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Myanmar has been growing coffee since the late 1800s, introduced by British colonists. Following Myanmar’s independence in 1948, a concerted drive to produce coffee at scale occurred much later during the political reforms of 2011, when agricultural growth was encouraged as part of the government’s opium eradication programme. The subsequent opening up of its economy led to the increased focus on coffee as a commercial crop.
Specialty coffee production commenced from 2015, supported by development initiatives from Winrock Foundation, USAID and CQI, with the first specialty coffees were exported to the USA in 2016 (Atlas) and to the UK in 2017, which included Indochina Coffee’s first shipment.
Shwe Taung Thu farmers group, which translates to ‘Golden Farmer’, is made up of Danu and Pa-O smallholder farmers who are producing specialty coffee in the Ywangan area of Southern Shan State, in the east part of Myanmar. The group provides leadership, finance, technical assistance and market linkages for its members with the objective of bringing fairer trade conditions for its coffees.
Coffees produced by Shwe Taung Thu are named after the villages where the coffee is grown and processed. Each community has its own working group which is responsible for managing the processing of the coffee within each village. The focus is exclusively on producing dry naturals – the climate and terroir is particularly suited to this process, with very dry heat during the harvest season providing excellent conditions for drying.
Myin Kya Doe is named after the village in which this coffee is grown which comprises 450 households. The production of this coffee is managed by a core group of around 10 members and this is the fourth year they have produced specialty coffee.