Ministry of Roasters - Chiang Mai — Restaurant in Chiang Mai Province

I spent 8 days in Chiang Mai recently and visited many cafes during my time there, and Ministry of Roasters was by far the best cafe for specialty coffee.

As you walk through the door you’ll be informed that they are part of the SOCOF coffee education system and that they have Q Graders on staff. The cafe seems to serve 2 functions: as a place to serve high quality coffee and also to educate visitors about coffee. All over the walls are Scentone aroma vials and charts about how to smell and taste coffee. Q Grader certificates line one of the walls, showing that these guys are really serious about their stuff. Upstairs is a classroom where coffee courses for professionals are taught.

I found myself returning to MOR 5 or 6 times during my stay, because I really enjoyed the wide variety of quality filter coffees they provided and took my time to try them. Their pourover coffees are well selected and well executed. I’ve recently started to enjoy light roasts and was delighted to find out MOR has 4 kinds of light roasts available for espresso drinks (I really enjoyed the Palad single origin from Chiang Rai). The staff are consummate professional and take the time to explain and educate you about what coffees to try.

They also have a selection of coffee cocktails using cold brews, dirties, Es-yenn, iced matchas and cocoas, but I have not tried them, instead focusing on coffees. They sell a variety of interesting coffee-related wares like cupping spoons, cupping bowl sets, and aroma wheel posters.

If you are really serious about specialty coffee, are a coffee professional, or are curious about trying some of the best quality coffee you can find in Chiang Mai, I would strongly recommend visiting MOR, more than once preferably so you can try the variety of good...

One of the best coffee houses I’ve been to in my life. They have amazing roasts and a wide variety to choose from. They really know their stuff and make the perfect espresso. My wife had an espresso shot and I had the cappuccino. Staff were warm and welcoming and helped us navigate their many options. The place had a great atmosphere too, with a clean scientific feel to it, like you’re in a coffee lab, but relaxing and welcoming. They also had tons of information on their coffees and the coffee growing process in general posted on their walls which was interesting to read. Will be back again for sure.

EDIT: my wife and I ended up coming back every day of our visit (it’s that worth it) and tried all of the espresso (except 2). They were all fantastic and we’d recommend trying them all. Our favorites were the Director, the Palad, and the Secretary though and we walked away with bags of each. The signature drinks all looked delicious too but we didn’t try any (we were too infatuated with the espresso).

I should also note that they won a ton of awards and it’s...

If you love pour over coffees or a coffee enthusiast in general this is THE PLACE. I felt like I was a kid walking into a toy store.

There is a wide variety of bean selection for both espresso and pour over creations, not just that, they have pretty much every popular pour overs that they can make your coffee with. So you can select your bean and the method of brewing.

If that isn’t enticing enough, if you also happen to make coffees at home they have these cards they can write their brew ratios on and give it you.

There is more, you can also get all kinds of pour overs and filters, while the prices for those are pretty standard, it’s pretty good to find them under one roof.

The baristas are very friendly and quite knowledgeable about their stuff, more than happy to share their brewing techniques and coffee information with you.

The coffees here are on the pricier side, but these are all speciality coffees and this is not just a cafe but a coffee boutique, so if you set your expectations right these prices are quite reasonable for what they...