The 5 best cafes in Bangkok

The owners are a pair of photographers and coffee connoisseurs, and spend most of the day hunched over ceramic drip filters, fastidiously pouring slow jugs of single origin Ethiopian, Kenyan, and Thai organic beans. The artsy cafe draws in design lovers heading into the BAAC to view the latest exhibitions.

One of the original players involved in getting gourmet coffee going in Bangkok, Roots sources single origin beans from around the world as well as working with Thai farmers, and in addition to running this cafe, they do barista training and artisan coffee making workshops.

White brick walls and a comfy vibe make this place popular with digital nomads, who work on their computers over cups of espresso machine shots or hand-done pourovers. In addition to the artistic lattes, there are great pastries. Closed on Thursday and Friday.

We must thank two Venezuelan sisters (and one’s Thai husband) for putting Bangkok firmly on the global coffee map. Lucia Aguilar and her sister come from a family of coffee growers in Latin America, and they know their stuff. The trio source the beans from single origin cooperatives around the world, and the owners love talking coffee with the clientele.

For nearly ninety years, this funky cafe with purple walls has been churning out the owner’s great-grandparents’ Thai-coffee recipes to a legion of faithful chain-smoking regulars, who look like they have been coming in since the cafe first opened. The cups of traditional cafe boran (ancient coffee) with sweet condensed milk are strong, and it’s worth coming for the ambience alone.