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2016-12-28
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What start out as a courtesy visit turns out to be one of the best cafe in Bangkok for this trip. I was totally surprised by the quality of Brave x I+D Style Café. Initially, I would skip in heart beat during my café crawl trip on any café situated in a corner inside a big shop like this and definitely Brave is not in my list at all. While the visit is pretty much out of courtesy at the beginning, I would have missed one of the best cafés Bangkok has to offer if I had skipped Brave. What first
I was totally surprised by the quality of Brave x I+D Style Café. Initially, I would skip in heart beat during my café crawl trip on any café situated in a corner inside a big shop like this and definitely Brave is not in my list at all. While the visit is pretty much out of courtesy at the beginning, I would have missed one of the best cafés Bangkok has to offer if I had skipped Brave.
What first impressed me at Brave is its decoration. To my experience, most of the third wave café will focus on its coffee and seem to ignore the decoration, degrading the café experience and making it difficult to attract mainstream customers. Brave’s décor is impressive and comfortable to sit, not those vintage/used/hand me down furniture and an afterthought decoration that seem to fit hipster’s style but could easily be a no-no for mainstream customers.
Its location is superb, right in the middle of one of the famous shopping center in town with convenience transportation almost right at its footsteps. On the day I visit, you see lots of precautionary measures to ensure the safety of shoppers there in Bangkok.
While, these days, cafés seem to aim at “IT” machines like LM Strada, Synesso, Slayer, Black Eagle or NS Aurelia T3, etc., the machine here, LM Linea Classic, can also be a trusted workhorse as evidenced with its years at Starbucks counters worldwide in the past. Besides, Linea rarely disappoints me so far, particularly on milk drink.
Let start with cappuccino. It cappuccino is made from its house espresso blend comprising, three beans which are both washed and dry process from Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai provinces in the northern Thailand. Nothing is too exciting about this coffee but the most important thing is that it is a very enjoyable cup to drink. 
Cappuccino of Brave's House blend
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My next coffee is espresso. I choose single origin coffee from Café Valley Farm in Chiang Mai. During this café crawl in Bangkok, I have been dreaded with the overly tight pull of espresso over there. I have a hard time understanding why various cups of espresso in Bangkok were pulled way too tight for anybody to appreciate whatever is in the cup and I let the barista here knows of my opinion. Still, the barista insists on pulling this coffee short. With the prior cup of good milk drink in mind, I don’t object to this barista’s suggestion. 
The coffee comes out surprisingly good for what it is though it is not an impressive cup. This is not a full on third wave kinda coffee; the tasting note said it all, honey, caramel and that’s that. The tasting notes all show up there though I get some citric acid like in the cup. The short shot doesn’t hurt the cup you can figure out those tasting notes in there with ease and it’s not as tight as what I had at other cafés earlier. Not bad at all.
Single origin espresso of Brave's Cafe Valley Farm, Chiang Mai
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Kenya, Kagumo Factory, Nyeri is that coffee. It is the coffee that the shop owner used to get himself into top 6 of National Thailand Brewers Cup Championship in 2016. I have tomato and some savory tone when it’s hot for this hand drip.
Hand drip of Kenya Kagumo Factory, Nyeri
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Overall, Brave is a coffee shop that I underestimate a lot; the other one is One Ounce for Onion. Both cafés are under the same group, look superficial as if it's just another hipster kinda things from what I gather on the internet. Turn out, its coffee was one of the best I have had in Bangkok. What remain to be improved at Brave with this good barista skill set and reasonable roast work is the quality of its green bean that seems to be the only limiting factor for café of this potential, IMHO.
I can unconditionally recommend this shop for coffee lovers. With great and very convenient location and good coffee overall both espresso and drip, you don’t want to miss Brave if you are in Bangkok.
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