Sometimes you get a coffee that makes you stop what you’re doing because it’s so good. You stop everything and just admire the cup for a moment and say something like: “that is one fine cup of coffee”. If you’re a coffee person, you know what I’m talking about.
That has never happened to me in all the time I’ve spent in Bangkok over the past 7 years, until two days ago when I got a take away latte from the Bangkok Baking Co - a bakery cafe that is part of the J.W. Marriot Hotel. Today I went again - this time it was much more average, so it bears further investigation to see if it was just luck, or if they have really do have good baristas. They use Illy coffee there.
Most of the time I get my coffee from Au Bon Pan (there’s two outlets at Bumrungrad Hospital). I drink so much of their coffee in fact that they gave me a VIP card and I’m on first name terms with most of the staff. It’s good coffee and very consistent in quality, but you’ll never get that perfect cup that stops you in your tracks.
I’ll do some more research on the BBCo coffees and report back. One thing about the BBCo coffee’s is they are expensive. Whereas a large coffee from Au Bon Pan costs 70 baht (or 66.5 if you have a VIP card), a regular sized coffee from BBCo costs 90 baht. Of course when you’re a real coffee addict, money is no object.
Update: 2008-06-04
Having now had many coffees from BBCo, I can confirm that the standard of their coffee is generally very good. They also have some pretty good breakfast options, including a very tasty egg-white omelette. I’ve also found that Au Bon Pan’s coffee is really good if you get double-shots.