From a Backyard in Lamae to Fine Robusta

Every batch of coffee we sell started the same way ours did — small, uncertain, and a little bit accidental.

A few years ago, the coffee trees at our family home in Lamae, Chumphon began bearing fruit. We didn't set out to build a coffee business. We picked the cherries, processed them by hand, and sold small bags to relatives and neighbors, mostly to see if anyone would like them.

Someone did. Word travelled far enough that an officer from the local Department of Agriculture came to see the trees for themselves. What they tasted convinced them this coffee deserved more than a backyard operation — and they helped us register formally as a community enterprise (วิสาหกิจชุมชน). That's the moment this stopped being a family experiment and became something we owed to more than just ourselves.

The Choice Every Farmer Nearby Already Knows

Lamae sits in one of Chumphon's recognized Robusta-growing areas — the region even has its own government-certified varietal, "Chumphon 3." It's also home to a Nestlé buying point, where most local farmers sell their cherries at the world commodity price. It's a fair, dependable option. It is not, however, a price that reflects what good processing and careful growing can actually produce.

We wanted to offer our farmers something different: a reason to slow down and do the work properly — full fermentation, sun-drying, careful moisture control — because that work is rewarded with a better price than the buying point next door offers. That's the whole idea behind what we do. Not a bigger operation. A fairer one.

Why "Fine Robusta"

Robusta has a reputation problem it doesn't fully deserve. Most of the world's Robusta ends up in instant coffee or bulk espresso blends, chosen for caffeine content and crema, not flavor. Ours is grown, harvested, and processed like a specialty crop — because that's what it is. Full-bodied, low acid, with the deep chocolate and earthy notes that shade-grown Chumphon Robusta is known for among people who take the time to taste it properly.

We've had it evaluated and scored as Fine Robusta — a distinction that exists precisely to separate coffee like ours from the commodity stream most Robusta gets lumped into.

Adopt a Tree, Meet the Farmer Behind It

This is also why we built the adopt-a-tree program. A bag of coffee doesn't tell you much on its own. A tree does — you can watch it through a season, see whose hands tended it, and taste the direct result of that care when the harvest comes in. It's the same relationship between quality and fair pay that started this whole enterprise, just made visible.

If you've adopted a tree with us, thank you — you're part of the reason a small backyard harvest in Lamae is still growing into something bigger. If you haven't yet, we'd love to introduce you to your tree.

— Nine North Lake