FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

Tucked away off Lad Phrao soi 71, Red Diamond Cafe serves the best coffee in Bangkok

PASSERS-BY BARELY glance at the three-storey shophouse with an exterior entirely enclosed with what look like rusty metal sheets as they make their way along Sangkhom Songkhro Road off Lad Phrao Soi 71. Residents as well as coffee enthusiasts know better though, pushing the heavy iron door to breathe in the rich aroma of freshly brewed beans.
It’s dark inside thanks to the wood and the metal that seems to cover every surface. There’s no soothing music, just old-school hip-hop, and the decor is minimal, steampunk style - an elegant mix of post-industrial revolution and early Victoriana. 

 

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

A heavy iron door opens into the world of coffee.

Like the exterior cladding, the walls are rusty, the floor is concrete and the pipes are exposed. The furniture consists of leather sofas, a concrete counter bar, and dark wood tables. A shelf is piled high with containers filled with coffee beans while off to the right there’s a small room housing a roasting machine. The central area has a long, solid and rustic table with steel legs that can seat about 10.

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

The cafe is decorated in steampunk style recalling the industrial revolution.

The only mod cons are the high-tech, state-of-the-art espresso machine and a brand-new brewing machine without the conventional box that grace the counter. Coffee is taken very seriously here and customers can watch every process of their drink’s preparation while chatting with the barista,
“We call this place ‘Red Diamond Cafe’,” says coffee master Nicholas Haw who opened this hidden gem with his partner Sarawut Premjit. 
“To us, the red coffee cherry is a gem. We look at it as a red diamond. We never throw away a single fruit when picking.”

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

The counter coffee bar on the first floor is equipped with state-of-the-art coffee machines without the conventional box to impede service.

Opened in late April, Red Diamond Cafe has quickly become known by word of mouth despite its secret and mystical exterior. Not bad for a cafe that has nothing but coffee on the menu.
“This is a speciality coffee cafe. We offer more than 60 rare and exclusive beans from very specific regions around the globe, each of them prized for their unique characteristics. The beans are roasted by Nicholas himself. Each week, we present about 24 choices of coffees and rotate them so that customers can try something new on their next visit,” adds Sarawut who is a certified instructor of the Speciality Coffee Association of America.

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

Coffee master Nicholas Haw prepares a slow-brew Ice Drip.

The menu has a variety of coffee beans from which to choose. Beans that are simply allowed to dry for a certain period are heavy in body, sweet and have a complex flavour. Among the choices are Brazil Sitio Santa Paula, Ethiopia Kossa No 1 and El Salvador SHG Vertiente. Coffee obtained from the washed or wet process with fermentation, on the other hand, has a bright and clean taste and here the options include Indonesia Gayo Bourbon and Guatemala Huehuetenango.
Customers who love their coffee but not the caffeine can choose a decaf Colombia Excelso Organic while those who like a splash of milk will be best served by the Ethiopia Aramo or Tanzania, Limited supply coffees like Colombia Antioquia Anguila go for an extra of Bt50 a cup from a regular price while the Panama Geisha Janson Alpes is the most expensive for nearly Bt400 a cup.

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

Panama Geisha Janson Alpes Hot Drip 

Red Diamond Cafe also has its own farm in Pha Tang, Chiang Rai and their bean, the Thai Phatang, is recommended for an ice drip cup. It has received a score of 84 out of 100 from the Coffee Quality Institute.
Customers can also choose the way in which their coffee is brewed. The high-tech Mavam espresso machine can produce espresso, macchiato, long black and cappuccino for Bt120 to Bt130 a cup; hot/ice drip or syphon coffee is priced at Bt120 to Bt150.

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

Thai Phatang Ice Steampunk

Another highlight is the Alpha Dominche Steampunk machine with two brewing chambers equipped with programming capabilities that allow brewers to adjust settings to match the preference of the customer. This ensures the exact water temperature, coffee weight, and brewing time to bring out the most flavour in each cup (Bt150-Bt165).
The second floor has an exclusive counter bar manned by Haw and there’s nothing he enjoys more than brewing cup to match the customer’s preference. A buffet bar is also available for Bt500 and Haw will provide four servings of his recommended cups.

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

Brewer Warut Pluempiyatham uses the topnotch Alpha Dominche Steampunk machine to brew Ice Steampunk.

“A good barista should understand the customers’ needs and create a cup of coffee to make them happy. A good coffee depends on time, the environment and individual taste. We don’t just bring coffee in, but we interact and give our customers a joyful experience with high-quality coffees,” says Haw who is a certified brewing and roaster professional of the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe, and a Coffee Quality Institute certified Q Arabica grader.
Each cup is served with a hand-written note giving information on your chosen coffee bean, its characters, the brewing technique, the ratio of water and coffee, and a name of the barista. 

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

Ethiopia Kossa No 1 Ice Steampunk

South African-born, British master Haw pays attention to every detail. He measures the pH of water every morning to maintain quality.
“That’s important because a cup of coffee is more than 90 per cent water and thus the mineral content of the water used for brewing has a major impact on its taste. The pH of water should be around 7-7.5 and to maintain the standard, we add to our reverse osmosis water the powdered minerals blended to the perfect amount of calcium, magnesium and sodium to meet the spec brewing water from Speciality Coffee Association of America,” says Haw.

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

Nicholas Haw, left, and Sarawut Premjit

To Sarawut, coffee is a noble beverage worthy of the same respect as fine wine. 
“People today don’t look for ‘tasty’ coffee, but they want to learn about the unique characters of a variety of coffee bean. It is about the experience and only good products can offer such an experience. This is what we call the ‘third-wave’ movement where high-quality coffee is considered as an artisanal beverage like wine and the origins and artisan methods of production are vital,” says Sarawut.

A caffeine kick you’ll never forget

A barista is brewing coffee with the high-tech Mavam espresso machine.

Red Diamond Cafe is under the umbrella of Intercof Co, which specialises in sourcing and distributing coffee beans and machines for the retail and hospitality industry. The company also doubles as a coffee academy offering many courses from brewing, cupping to roasting by Speciality Coffee Association of America- and Speciality Coffee Association of Europe-certified instructors including Haw and Sarawut. 
The “classroom” is on the third floor and the pair is planning to extend their reach soon by opening branches in Siem Reap, Vientiane, and Yangon.
 
GREAT BREWS
Red Diamond Cafe is at 733, Sangkhom Songkhro Road off Lad Phrao Soi 71. 
It’s open Tuesday to Friday, 11am to 7pm and on weekends until 8pm.
Call (085) 044 2662 or visit the “Red Diamond Cafe” page on Facebook.

 

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