% Arabica Bangkok Empire Tower
Level 55, EA, Empire Tower, 1 S Sathon Rd, Yan Nawa, Sathon, Bangkok 10120
Come for a single shot and the height, not for a laptop session. Order the Spanish latte if you have not had one of theirs; it is the drink that defined the chain's first decade. Time the visit for late afternoon when the office tower thins out and the counter is calmer.
The cafe sits on the 55th floor of Empire Tower, the five-building Sathon complex that mixes office space with restaurants and a sky deck. The brand brought its Japanese counter design up the elevator with it: a single long bar, minimal seating, baristas working in the open, the room organized around the espresso machine rather than around the customers.
The Chemex installation behind the counter is the visual signature, with the glassware pieces cascading like waves down the wall. Above the bar, soft ceiling lighting handles the rest. The window line gives you a wraparound panorama of the city and the river bend, which is the actual reason to choose this outpost over the brand's ground-floor stores.
% Arabica was founded in Hong Kong in 2013 by Kenneth Shoji, a Japanese entrepreneur who moved south after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. The Kyoto flagship opened in 2014; the Bangkok arm followed in 2020. The chain owns a coffee farm in Hawaii and runs custom espresso machines built in Seattle, which is the reason the shot pull at every outpost lands the same.
The Empire Tower location operates inside an office building, so the busy hour is the morning rush and the lunch break. The view sits behind glass, not on a terrace.
If you are coming up specifically for this cafe, ride the elevator in the late afternoon and order at the bar. Sip standing; the counter is the better seat than the few chairs.