The Land with Two Secrets:
by Edward Firs

The True Story of BeanBurst and the Would-be Botanist Who Got There First.

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This is not a fairytale. It’s a true story about a real place, real people, and two very real discoveries — one almost forgotten, the other was ‘almost’ illegal — both pulled together by luck, timing, and maybe a bit of destiny.

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​Now the century-old recipes are not forgotten but understood and the unique combination of ingredients, are no-longer frowned upon and suddenly they are legal. And the very best thing is that they taste so smooth, provide a boost of energy, are highly aromatic, and give a pleasurable sense of well-being.

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​The land I’m talking about sits in western Thailand, in the River Kwai Valley in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. If you know the area, you’ll know about the Hindat Hot Springs, the Pha Tad Waterfall, and maybe even the River Kwai. But you probably don’t know the land I ended up buying. Most don’t. Not yet.

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​The Botanist’s Legacy

Before I ever owned the place, part of it belonged to an old friend of mine — Don Jagger.

The other part was owned by a lovely Thai couple, both retired, and enjoying the peace of beauty of their surroundings.

Born in American, a very northern California wine-guy, turned New Zealander, Don Jagger wasn’t exactly normal, or, a better word is ‘ordinary.’

 

He was flower-and-plant-mad, loved all kinds of weird flowers and barks and bean pods. Half amateur botanist, half lunatic, and he always went all in, on his or any obsession with rare plants. In professional circles he was a well-respected businessperson and well, extremely smart - clever!

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​He stumbled on a wild, knotted root growing in some forgotten patch in a Thai forest — Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, or “elephant foot yam.” Locals barely used it. Jagger, of course, became obsessed. Not because parts of it were edible, but because he believed — and I mean really believed — that the compounds in it could interact with aquatic soil, even groundwater.

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He experimented. Quietly. He cultivated the yam in and around the freshwater lake on his property — which, due to underground aquifers, was hydrologically connected to the famous Pha Tad Waterfalls & Springs. That’s geothermal mineral water feeding a cold freshwater lake.

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A rare combo. Jagger swore the yam, the heat, and the mineral-water mix changed everything — the soil, the plants, even the flavour of the lake water.

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​I didn’t believe half of what he said, but I respected his conviction.

 

Then, without warning, Jagger died. No drama — just gone. What he left behind was a strange, half-finished vision: a lush but mostly untended property, a stack of plant and herb notes, and a lake surrounded by botanical anomalies.

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​I bought the place. I returned to the UK and Spain, messing around, you know - maybe you know.  As far as that lovely piece of land was concerned – I figured I’d just let the forest reclaim it or plant bananas. I was wrong. Because that lake wasn’t done telling stories yet.

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A new survey has re-defined the National Park boundary and now we are no longer in but touching and adjacent to a wealth of jungle-based herbs and roots which make up our current botanical coffee blends.

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​Next to Jagger’s Lake (Heliconia Lake), on land that used to be zoned as national forest, lived an old couple: Worapong and his wife, Dao.  They were gardeners, grew beans, mangoes and such. Locals. Retired, honest. He dreamed of making a resort out of his piece of paradise.

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They had planned to build a resort. Instead, they found something quite different.

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​While experimenting with local leaves and pods — a pastime in these parts — they stumbled on an old combination. Two plants that, when dried, ground, and mixed with hot water, created a drink that didn’t just taste good — it did something. It gave people energy. Focus. Peace. A real lift. Nothing manic, nothing weird — just right.

Dao remembered her mother making it once, back in the old days. A forgotten recipe. Locals joined in. Variations exploded. Others remembered old recipes. The drink – and variations of it - spread through the valley like a whisper.

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Then Dao got sick. Bangkok hospitals don’t take smiles for payment. Worapong had to sell the land they’d built up. Tough call. But he made it. He had to sell out. 

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The old Thai Couple who loved making aromatic coffees, with a smooth taste — Worapong & Dao, needed to sell up fast. She had cancer and had to go to Bangkok for treatment. So, I bought that piece of the land too and now lived next to the National Park. Don’t get the wrong idea, it’s jungle! (You can walk in!  But better use a guide)

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​The Find

I bought their property, not because of what was on top of it — but because it was next to Jagger’s and it was beautiful even if currently a little ‘let-go’ and needing some tidying up. The moment I stood on it, I knew I was standing in a place that didn’t belong on any map. Their land and Jagger’s together in one piece, were meant to be one piece of land and now it is.

