I+D Style Café x Brave Roasters, Bangkok

Coffee is retail therapy?

Who says you can’t find any decent coffee in a shopping mall?

In Bangkok, at least, you can get a very decent cortado or single origin filter brew even if you’re in the harried midst of a retail maelstrom. During our past couple of trips to the Thai capital, we’ve discovered a hidden gem for coffee after book-hunting in Kinokuniya at Siam Paragon. Just head next door to Siam Center.

Located on the ground floor of Siam Center, towards the rear, is I+D Style Café X Brave Roasters. Why the unwieldy name? It’s a sort of mix-and-match shop, you see, part handicraft haven curated by the local Department of International Trade Promotion (hence the I+D moniker) and part coffee bar manned by baristas from Brave Roasters (and featuring beans by Brave Roasters too, naturally).

One of the pleasures of drinking coffee by Brave Roasters is the good range of Thai beans, mainly from Chiang Mai, alongside the more common varieties from Africa, South America and Indonesia. Besides filter brews, try their signature cold brews served up in whiskey bottles; there are two flavours, Sukhumvit or Origins.

Light bites are made fresh in their open kitchen/bar (remarkable for what is essentially a tiny corner of the mall). The quinoa and chickpea salad is healthy and filling. For something with more heat (just a tad), go for the spicy coconut chicken wrap, best paired with a sparkling black (an espresso mixed with sparkling water).

Or just kick back with a cappuccino and good book. Relax and watch the shoppers go by. You’re in Bangkok, after all.

購物商場里的咖啡館不少，但想找一杯好喝的心頭好卻不容易。
然而，近幾次曼谷之行卻顛覆了我對購物商場沒有好咖啡的印象。
去年最後一次到訪曼谷時，我們住在一家靠近Siam Paragon和Siam Center的酒店。
商場還未開門營業，我們就已經在Siam Center外徘徊，
尋找著一家叫做I+D Style Café x Brave Roasters的咖啡館的位置。
這家由當地國際貿易促進部和烘豆商Brave Roasters所聯手打造；
結合了設計與咖啡的咖啡館位於Siam Center底層後方的一角，
裡頭除了販售咖啡和豆子外，
還有不少如包包、帶子和文件夾之類的手工藝品，
讓你喝咖啡之餘還可以順便血拼購物。

咖啡除了一般的意式咖啡外，
還有一般商場比較少見的手沖咖啡和他們的主打，
由威士忌瓶裝著的冷泡咖啡，共有Sukhumvit or Origins兩種選擇。
從咖啡館的名字就知道豆子都由Brave Roasters所提供，
Brave Roasters是一家我們很喜歡的烘豆商（也是咖啡館），
在這裡你可以找到除了一般常見的非洲和中美洲豆子外，
還有在我們本地比較少見的泰國豆子。
當然也別忘了他們的簡餐，藜麥和鷹嘴豆沙拉既健康又清新爽口，
如果喜歡口味重些的則不妨試試辣味椰汁雞肉卷。
上個月我們到Siam Paragon看完戲和逛完書店后，又再度來到了這裡，
拿出新書，點杯黑咖啡，一種混合了新書與咖啡的香氣在鼻尖瀰漫，
那是一份悠閒寫意的下午茶。