Oh, It'll Come: Thailand Doi Pangkhon Beanspire

In my mid-twenties, I backpacked throughout Central Europe during the entire month of December with my friend and then colleague, Natasha. A good handful of our friends and co-workers were curious if we’d make it through the trip without strangling one another. I was a planner: I liked having an itinerary and getting excited about the places I knew I was going to. Natasha, on the other hand, was a whimsical traveler. She let the wind carry her to new destinations and would move onto the next once the moon or the lake tells her it’s time to go. To everyone’s surprise, we made really good travel buddies. Our contrasting personalities allowed for fun, silly, and ridiculous commentary as we wandered the streets. We also embarked on this journey with the intention of learning from one another, and this allowed us to navigate any annoyances and support one another when in doubt. 

Part of our trip involved visiting some folks I had worked with in the past, and Natasha and I slowly worked our way through the cities on our list to get closer to my friends. Upon arrival in Krakow, I told Natasha we should go ahead and get our tickets to Košice, where our friends told us to meet them. With a swing in my step, I walked up to the teller at the train station and asked for two tickets. She started typing on her computer and looked confused. She started typing again. More confusion, and this time she began shaking her head. I pulled out my map that showed there were train tracks leading to Košice, and she looked again. Nothing. Not only was the train not coming as I had planned, but it didn’t even exist! I thanked the teller and walked away as the panic began to sink in. Natasha, calm and composed, reassured me–we’ll get there.

Our home host helped us devise a plan that was a mixture of bus rides and potential hitch-hiking–something she said was relatively safe in the area. We took an early morning bus ride to the popular ski town of Zakopane, and from there took a minibus that dropped us off at the border; from there, we walked across a short pedestrian bridge and into Slovakia, and waited at the bus stop just on the other end. After 2 hours of standing in the cold, we realized that the bus was never going to come. So, we hitch-hiked with a lovely older gentleman that blasted Metallica on his stereo, and he dropped us off in Poprad. There, we hopped onto a bus that took us to Prešov, and then jumped onto another bus headed to Košice. My cell phone stopped working there, but thanks to the kindness of a stranger, she let me use her cell phone to call my friends and tell them that we had arrived. There was a bit of traffic getting into Ukraine, but around 8:00pm, we made it to Uzhhorod. Thirteen hours of relatively smooth travels, and we were feasting on a late dinner and toasting with sips of Unicum. 

This was perhaps the first time I truly came to understand that planning can only get you so far; that learning how to adapt and making thoughtful decisions as you go is essential if you want to reach your goal or make your destination. Place trust in those around you, trust in yourself, and trust in the process. One way or another, things will pan out.

The 2021 harvest for Beanspire was bountiful, and we were excited to try all of their processing experiments and perhaps feature a different coffee from them in our second year of working together. But the samples got lost, and it didn’t arrive until over a month after being sent. By that time, all the experimental lots had been booked by other roasters. We weren’t upset, though. Their washed samples were just as impressive, and we landed on purchasing a lot processed at the wet mill in Doi Pangkhon, operated by producing partners of Beanspire, the Marlaeku family. 

Some ripe cherries ready for picking

Originally, Beanspire worked with each individual farmer on their wet processing station, and with the creation of this mill, they were able to collect cherries from farmers and have more control over processing. This coffee goes through a double fermentation washed process that is widespread in Kenya for its ability to produce coffees with vibrant acidity and bright, clear flavors. The cherries are depulped and fermented in their wet parchment for 48 hours before adding water and letting it ferment for another 6 hours. Afterwards, the parchment is cleaned, and is left to soak in clean water for another 4 hours. The coffees are then placed in raised drying beds for two weeks before being moved to the lowerland to complete drying. We were really excited to book this coffee for its clean and thirst quenching qualities.

Normally, coffees from Beanspire arrive in the US by the end of summer, at the latest. But like all others, Beanspire was experiencing many troubles. Fuadi Pitsuan, the Co-Founder of Beanspire, reached out to us in September of 2021 to give us an update. The new ETD was end of September and ETA was end of October. They have been trying to get the coffees out since August, but the massive shortage in shipping containers and lack of space on ocean vessels made it nearly impossible to book a departure. The route from Thailand to the Port of Oakland was also one of the worst routes during this shipping crisis. After exploring all options, they decided to take the one involving paying a high premium to get a booking. Beanspire decided to bear the cost increase because they couldn’t just let the coffee sit there; and the faster the coffee could leave, the faster cash flow could resume. Despite the current cost increase, they wouldn’t be making a loss just yet. But, there could be some price adjustments for the following harvest should the freight crisis continue. We assured Fuadi that we were not stressed: if there is a price increase in the future, we would be ready and still have the intention to purchase. When it came to planning our menu, Corey and I took on the mentality that dates are a moving target, and so we had been moving forward with the assumption that all coffees would arrive late. The delayed departure didn’t worry us all too much. We were certain. Oh, it’ll come. The coffee will come.

Pupae Merlaeku is one of the farmers that Beanspire works with. Her family operates the mill in Doi Pangkhon, Chiang Mai.

Several months pass by, and the coffee doesn’t arrive in Oakland until the end of November. It takes another couple of weeks to offload and be transferred to a warehouse before our coffee is available for pick-up and be taken into the roastery. At this point, we’re deep into the winter holidays and just trying to end the year on a high note. We didn’t get a chance to pull in a bag of Doi Pangkhon until late January, and we’ve been doing R&D and preparing for its release for the past several weeks.

I caught up with Fuadi last week and he’s updated me on how things are going. Harvest in Thailand is cyclical, so they were already expecting a lower yield. Combined with heavy rains destroying crops, farmers stocking their coffees in parchment in anticipation of better pricing, and the shipping crisis staying strong, things are looking rather rough. But they’re keeping their hopes up, as are we. While we wait for samples of the latest harvest, we’re excited to share what we have on hand. Doi Pangkhon is a smooth sailing coffee with a little bite; its citric notes remind us of tangelo, it has a juicy but light syrupy body akin to fresh coconut water, and a rounded, silky finish that makes us feel like we’re eating a papaya! Whether you’re having a long day and eyeing the clock to tell you when you can go home, waiting for a package to arrive, or trying to decide what step you should take next, take a swig of this coffee and stay confident. Whatever it is, it’ll come.