Wish Upon a Coffee
This coffee from Thai producer Wish is so lovely and was hand carried from Thailand by our Master of Roasting Ceremony, Stevyn.
Wish Upon a Coffee
How one forest-saving farmer in Chiang Mai became our favorite plot twist
Here's the thing about great coffee: it doesn't just taste like cranberry and cacao nibs. It tastes like someone cared, deeply, about a mountain. That's the Wish Junprasert story — and we've got the receipts.
Meet Wish. Yes, That's His Name. Yes, It's Perfect.
Wish Junprasert runs a farm in Omkoi, a remote corner of Chiang Mai's southwestern highlands that most people wouldn't find on a map unless they were really, truly looking. We found it because we were really, truly looking.
We've been working with Wish for three years now through Q Project Thailand — a multi-million dollar initiative co-founded with CQI (Coffee Quality Institute) and Bolliger & Company to put Thai specialty coffee on the international map where it rightfully belongs. Wish wasn't just a beneficiary of the program. He was the kind of student who makes you remember why you started teaching in the first place.
In his own words from the Q Project Thailand website, Wish shared that the program gave him knowledge and experience he wanted to pass on to other farmers — not just pocket it for competitive advantage. A man with coffee, a forest, and a lot of heart. Our kind of human.
SOFT: The Farm With the Best Acronym in Coffee
Wish's farm goes by a name that sounds gentle but means serious business: Save Omkoi Forest & Traditional Coffee. SOFT. The coffee plantations here aren't just growing beans — they're actively maintaining the fertility of the soil and the health of the surrounding watershed forests. Which means: every cup you drink is doing something.
The farm sits in the remote southwestern area of Chiang Mai at elevation — high enough that the cherries develop slowly, stress a little in the best way possible, and pack in flavor complexity that flat-land farming simply cannot replicate. These are happy, stressed cherries. The best kind.
— CoffeeTRON on Wish Junprasert
What's Actually In the Cup (The Fun Part)
We offer Wish's coffee in two roast expressions, because one was simply not enough and we are not people who settle.
The Adventurer (Light Roast)
The Professor (Medium Roast)
The light roast — the one we call The Adventurer — is roasted to preserve the fruity characteristics that develop naturally during processing. That cranberry note isn't a flavoring or a trick. It's the land, the altitude, the process, and Wish's hands, translated into something your taste buds can argue about.
We also offer both lots together in The Deal — our Micro-Wish bundle, two coffees, one mission, $10 off if you're paying attention. It's the kind of deal that makes us feel good and you feel smart.
The Bigger Picture: Thailand's Coffee Moment
Here's something the specialty coffee world is slowly waking up to: Thailand grows excellent coffee. Like, genuinely excellent. For too long it was dismissed — Robusta country, tourist coffee, whatever. That story is being rewritten, and Q Project Thailand is one of the most significant forces doing the rewriting.
The project — launched in 2023 and running through 2027 — has trained over 72 farmers and counting, connecting them with international green buyers and quality evaluation systems. Our own Thomas Ameloot has been part of this as a CQI Instructor, and also served as International Head Judge and Head Roaster for the TCE 2024 Thailand Green Coffee Competition — organizing judging panels and cupping over 170 samples to spotlight the best of what Thai producers are growing.
We co-founded this work. We've been in those cuppings, on those farms, on those planes. And Wish's coffee is exactly the reason why.
So What Do You Do With All This Information?
You drink the coffee, obviously. But maybe you also sit with the fact that your cup connects a forest in Omkoi to a farm family with a dream to a training program that's changing an industry to a roastery in Hamtramck, Detroit, Michigan that thinks coffee is fantastical and means it.
That's a lot of chain of custody for a Tuesday morning. We think Wish would approve.
Get the Wish Coffees
Available now in light roast, medium roast, or save $10 with The Deal bundle — both lots, natural and washed.
Get The Deal — Save $10 Browse the Full Shop
TCE - Thailand Best Coffee Beans Competition 2024
Read all about CoLabOps' adventures in Thailand. This time we were honored to help lead the TCE Thailand Best Coffee Beans Competition. This was in conjunction with Bolliger and Co and Big Black Box.
We were invited to help lead this Thai coffee competition - TCE 2024 “Thailand Best Coffee Beans” to compete for the Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Cup. The beans were judged in four categories - natural, washed, honey, and robusta. The total prize money for all categories is over 700,000 baht. It was an unbelieveable position we found ourselves in.
The competition was open to Thai Coffee Farmers. And they turned up! Check out Thomas’ video welcoming farmers to join the competition. https://youtu.be/SsHpsc3FftQ?si=0wlvFgTvngy6V0MV
Opening ceremony for the competition.
Check out the details and rules of the new contest on the Facebook page: TCE 2024 Thailand Best Coffee Beans, the best Thai coffee contest.
Our partners and gracious hosts at Big Black Box shared the brand new lab at their Dry mill in Nonthanburi as our evaluation headquarters.
After many days roasting and evaluting samples from farmers all over Thailand, we were absolutely delighted by the results. Many farmers from our other project, Q Project Thailand were winners here.
Kluay from Cafe de Hmong took 1st in Washed. Not surprised as the coffees there are Amazing! We've never seen a coffee farm like his.
Ms. Jaree Manop from Krabi took 2nd place in Robusta.
We were brought in to help elevate the competition to a higher standard. Stevyn was the Lead Roaster for the competition and Thomas led the International Judges Panel where Stevyn joined as a Judge. With help from the Head Judge of the National Competition - Werawit Noon of Baristaneer, DP Wu from Torch in China, and Victor Bas from Curve in the Philipines, we had an excellent and diverse team to analyse the coffees submitted.
Steven analyzing roast information.
We evaluated 70 coffees/350 cups tasted and were really so thankful and happy for the quality of coffees.
Stevyn says, “After spending two years regularly tasting Thai coffees, it’s been incredibly satifying and surprising (and also not surprising) the level of quality these farmers are producing. It’s not surprising because we know these Thai farmers have the ability. It’s been really nice that we’ve been able to taste this level of quality.”
The cherry on top was getting a chance to taste and share these coffees at the Thailand Coffee Fest with Big Black Box and the CEO of CQI, Michael Sheridan! Huge thank you to Bolliger and Co for their tireless efforts in organizing all of this!
Michael Sheridan, CEO of CQI tasting the TCE Best Coffee Beans at Big Black Box booth in the Thailand Coffee Fest 2024
Thomas tasting the TCE Best Coffee Beans at Big Black Box booth in the Thailand Coffee Fest 2024.