![]() Woman from a coffee-producing community in rural Myanmar. A lack of infrastructure, from reliable electricity to ports, can make buying coffee – or even finding out about good coffee – hard. We’ve already written about the difficulties years of isolationism has caused producers and buyers. Government, were places westerners could not visit. Hidden from the world for nearly sixty years, Burma (Myanmar) and its main city of Rangoon (Yangon), as they are still formally recognized by the U.S. It was an organized tour for international coffee professionals, hosted as part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Value Chains for Rural Development project. Mya Ze Di, the region my coffee came from, is not the kind of place you can find on a tourist map. Credit: Tamas Christman Political Challenges for Coffee Farming Greeting ceremony at Min Dwin drying station. How have farmers achieved such remarkable improvements in such a short time? And why is it happening now? Just two years ago, these same communities had only ever produced commercial-quality coffee, in a tradition stretching back generations. ![]() I felt childlike wonder, cupping the country’s best coffees and learning about how producers are so quickly improving their production and processing techniques. The year’s top samples reached nearly 90 points on the 100-point SCA quality scale, with averages in the mid- to upper-eighties. I discovered it was from a small community called Mya Ze Di in a remote area of Shan State, and bought some more from Atlas Coffee Importers.Ī year later, I went to Myanmar during the third annual Myanmar Coffee Association cup quality competition. Credit: Tamas Christmanīack in my lab, the coffees did not disappoint: candied grape, green apple, sandalwood, and other spices danced in perfect harmony. Natural process coffee drying at Min Dwin, Myanmar. Without coffee bags or other containers nearby, I scooped up the precious cargo into any vessels I could find: a souvenir mug, a paper lunch bag, and an empty plastic water bottle. Unfortunately, the samples were already packaged to return to Seattle. First reports hinted at extraordinary coffees, heightening excitement over a region already considered exotic.įinally, I found the source of the coffee: the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) meeting room. I didn’t find it in time, to my great dismay, but word of the standing-room-only cupping spread across the show floor. On hearing a rumor of a tasting there, I began desperately searching for the event. The first time specialty coffees from Myanmar were available in the Western world was at the 2016 Specialty Coffee Association of America Expo in Atlanta. Credit: Andrew Hetzel Myanmar Captures The Specialty Industry’s Attention ![]() Tamas Christman admires the 2017 harvest at Lily Pad Estate. SEE ALSO: How Myanmar’s Coffee Trade Is Dictated by Infrastructure ![]() Along the way, I gained insights into why the country’s coffees are so spectacular – and why they’re only now coming to the coffee industry’s attention. I recently took a trip to Myanmar’s farms with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Value Chains for Rural Development project. A producing region that was unheard of just two years ago, it’s making headlines for its nearly 90 points coffees – some of which have increased by 15 points in just one year. And now, its coffee is capturing the attention of the specialty coffee industry. Myanmar captured my imagination when I was a child. ![]()
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