Our Partners
Each of our partners are invaluable and have helped us at different steps along the way.
From producing our coffee, to helping ensure success in our development projects, to organizing our yearly trips to Chiang Mai, each partner needs to be recognized and celebrated.
Our partners are all social enterprises, and take action in creating positive changes in the community around them.
Partner Farmers
Khun Ardong is another a coffee farmer partnering with Thai High. Although he does not speak Thai, he also has helped us on our trip along with his wife. He has a farm in Chiang Rai planting coffee, tea, and fruit as well. As he dries his coffee in his house, there is a need for a large drying rack and is a future project which we are planning.
Khun Dao is a coffee farmer partnering with Thai High. She and her husband has been a great help in our understanding of coffee farming on our trips. She has been cultivating coffee cherries for a few years and also plants tea and other fruits as a side business. Our most recent project included purchasing a pulping machine for her to process the coffee.
Thai High Coffee
Thai High Coffee is a social enterprise run by Ray Buerger, and has been an integral part of what we do at FairNIST.
Fair trade sits at the core of Thai High, and is a principle we strongly support at NIST. The above market price their farmers receive for their coffee greatly improves their livelihoods. But Thai High does not stop there. Through training, they empower farmers to improve their skills and grow higher quality coffee.
Thai High supplies the coffee we sell at FairNIST. They roast it to perfection, and we bag it at school. Thai High constantly works on improving itself through means such as holding coffee tastings at NIST to receive feedback from parents, teachers, and FairNIST members on how they prefer their coffee roasted.
Thai High Coffee has been incredibly involved with our Aka Ama tribe from the village of Huai Nam Khun, Chiang Mai development projects. More specifically, connecting us to Khun Dao and Khun Ardong, the famers we usually work with. Currently Ray and his team are working with us to build a processing facility. This will aid in teaching farmers to grow and process their own coffee. He has also gone out of his way to help these farmers outside of just coffee farming by gaining a better understanding of the farmer’s needs and their lifestyles.
On November 17th 2019, we visited their facilities and had a coffee tasting of our own to learn more about coffee roasting and their progress on training the farmers.
Thai High can be reached through their website, Facebook Page or email.
PREM Local Coffee
On November 18th 2019, during our Huai Nam Khun trip, we met with PREM Local coffee which is a student-lead organization working with Thai High doing similar work to us. They are from PREM international school in Chiang Mai and we plan on further working with them.
Our meeting had many influences on how we promote and sell coffee to our community and inspired us in many ways.
NIST's Catering and Cafes
NIST Catering has been an extremely key part in growing our brand internally within the NIST community. The head chef, Stu Air, along with his team of dedicated staff have been a constant help in receiving and handling our coffee imports as well as always being ready to provide logistical support.
By allowing sales at the various cafes located throughout the campus, FairNIST has become a very well known and popular brand within the NIST community. Feel free to stop by and purchase a fresh bag of FairNIST next time you happen to be around!
