Casa Lapin (คาซ่า ลาแปง)

ตอนนี้เปิด

ตอนนี้ปิด

Casa Lapin is not a new name for me. My previous experience at its then roaster at Sukhumvit 26 two years back was bearable, at best. I even had a lower expectation on this particular branch with its location at a corner right beside a movie theater. However, this time, I was wrong and it is a good thing.

The espresso I had was surprisingly amazing vs. my experience at other Casa Lapin branches. The acidity was what I noticed at the first sip, quite close to those citrus tone, and overall cup tastes smooth and round on top of the underlying sweetness all over the coffee, thanks to the usage of lever espresso machine per my past experience with this type of machine with a smoother and rounder ending. The cup is quite clean likely due to decent pull but I can sense some sort of dullness in the cup, likely from Thai coffee used in the blend.

Another good thing is that the super tight cup which seemed to be quite a common problem in Bangkok two years back was gone in this cup, a good riddance indeed. The cup I had this time was quite drinkable one can easily make out acidity and sweetness, at least. Still there’s some cereal and somewhat faded tasting note in the cup toward the end, the latter an indication that its roasted coffee had past its prime, IMHO. Nevertheless, the overall cup is quite decent I don’t have much problem drinking this kind of coffee, not because I have to but more like I want to.

Kenya AA Mount Kenya Region

My order of drip coffee further cemented my belief that it’s the contribution from this barista that helps make things better here. My order of Kenya’s drip came out very drinkable.

A very old coffee, particularly for artisan cafes

Firstly, Kenya this Casa Lapin branch carried at the time was quite old i.e. mid July roast date (vs September 2018 brew/drink date) and the cup showed faded tasting notes. This could be the result of the location that should have a very low foot traffic among coffee lovers as a small corner right beside a movie theater is not quite a prime location for coffee lovers, thus resulting in aged coffee on offering.

However, the brew is quite nice, clean and clear enough to be an enjoyable cup of coffee, thanks to the very good skill of the barista herself and her ability to drink and differentiate coffee, ie she knows how good coffee should taste like.

The coffee was not very tight vs what I had in Bangkok two years earlier, a good thing indeed. I get the lemony tone right away with my first sip but some missing/faded tasting note afterward due to coffee age. The cup could be considered too weak or too light by some but for me it's quite good. The spacing of each tasting note is nice, starting with lemony tone, as said earlier, following by some sort of astringency which is not that pleasant but likely due to roaster than brewer.

I would credit all the good coffee to this barista who seems to know how to taste/drink coffee, judging from the cup she delivers and the taste of those coffee I had. It's not that easy to find a barista who knows how to taste a coffee like this, particularly in Bangkok from my experience. This issue has less to do with how long that barista work but how much effort and interest each barista put into what one is doing. I had a let down experience at another Casa Lapin before but this one is very good for whatever coffee they had on offer on that day.