Black Ivory Coffee and Elephants (Elephas maximus indicus) at Chiang Saen in Northern Thailand

Elephants in Africa (Loxodonta africana, L. cyclotis) and Asia (Elephas maximus indicus, E.m. maximus, E.m. sumatranus, E.m. borneensis) accept as suitable habitats the lands around coffee plantations. They appreciate the moisture, nutrition, and shelter that agro-industry offers through:

• Accessible food;
• Irrigation systems;
• Shade trees.

They are herbivores (“plant-eaters”) whose diets favor the browsable or grazable parts of:

• Grasses (Gramineae or Poaceae family);
• Mallows (Malvaceae family);
• Legumes (Fabaceae or Leguminosae family);
• Palms (Arecaceae family);
• Sedges (Cyperaceae family).

Minerals assume critical importance as nutrients to be accessed from soil and water. The moisture in red, ripe berry-like fruits attracts native elephants to naturalized coffee trees (Coffea spp). It augments the liquid refreshment that human-made and natural water sources provide.

Researchers acknowledge sub-Saharan Africa as the original homeland of coffee shrubs and small trees. The Horn of northeast Africa acquires special significance as the first center known anciently for cultivating, drinking, marketing, and trading coffee.  Worldwide access to the flowering, fruiting evergreen’s flesh-, parchment-, and silver skin-enshrouded 1 – 3 seeds brings to mind intriguing stories of:

• Arabic-speaking growers and traders assuming strict control over cultivating beans and marketing brews;
• European entrepreneurs and explorers breaking that monopoly during the Ages of Discovery and Exploration from the 15th century onward.

Narrators, poets, and singers steeped in dramatic, performance-related, traditional literature possibly conserve local back-stories regarding the woody plant’s smooth naturalization within Asian and Caribbean, Central, and South American countries.

The cultures of some countries located between the Tropics of Cancer at 23° North latitude and of Capricorn at 23° South latitude commemorate the agents, dates, and gateways of the first sustainable coffee crops. For example, Brazilian culture correlates coffee cultivation with plants grown by seeds introduced into Suriname and secreted from French Guiana by Sergeant Major Francisco de Melo Palheta (1670 – 1750?) in 1727. Indian culture describes Baba Budan of Baghdad, Iraq as completing a pilgrimage to Mecca, hiding seven seeds during a stopover in Yemen, and realizing the subcontinent’s first coffee harvest -- at Chikmagalur in Karnataka -- in the 17th century. Thailand contrastingly has no uniform or widespread back-stories to the kingdom’s agro-industrialization of coffee beans and brews.

Robust coffees (Coffea canephora) historically appear in central - southern Thailand. They are lowland-adaptable, pest-resistant, and stress-tolerant. Their beans deliver traditional oliang (“black cold”) coffees, which get:

• Blended with corn, sesame, and soybeans;
• Brewed in a thung tom kafae (metal-ringed cloth bag);
• Poured from a skinny, tall pot;
• Sweetened with condensed milk, evaporated milk, or syrup.

Arabian (Coffea arabica) varieties dominate the north since the twentieth century. They link with Thailand’s and the United Nations’ Crop Replacement and Community Development Project of 1972 – 1979 to:

• Battle erosion;
• Conserve watersheds;
• Diversify crops;
• Exert control over Golden Triangle opium-trading with Laos and Myanmar;
• Find hill tribes legal, sustainable money-makers;
• Graduate coffee-growing from domestic to export markets;
• Halt slash-and-burn agriculture.

Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son Provinces account for northwest Thailand’s twentieth and twenty-first century coffee production. Black Ivory elephant coffee from neighboring Chiang Rai Province appeals to five-star hotel patrons in:

• Abu Dhabi;
• Macau;
• Malay Peninsula;
• Maldives;
• Thailand.

Its production at the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation near Ananatara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort in Chiang Saen attests to transparent operations and results. Locals and visitors can observe the children and wives of mahouts (elephant-trainers):

• Feeding street-rescued elephants banana-, fruit-, rice-, sugarcane-, water-filled dietary supplements;
• Gathering hindgut-fermented droppings 15+ hours later;
• Hosing parchment- and silver skin-protected beans prefatory to outdoor-drying, roasting, and service.

Brewing draws upon antique machinery made in France and operational since 1840.

The life cycles and natural histories of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus indicus) in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam concern amateurs and professionals since the big-toed, broad-skulled, large-trunked, small-eared pachyderm’s description in 1798 by Montbéliard-born French zoologist Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier (August 23, 1769 – May 13, 1832). Conservationists debate the brevity of Asian elephants dependent upon:

• Dry or moist deciduous, evergreen or semi-evergreen forests;
• Grasslands.

