something more committed – an evolving record of the Thai coffee industry’s growing consciousness. Organised by the Specialty Coffee Association of Thailand (SCATH), this year’s instalment promises both foam art and future thinking, drawing together everyone from the farmers in Chiang Mai to the baristas fuelling Thonglor’s weekdays.
The theme, ‘Drink Better Coffee’, sounds deceptively simple. The cup in your hand could carry stories of forest restoration, fair wages or generational knowledge passed down over hillsides. The festival’s programme doesn’t merely platform the usual suspects. It gives space to those often unseen in the city’s third-wave obsession – the growers, grinders, blenders and innovators who exist outside the frame of your Sunday flat white. And it does so across zones designed to let the coffee speak for itself:
- Coffee stage
The main arena for opening rituals and award ceremonies, where winning farmers take a rare, deserved spotlight.
- Coffee people by SCATH
A space that trades buzzwords for real dialogue – meet growers, roasters and cafe folk who live the craft.
- Coffee arena
The competitive heart of the fest, hosting the nation’s fiercest barista face-offs in pursuit of global titles.
- Coffee around the world
From Brazil to Taiwan, an international aisle of producers who bring beans and knowledge in equal measure.
- Coffee sustainability
Less packaging, more planting – this zone reframes coffee as a tool for long-term environmental good.
- Coffee friends: co-created by i-Cream Solutions
Where coffee meets gelato dreams – interactive workshops for anyone eyeing the crossover of cafes and creamery craft.
So remember those – if you're in the coffee scene, let the beans guide you.