Akha Ama Coffee: Empowering Artisan Producers

Ahka Ama Coffee ("Ahka" is a village in Northern Thailand and "Ama" means mother in their dialect) is a socially empowered enterprise named after one mother in the Akha village of Maejantai. She moved her village to work together to produce, process and market their own Arabica coffee, empowering 14 families and delivering a delicious experience that utilizes a mixed multi-cropping system to limit the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. By drinking a cup of java at the cafe you're supporting these people, whether you have an espresso, a mocha topped with latte art or a more atypical "shakerato": a double espresso shaken, not stirred, in a cocktail shaker full of ice. Want a buzz? They serve an uber boozy Irish coffee that keeps the whiskey from evaporating. For the java heads out there there's also tons of coffee nerdery, from shelves lined with numerous coffee-making gadgets to books on local cooking and beans to coffee art. There are also a number of regional Thai products like specialty teas and rice bags.