Cacao farmers and chocolate makers in Thailand’s “capital in the north,” Chiang Mai, are giving European chocolatiers a run for their money.
sip on the most flavorsome drinking chocolate I ’ve ever imbibed in my cocoa - loving sprightliness , I seek to nail just what makes this mug of silky goodness so delicious . Is it the full - bodied spirit ? The fruity hints roasted into a stark balance of chocolaty sweet ? Or just that I ’m notin Switzerlandor Belgium , but atKhom Chocolatier House , an incredible craft chocolate smear in an ancient town inNorthern Thailand ?
Khomis a quaint cocoa - treat cafe and bakery tucked away on a quiet street next to one of the famous temple in the heart ofChiang Mai , Thailand ’s so - called “ cap in the Frederick North . ” The drunkenness that ’s left me questioning everything I make love about drinking chocolate is call in Sawasdee Jao , which is fuel by Khom ’s house - blended 75 % dark drinking chocolate that won a silver medal in theWorld Craft Drinking Chocolatecategory at the 2024 International Chocolate Awards — more or less the Oscars for chocolatiers .
The owner , Jane Pimchanok Duangsri , is a young , sharply knowledgeable cocoa connoisseur who opened Khom in 2018 . “ I ca n’t drink coffee , ” she laments with a menial smile , “ so I made a coffee shop for people like me . ” Alongside Sawasdee Jao , Duangsri offers a lengthy drinking chocolate computer menu that provides the origin of each of the cocoa beans ( the majority of which come from Northern Thailand ) , the mainframe , the joint stratum , and a pocket-size diagram of points for consistency , bitter , and astringence .
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist
Thailand , of course , is n’t exactly known for consuming chocolate or growing chocolate tree , the chickenhearted pods from which cocoa is made . Its primary export are rubber , tapioca , tuna , and pineapple . That said , since the late 1970s , a slow and steady coffee revolution has been brew domestically ( pun unavoidable ) , particularlyin Bangkokand Chiang Mai .
Off the back of the thrive coffee berry scene , a perfect hybrid Theobroma cacao that flourishes in Chiang Mai was developed from beans source in Peru and the Philippines , beseem to get in the notably less tropical versant of Northern Thailand . Ever since , the area has have arapid boomin homegrown craft chocolate with boutique makers and declamatory - scale producer operating side - by - side — both redefining the country ’s relationship to deep brown .
Duangsri ’s all - adult female squad brews their bean - to - bar liquid hot chocolate in a small on - site factory , its stark , livid wall visible through a meth windowpane in the back of her colorful cafe . They work together to do customers and start the factory ; meanwhile , a bread maker make the effete chocolate cake on crack . “ All four of my staff workplace on roasting and conching the dome to make the drinking umber , ” Duangsri severalize me . “ It takes three years to make one batch . We ’re like a family — we bring together , and we locomote together . ”
Khom’s award-winning Sawasdee Jao drinking chocolate|Photo courtesy Khom
The bigger trade chocolate player in townspeople — and indeed Thailand overall — isSiamaya Chocolate . It ’s essentially the nation ’s solvent to Hershey , and it place a serious emphasis on Thai feel . A sampling of its Milk River chocolate confect bar choice : Thai Bullet Chilli , Peanut Curry , Khao Soi Curry , and Thai Tea . “ Our first one was Tom Kar Coconut Curry savour , ” explain Siamaya carbon monoxide gas - founding father Kristian Levinsen . “ That was the first pace on the ravel of instill wave of flavor into the cake so that it ’s an all - rounded experience . We desire to add a Thai mite to the chocolate that makes it interesting . That makes Siamaya actually have a reason to be on this planet — not just transcript - pasting , but creating something new and unequaled . ”
In fact , he tells me , “ We take the name Siamaya because it incorporates Siam and Maya ; it show we ’ve take a traditional approach to chocolate - making while imbuing Thailand into it . ” ( Siam being the former name of Thailand , and the Mayans being the forefathers of chocolate production . )
Levinsen founded Siamaya with his ally and business partner Neil Ransom in 2017 . “ When we first start up , I ’d go out and get a old bag of 10 kilos of chocolate tree beans and trounce it on my motorbike to bring it plate , ” he laughs . “ But over the last few twelvemonth , there ’s been an explosion of interest group in chocolate in the Thai knowingness — both when it come to makers and to buyers . ” And so , Siamaya now produces three to four t of chocolate bars a calendar month , all of which are stock in major Thai grocery store memory board and the huge tariff - free string King Power .
Siamaya’s Khao Soi Curry chocolate|Courtesy Siamaya
Siamaya is a completely Fair Trade companionship and works exclusively with one local farmer , Pathom Meekaew , who produces tonnes of hot chocolate bonce a month for Levinsen and Ransom . “ ab initio , we mean we ’d have to spell chocolate tree beans , but we soon discovered they were already growing here . Pathom add up through on every hope that he made to us . We expanded and developed with him — and thanks to him . ”
Pathom has gone from working exclusively for Siamaya to running his own ever - expanding companyThai Coffee and Cocoafrom the sprawling fields surrounding Lampang , the neighboring city to Chiang Mai . “ I was originally an agronomist in the burnt umber industry , ” he assure me , “ but I saw a lot of chance in cocoa production . chocolate farming started over 10 years ago , but it ’s much bigger now . Every responsibility in Thailand farms it . I ’m very well-chosen working with drinking chocolate ; there ’s so much room for maturation , andthe damage keeps depart up and up and up . ”
Fair Trade and utilisation opportunities for the local biotic community are also core values atCocoa Valley , a gorgeous refuge in Nan , the mountainous , historically rich town five hours east of Chiang Mai . Cocoa Valley is lilliputian in comparability to Siamaya ’s surgical operation ; it basically consists of just three affair : a boutique guesthouse , a cocoa - focused restaurant / store , and a humble workshop . The possessor , Manoon Thanawang , launched Cocoa Valley three years ago , returning to his hometown from Bangkok with the end of opening a local business enterprise that would aid his local village , Pua Nan .
A farmer with fermented cacao in Thailand|Courtesy Siamaya
Thanawang has a phone number of cocoa farm around Nan , a wildly scenic rural area . As he gives me a tour of the refuge , I gawk at the stand - alone bathtubs that overlook the alpine scenery . “ This is the dream , ” he say , grinning , before go me to the eatery for lava cakes , cocoa domes and the competently named choco - fall ( hot chocolate Cascade Range over a sponge bar as you give away it ) . “ you may farm drinking chocolate all year , so it ’s beneficial for Farmer , and it grow well alongside fruits or coffee . ”
My duty tour of Thailand ’s chocolate scene conclude atSkugga Estate , a farm in Mae On , a 30 - minute drive from Chiang Mai ’s city shopping mall . I whirr past the mountains of suburban Chiang Mai to the extremely tranquil place that also houses a bijou coffee shop and mill . Founder Anthony McDonald start out maturate burnt umber and tea here seven age ago and had some excess acres to fill , so he decide to turn cacao , too , reaping the first fruits of that crop two years ago . “ These days , ” he explains , “ hoi polloi are more open to trying things and value thing that are very well - made . We utilise very good constituent , and our chocolate is very well - presented . ”
To aid stoke that adventurous heart even further , McDonald has started staging wine-colored and chocolate tasting nights in his Skugga cafes in downtown Chiang Mai , as well as extend regular chocolate bar workshop at the farm . “ There ’s a slap-up appreciation for aesthetics , and chocolate lends itself to that , ” he laugh . “ Because cocoa look sexy , tea does n’t . ”
