Product Overview
Region: Ywangan, Shan State
Altitude: 1,280 m.a.s.l.
Varietals: Red Catuai
Processing: washed
Our latest single origin house espresso is our first ever coffee from Myanmar. Padah Lin is a cracking introduction to an origin that is relatively new on the specialty market. It’s clean and very sweet, with the soft fruitiness of mandarin oranges or tinned peaches and a distinctive malted milk chocolate flavour. There are also delightful warm notes of cinnamon in some cups.
This coffee comes to us through Indochina importers (also the importers of our Chinese coffee) and is produced by Mandalay Coffee Group (MCG). It’s made up of combined daily lots grown by predominantly Danu and some Pa-O hill-tribe smallholder farmers in the remote mountainous area of Ywangan, Southern Shan state, Myanmar. MCG was formed in 2014 and is owned entirely by the citizens of Myanmar. It works with these smallholders, providing support as well as processing the coffee and bringing it to market.
For this season, MCG worked with over 50 smallholder farmers, each of whom cultivates approximately 0.25-3 acres of land, with coffee plants intercropped with a variety of produce such as avocados, jackfruit, papaya, macadamia and djenkol beans. The different types of trees act as a buffer to the spread of leaf rust and provide much needed shade, for both the coffee and the families who welcome the shade around their homes. Most of the farmers do not use fertiliser, but there is a big difference in quality and yield from the wealthier farmers that can use manure from their cattle.
Andrew Hetzel, a consultant working with the Coffee Quality Institute told Fresh Cup magazine that the growing conditions in Myanmar are excellent for arabica coffee. It’s at a similar latitude to Hawaii but has higher altitudes. The summers are hot, the winters are mild and there’s a stable pattern of rainfall during the growing season followed by dry harvest months.
Coffee was brought to Myanmar by British colonists in the 1800s but it didn’t take off until the early 2000s after the government encouraged farmers to shift from poppy production to coffee production. The first harvest to hit the specialty market was in 2015 and subsequent harvests generated a lot of buzz and interest due to their high quality. The growth into the specialty market was made possible by USAID, who funded a five-year rural development project focused on improving agricultural value chains in Myanmar.
Altitude: 1,280 m.a.s.l.
Varietals: Red Catuai
Processing: washed
Our latest single origin house espresso is our first ever coffee from Myanmar. Padah Lin is a cracking introduction to an origin that is relatively new on the specialty market. It’s clean and very sweet, with the soft fruitiness of mandarin oranges or tinned peaches and a distinctive malted milk chocolate flavour. There are also delightful warm notes of cinnamon in some cups.
This coffee comes to us through Indochina importers (also the importers of our Chinese coffee) and is produced by Mandalay Coffee Group (MCG). It’s made up of combined daily lots grown by predominantly Danu and some Pa-O hill-tribe smallholder farmers in the remote mountainous area of Ywangan, Southern Shan state, Myanmar. MCG was formed in 2014 and is owned entirely by the citizens of Myanmar. It works with these smallholders, providing support as well as processing the coffee and bringing it to market.
For this season, MCG worked with over 50 smallholder farmers, each of whom cultivates approximately 0.25-3 acres of land, with coffee plants intercropped with a variety of produce such as avocados, jackfruit, papaya, macadamia and djenkol beans. The different types of trees act as a buffer to the spread of leaf rust and provide much needed shade, for both the coffee and the families who welcome the shade around their homes. Most of the farmers do not use fertiliser, but there is a big difference in quality and yield from the wealthier farmers that can use manure from their cattle.
Andrew Hetzel, a consultant working with the Coffee Quality Institute told Fresh Cup magazine that the growing conditions in Myanmar are excellent for arabica coffee. It’s at a similar latitude to Hawaii but has higher altitudes. The summers are hot, the winters are mild and there’s a stable pattern of rainfall during the growing season followed by dry harvest months.
Coffee was brought to Myanmar by British colonists in the 1800s but it didn’t take off until the early 2000s after the government encouraged farmers to shift from poppy production to coffee production. The first harvest to hit the specialty market was in 2015 and subsequent harvests generated a lot of buzz and interest due to their high quality. The growth into the specialty market was made possible by USAID, who funded a five-year rural development project focused on improving agricultural value chains in Myanmar.
