When you’ve stepped beyond cold Nescafe from the street, your caffeine tolerance is a bit higher, and your palate more refined, you reach for something stronger — like a nitro or cold brew coffee from one of the city’s many (many, many) coffee shops and roasters.
Chilled coffee has moved far beyond a simple hot cup poured over ice, nitro and cold brew innovators in the city are constantly tweaking their techniques and formulas to create unique flavors and brews with peak caffeine power and taste.
For the uninitiated, cold brew is ground coffee mixed with water instead of being hot brewed and then left to sit for 12 or more hours. Nitro is similar but infused with nitrogen and pumped through a keg, which fans say removes the bitter taste that cold brew can have. Thanks to the keg action, it gets a head like a beer and is usually served sans ice.
Try some of the city’s best as you pass by or go for a grand tour de cafe and try them all in one day — but don’t blame us if you get the shakes.
One of our favorites not just for the taste but because it’s served from a tuk-tuk, this straightforward purveyor focuses on nitro brews (obviously). Their most popular offering is single origin Nepal but those with a taste for the more acrid flavors will enjoy the original nitro or signature blend more. Outside Phra Khanong’s Summer Hill mall, they’ve recently opened their fourth tuk-tuk outlet that offers both coffee and craft beer on tap. Check out our full story about Nitro here.
Asoke (Sukhumvit Soi 21)
Phra Khanong (W Market and Summer Hill)
Bangkok Hospital
Hours vary by location
Roots is one of the best-known coffee purveyors in Bangkok and its not without reason. They make a solid cup whether hot or cold. Their unique cold java concoctions especially win rave reviews, like the orange tonic cold brew and sugarcane cold brew.
The Commons
Thonglor Soi 17
Daily, 8am-7:30pm, 8:30pm on weekends
This easy-to-get-to spot, conveniently plopped down in the middle of Siam Discovery mall, has an easy-to-sip, non-bitter cold brew. Unique options available here include bubbly cold brew mixed with soda water, and a lemongrass-infused version.
Siam Discovery
989 Rama I Rd.
Daily, 10am-10pm
This roaster in Ekkamai has been quietly making a name for itself over the last few years and many coffee aficionados call it the best coffee in the city, both their espresso and their cold brew, dubbed “Black Magic.” The hard to find cafe and roaster in a converted old house is a bit of a trek, but fans say it’s well worth it.
21 Sukhumvit Soi 61
Daily, 9am-6pm
Located on the ground floor of a vintage corner house near Hua Lampong station, this Insta-worthy cafe is open to the street offering excellent old town people watching on a well-traveled path. Specializing in both coffee and craft beer, grab a nitro in the afternoon and enjoy the vintage Chinese decor. As the sun sets, grab a local craft beer and toast another fine day in Bangkok.
103 Soi Nana / Maitri Chit Rd.
Daily, 8am-10pm
Rocket’s Rocket Fuel makes most lists of best brews thanks to their use of mineral water and the signature espresso blend they use to make it. Served with an orange slice, this was one of Bangkok’s first cold brews and still holds a place in our hearts. This coffeebar has locations scattered throughout the city.
149 Sathorn Soi 12
Sukhumvit Soi 49
Skylane truck at the track outside Suvarnabhumi Airport
Hours vary by location
This spot hidden in a strip mall at the back of Ekkamai offers white, bright minimalistic design and they have a great nitro cold brew infused for 18 hours. Pair it with their banana cake and bring a sweets-loving friend along, they do excellent sweet drinks like a blonde hot chocolate or a milo mountain.
582/5 Suhumvit Soi 63
Daily, 8am-6pm
Nestled inside Hostel Urby in Chinatown, this coffeeshop features something different from the others — nitro tea! The easy-to-chug nitro brew on tap is great if you’re looking for an easy drinking cold caffeine fix. They round out their menu with some interesting choices like the kao-lud affogato, a chestnut blended frappe served with a shot of espresso.and have pretty much the best riverside deck with squishy cushions we’ve ever lounged on.
1222 Songwat Rd.
Daily, 10am-7pm
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