Simple Coffee Simple Life, Bangkok

Coffee is about embracing your own quirky personality.

Most cafés in Bangkok don’t veer far away from the easy access of a BTS or MRT train station. Or if they’re secluded in a green oasis within the urban jungle, they’re ID-ed to the max, better to draw Instagrammers in. Most cafés but not Simple Coffee Simple Life, a coffee bar located inside a condominium just off the eastern end of Rama IX Road. (Consider it a pit stop before flying if you’re heading to Suvarnabhumi Airport.)

This colourful, sunlit café is home to a National Thailand Brewers Cup veteran. Barista Jaranya Chanwong is the reigning champion (2017 and 2018). Her enthusiasm for her craft is immediately apparent when we ask her to recommend a coffee. The way her eyes brighten is an experience in itself.

Chanwong often offers limited run beans and we are lucky to have tasted the beans she competed and won with this year. Roasted by DuckYou Cafetista, the Ninety Plus Geisha Estate Lot No. 095 had undergone the signature Jose Alfredo double fermentation process. The result is an exceptional cup; we detect dense wood tones with notes of dark cherries. It’s like sipping brandy, albeit without the alcohol. Still as heady though.

Her partner and shop manager Nat Samanthai is another cheerful presence at Simple Coffee Simple Life: their smiles are infectious and light up the space as much as the morning sun. Eclectic bric-à-brac such as festive paper dragons and terrariums add a sense of whimsy. The stunning view of the condominium pool encourages visitors to relax.

Besides drip coffee, Simple Coffee Simple Life also offers other dreamy concoctions such as a Watermelon Martini or Ipanema, an iced black coffee layered with coconut milk. Bites are courtesy of local baker Tid Jirasinkitti of Amatissimo Caffé. The brown butter banana muffin and salted egg yolk croissant are truly out of this world, the best accompaniment we can imagine for Chanwong’s stellar coffee.

Whether it’s to geek out over coffee lore or to unwind with a slow-brewed cuppa, these cafés are a reminder that even when we are travelling, there are always secret places waiting to be uncovered, a home away from home to call our own.

Simple Coffee Simple Life 藏身於一棟公寓裡頭，
如非知情的咖啡客，就算經常路過這棟公寓，
也難以發現裡頭竟然藏著那麼一家咖啡館。
這裡遠離景點鬧區，附近也沒有地鐵站，
但在曼谷眾多咖啡館裡，
卻是我們最常到訪的三家咖啡館之一。
每個月我們都會乘坐計程車到這一次，
偶爾有愛好咖啡的朋友到訪，則來得更頻密；
無他，就為了一杯好喝的手沖咖啡。

曾是泰國兩屆手沖冠軍的老闆和夥伴親切有禮，
談起咖啡時更是眉飛色舞，
閒聊之下發現我們竟然有共同的朋友，也算是一種緣分吧。
我們第一次到訪時正值手沖大賽結束不久，
店裡還有些比賽用的豆子，
由DuckYou Cafetista Ninety Plus的藝妓豆子，
香氣迷人口感順滑，加上適中的酸度，讓人驚艷。

Simple Coffee Simple Life 座落於公寓的泳池旁，
空間不大也沒有精緻的裝潢，
但大片的落地窗讓咖啡館浸淫在飽滿的陽光裡，
非常的舒適。這裡沒有熱食，有的只是一些簡單的糕點，
但無論是自家做的香蕉蛋糕，
還是朋友製作的鹹蛋黃可頌都異常美味，
讓想要減肥戒甜食的我，總是破功（笑）。