Immersed in coffee on Ratchadamri Road

Visitors to CentralWorld on Bangkok’s Ratchadamri Road, have a chance to try and buy the best coffee beans from around the world, and gourmet coffee from across Thailand at Coffee Hub until Oct 11.

It’s the first big public event by the Specialty Coffee Association of Thailand and promises a so-called immersive experience, perhaps a little too much for someone who does not want to be immersed in coffee!

Immersion, in this case, means “more coffee on sale than you would expect” on the first floor of the shopping centre.

Most of the country’s popular coffee speciality brands have beans ready to try and slightly overdone ‘special menus” said to have been prepared by barista champions, who have presumably won championships and will most likely show up at the Olympics soon.

Exhibitors include Roots, offering a drip coffee set called Drip&Go at a very special price! The Summer Coffee Company from Ayutthaya brings four signature beans — Milk Man, Mr Rum Raisin, Morning Person and Weekender.

Nana Coffee Roaster claims to be home to some of the most-decorated barista champions and award-winning coffee beans. Indeed, most beans seem to have won some kind of award or another, as do almost all the personal. Who knew that coffee was such a glitteringly competitive business?

This is a rare opportunity to test your palate and see if you can “taste the difference” with coffee from barista champion Kasama Kunboon.

Coffee Okamase is serving its Omakase-style coffee. Omakase, in Japanese, means “I’ll leave it up to you,” and is commonly associated with sushi. Omakase means that you trust the barista, and his or her recommendation, a strange idea to Western ears. You would order coffee from an incompetent?

Hario Cafe brings a coffee menu at 1,500 baht per course, or the same as 10 – 15 cups of Starbucks.

Besides shopping for coffee equipment and ingredients, visitors can sample coffee from several coffee-growing regions.

For non-coffee drinkers, special drinks and signature menus by chocorista champions are available at the Craft Cocoa Village, which also gathers craft cocoa, craft chocolate and chocolate products from all over the country.

There is live jazz and the Central Court from 6pm each evening until Sunday, including Kob Saowanit, Pure The Voice, Nat The Voice, Johnifer The Voice, Tangmo The Voice and Khela.