Hipsters, they tried to make mustaches, bucket hats, and wire rimmed glasses a thing; fortunately they failed. Also fortunately, they didn’t come up quite as short with quality coffee and fancy donuts.
Akha Ama occupies a very nice spot in the bolstering coffee scene of Chaing Mai. At 50 baht for a latte you are paying twice as much as a utility coffee, but only half the price of the “specialty” places like Rist8to. The price increase over your run of the mill coffee is very warranted for me here, as it leaks over into the other parts of the coffee experience not just the flavor of the bean juice: AC, WiFi, how wooden and simplistic the chairs and tables can be, the ambient conversations about start ups, ethical elephant sanctuaries, plastic pollution, etc. you know coffee shop talk. if I want coffee and I’m near Akha Ama, this is where I go.
There are two locations, one in Santitham and the other in the heart of the Old Town. Both serve essentially the same menu, have the same machine, and use the same beans.
The old town location is much busier, and not as big so seating can be cramped and isn’t a good place to work. Nice for a quality cup of coffee when stuck on the wrong side of the moat. The Santitham location is my favorite of the two, has a more relaxed feel, and a lot of indoor and outdoor seating.
Just a side street away from the Santitham location is Flips & Flips Homemade Donuts. This is where you can get the sugar rush to combat the caffeine buzz so you can really focus on writing that screen play. They do a more up scale style of donut than you would get from the grocery store back home and are a bit on the pricier side at 45 baht apiece. I do think they are worth it though, as they are well thought out and significantly better than the alternative at say a Dunkin’ or Mr. Donuts.
Akha Ama Coffee (Old Town)
Open: 08:00-17:30 Everyday
Open: 08:00-17:30 Everyday
091 865 1535
Open: 11:00-16:00 Closed Thursday
The Good Stuff Chiang Mai
The Good Stuff Chiang Mai 