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The Ingredients
My interest in the coffee brews grew when, one day, while checking an old worker’s hut, I found what you might call the real treasure: bags of dried bean pods, leaf powders, and sealed containers each with some pungent smell, a bit like opening an essential oil, concentrated by pleasing. Some were labelled, in Thai. Most weren’t. The air smelled like earth and something sweet you couldn’t quite place it. Any way you describe it, it was pleasurable to just stand there and take it in.

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​I asked around. Talked to old workers. Pieced together some of the recipes. Brewed the drink. I didn’t need a lab test. One sip told me: this was the real thing. And somehow, it tasted even better than what the old stories described. That’s when it hit me: maybe it wasn’t just Worapong’s herbal-mixtures. Maybe Jagger’s weird lake water had something to do with it too.

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Note added later; now we know what the essential ingredients are of course. We know the lake water is fed underground and has a spectrum of minerals not seen elsewhere.

You can see one of the ingredients on this page, higher up. There are three more; one is a fragrant tree flower, and the other is such a common plant. It’s just knowing which is which isn’t it? The third ingredient is the lake water. It must be filtered and handled in a specific way to gain the mineral benefits. Plants grown using this lake water, grow differently to those grown with any other water. Minerals like magnesium enhance coffee extraction (brightness), while calcium mellows flavors.

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Either way, I didn’t care. What mattered was: it worked. It tasted good. People wanted it. They started calling it “the no-longer-forbidden drink.” Once, apparently, making this drink, though not actually illegal (forbidden) was discouraged by the authorities. No laws were issued – it was just discouraged. This is the Thai way.

I named it BeanBurst.

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Reinvention

I didn’t factory-produce it. Didn’t put it in fancy boxes. We packed the coffee blend it in plain brown bags, stamped the name, and sold it quietly on Amazon.

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It sold out.

Not because we had flashy marketing. Because it worked. Every cup felt like a reset button. Your eyes focused. Your body loosened. Your mind ran sharp.

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Later we rolled the blended grounds into small balls, so the exact quantities required for a brew could be used, easily.

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We compressed the powder into dissolvable “pills” bulging with botanic goodness and lush robusta coffee — big balls, about two centimetres across. They work just as well as loose coffee grounds but this way, it’s easier to use and more important you get the right amount in a cup. If you use bigger mugs, use three balls instead. They break down into a powder again without much effort.

 

No matter how you brew your coffee, you get a delicious aroma and smooth flavor every time. Forbidden Magik coffee balls are made to suit a variety of brewing methods. Further digging revealed that one of the key ingredients — a third plant Worapong had tossed in — was from the ginger family. Anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, full of antioxidants. It wasn’t just a drink. It was fuel. Herbal rocket fuel.

​And because the herbs grow here in so easily too, we now produce everything locally. Same sun. Same minerals. Same water. Same soil. Same euphoric effect.

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Where We’re Headed

I can’t make enough of this stuff. Not alone. That’s why I’m setting up a team of ten partners, each with the full recipe, the training, the methods. Equal footing. Shared growth.

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​One parcel of land at the property, Deep Gully, is slightly further from the lake — but that’s fixable with piping. There is some small actual lake frontage for Deep Gully. No showstoppers here.

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​My business partner and wife is Thai (holding several degrees, and academic qualifications. She also runs a profitable business based in Bang Kapi, Bangkok. She is a clever businesswoman and as we operate inside Thailand it is essential for her – and her team of university friends now in the legal profession - to work her/their magic for us.

 

As stated, Warisa also runs another business which has been going for 16 years and is a highly placed profitable enterprise and shows no signs of slowing down. Her main contribution is her common sense, her contacts, and her way of getting problems ‘gone.’

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She has a network of old university friends who help us overcome or subdue legal challenges. I am British and have lived here in Asia since 2011 but never had to report to immigration, have all the extra permits I want, go in and out of the country with ease. Legal hurdles are not an issue for me and will not be for you.

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If you want in — boots on the ground or managing from afar — reach out to us. It’s a good life. Better than good. It’s the kind of life where the land gives back more than you put in. You just have to be smart enough to listen. If you really, actually, want to stop the office commute, the parking hassles, the go-go-go of life in modern-day America, or unsettling Britain, just call and see if this isn’t something you can do!

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Final Word

I’m not pitching a dream. I’m inviting you into a reality that’s already working. I didn’t invent this. I just paid attention. Jagger saw something in the (plant) roots. Worapong saw something in the leaves. I just put the two together and lit the fuse.

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The sales we gained in Japan, and then the US and the UK, were so easy to have. People are crying out for what we have. No-one else has it. When we’re ready, and have sustainable supplies for 1 or 2 products, at least, we will relaunch.

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If you want in, email: jaggerconsultants@onmail.com
Subject line: FAO Edward Firs

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We’ve got room for ten to join us. Maybe fewer.