Story
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.
Farm
Green Land estate lies on the road between Pyin Oo Lwin and Mogok, near the border of Mandalay Division and Northern Shan State. This is a family business led by U Sai Wan, who has childhood memories of seeing coffee farms along the road near Pyin Oo Lwin each time his parents took him from Yangon to visit family in Northern Shan. Now he runs one of the largest arabica plantations in the country (about 450 acres) and has won awards over multiple years of Myanmar’s national quality competitions.
Farmer
U Sai Wan is a leading innovator in Myanmar’s specialty coffee industry, winning national quality competitions for his Green Land coffees. He also plays a key role in Myanmar Coffee Association, alongside his position as Sales Director at Mandalay Coffee Group. He operates the estate together with his uncle and aunt, along with two local agronomists and many local workers. The majority of coffee grown at Green Land comprises of Costa Rica, a type of Catimor, with SL34 forming around 10% of the farm. U Sai Wan is also conducting experiments with Yellow Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai and Geisha.