Chiang Mai: Organic Coffee Tour at Suan Lahu

Learn about growing organic coffee

Doi Saket and Suan Lahu

Our guide and driver will meet you at your hotel at 0800 for your Chiang Mai Coffee Tour. Today you will visit the organic coffee plantation Suan Lahu. You will learn everything about growing and roasting organic coffee. Of course, you will also taste the delicious coffee of Suan Lahu.

You will drive to Doi Saket. We will leave the main road and head into the mountains towards Chaesorn National Park. We have time for photo stops at one of the flower nurseries. After arrival at Suan Lahu, you will be received by your native hosts. They will brief you on Suan Lahu and organic coffee growing. The people working at Suan Lahu are almost exclusively people from the Lahu ethnic minority who live in a nearby village.

Explore the plantation with a Lahu guide

A Lahu coffee worker will guide you around the 80 rai (12 hectares) coffee plantation of which 60 are planted with Arabica coffee and fruit trees. Forest makes up for the remaining 20 rai. Views are amazing. Having seen lychee, lemon, and avocado trees, amongst others, you will have time to engage in your first volunteer activity. There are several seasonal activities possible at the farm, ranging from taking care of farm animals (pigs and chicken), freeing the plants from strangulating vines, to grading, roasting, and harvesting the coffee beans. This will keep you busy until lunchtime. Enjoy a vegetarian, homemade lunch prepared by your Lahu hosts.

The Lahu Sheleh People

After lunch, you will visit the nearby Lahu Sheleh community. A sub-group of the Black Lahu, they are an ethnic minority originating from the Tibet/China border area. We will show you some old pictures of the Lahu from yesteryear and show you around Doi Mod, the community located next to the organic coffee farm. After this, we will head back to the farm for the afternoon’s activity which can be one of your choosing. You can join local villagers working at the farm on a seasonal basis, or support Suan Lahu project founders in their natural and cultural restoration activities. At around 16:00 you will say goodbye to your hosts after an active, educational, and fun day full of engaging activities, fresh air, healthy food, and most delicious coffee. Drive back to Chiang Mai. The end of your Chiang Mai Coffee Tour.

If you are interested in other coffee-growing areas we recommend a visit to the Karen village Baan Mae Klang Luang on Doi Inthanon.