Our origin is an alternative development programme
Hillkoff did not start as a coffee business. It started as a development problem — finding a cash crop that could earn enough to replace opium in the northern highlands. That history is why responsible sourcing sits at the centre of the business rather than alongside it.
Timeline
1967–1972
The Thai government invited the United Nations to help draft recommendations for progressively replacing opium poppy cultivation in the northern highlands with alternative cash crops. The final work plan was signed in 1972.
1972–1979
The Thai/UN Crop Replacement and Community Development Project ran as a pilot. It concluded that arabica coffee was the most viable long-term replacement: the land and climate suit it, transport and storage are straightforward, yields are good, and demand for quality highland coffee is strong.
1978
UNDP Thailand representatives visited the Chao Thai Pu Kao shop in Chiang Mai and invited it to join the programme. Mr. Theera Taksa-Udom established CTK-HAP to strengthen the marketing of produce coming out of the UN/Thai projects.
1981
The UN imported Magkinnon disc pulper machines and set up small pulping stations in key and satellite villages. One of those machines is on display at Hillkoff: House of Coffee and Tea in Chiang Mai.
1985
The coffee processing plant at Wang Sing Khum, Chiang Mai, began operating and CTK-HAP started buying arabica beans from villagers. Coffee promotion staff were posted to key villages, and quality was raised year on year with university researchers, UNDP staff, the Thai-Norway and Thai-German programmes, and NGO partners.
This timeline is drawn from Hillkoff's corporate history page at hillkoff.com
What we do today
Hillkoff buys, processes and sells arabica coffee from a network of highland farmers, operating within the Sustainable Development Goals framework and environmental, social and governance principles. Plot, farmer and certification records are held in the same system used to manage risk internally. This website publishes the portion of that system approved for public disclosure.
Company details
- Legal entity
- Hillkoff Co., Ltd.
- Head office
- No. 199/666 M.9, San Phisuea · Mueang Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai 50300 · Thailand
- info@hillkoff.com
- Telephone
- +66 95 145 0055
- Corporate website
- hillkoff.com