Ever-changing urban - wildland interfaces threaten gentle grey giants whose maturity involves:

• Daily diets of 220.46+ pounds (100+ kilograms) of food and 26.42+ gallons (100+ liters) of water;
• Shoulder heights of 6.56 – 11.48 feet (2 – 3.5 meters);
• Weights of 4,409.25 – 11,023.11 pounds (2,000 – 5,000 kilograms).

Light brown Black Ivory beans communicate to admirers nothing black, burnt, espresso-like, or oily. They evoke chocolate, floral, medium roasts. The granulated sugar-looking, ground powder evokes spiciness. At 75°F (23.89°C), the hot drinks hint at fresh-mown grasses. Cooled to 65 – 70°F (18.33 – 21.11°C), they imply spiced dark chocolate. They need no lactose or sweetener. They pair with:

• Carrot, chocolate, clove, nut, and spice cakes;
• Dried cranberries and raisins.

They serve as tributes to:

• Compassionate administrators;
• Conscientious mahouts;
• Cooperative elephants.

Owner/operator Blake Dinkin and elephant director John Roberts resolutely translate profits into:

• Animal care;
• Employee benefits;
• Full-time veterinary access;
• Habitat protection.

The activities, the coffee, the elephants, the employees, and the scenery indeed will be worth the visit.

In memory of Raja the Baby Elephant on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra and with respect for Raju the Elderly Elephant in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Goat and Table, a curated online buyer's guide, spotlighted Black Ivory Coffee.
Established April 2015 to March 2020 by Guillermo Fernandes, Goat and Table aimed to provide market exposure for small companies and startups with new gadgets and trendy products.
Black Ivory Coffee at Goat and Table: Guillermo Fernandes (goatandtable), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/131292477@N08/17386278615/

ripe and unripe coffee fruits: ripe redness signals moisture, which satisfies elephants' water requirements.
Catimor Arabica coffee cherries, Northern Thailand: The Coffee Chronicler, CC BY ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/187871768@N05/49759709298/

Summer solstice, around June 21, marks day in Northern Hemisphere in which sun is overhead at noon.
Thailand, located in the Northern Hemisphere, lies within the bands of latitude demarcated northward by Tropic of Cancer and southward by Tropic of Capricorn.
Earth's latitudes, including Tropic of Cancer to Tropic of Capricorn: Public Domain, via NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) SciJinks @ https://scijinks.gov/review/solstice/seasons-earth/

Oliang, traditional Coffea canephora-based Thai coffee, blends corn with coffee beans, sesame and soybeans for brewing.
cup of oliang from market in Ayutthaya Province (Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya; Thai: พระนครศรีอยุธยา): Chainwit., CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oliang_โอเลี้ยง_oleang_olieng_Thai_iced_coffee_at_Ayutthaya.jpg

Coffee and tea production flourish in Santikhiri countryside in northwestern Thailand, an area within opium's Golden Triangle.
Santikhiri (formerly known as Mae Salong), Daen Lao Range, Mae Fa Luang District, Chiang Rai Province: momo (kudumomo), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_mountains_Ban_Ho_Mae_Salong.jpg

Elephant shower at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort; guest donations and owning company, Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, fully fund Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, whose elephants are responsible for Black Ivory Coffee.
Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai Province, northwestern Thailand: Casper Moller (casparmoller), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/caspermoller/2266413786/

baby elephant in Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp
Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai Province, northwestern Thailand: Casper Moller (casparmoller), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/caspermoller/2401632512/

Canadian Blake Dinkin, creator and owner of Black Ivory Coffee, partners with Ban Taklang in Surin, lower northeastern Thailand, and with The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF)to produce his expensive, rare, elephant-curated coffee.
Blake Dinkin with Black Ivory coffee beans: newsonline, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/55361146@N08/8942408106/

The Golden Triangle scenery at Chiang Saen, original home of Black Ivory Coffee
Confluence of Ruak River and Mekong River, in Thailand's Amphoe ("District") Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai Province; opposite shore is in Laos, and sand cape is in Burma-Myanmar.
Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai Province, northwestern Thailand: Oatz, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Triangel_at_Amphoe_Chiang_Saen.jpg

Elephant Family. "Baby Raja" (0:39). ~ Afterword: "Baby Raja died all alone, chained to a tree, crying out for his mum.". YouTube, June 20, 2013, @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8iLDJwXmoI

PatrynWorldLatestNews. "50 years a Slave: Raju The Elephant Cried Tears Of Joy After Being FREED" (8:51). YouTube, July 7, 2014, @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhrjTFSDqTU

comedy and trust of human-elephant camaraderie: "Trying to hide bananas from La-wan usually got my shirt covered with trunk mud."
Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp, Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai Province, northwestern Thailand: Nick Gray (nickgraywfu), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickgray/28350757/

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