The farmers

Today, there is a vibrant community of coffee growers and producers.

From Myanmar’s Himalayan foothills to the southern Shan Plateau, several domestic specialty coffee farmers and value chain actors thrive—including a few larger processing facilities, privately run estates and, most importantly, community associations for farmers.

While a recent military coup in 2021 compounded difficulties and political turmoil domestically,

Coffee exports continue to be a key factor in responsibly supporting smallholder farmers and cooperatives.

  • We'd now like to introduce you to all our amazing friends currently growing specialty beans.

    Their small farms are located across the Ywangan and Hopong regions, as part of two main farmers associations, and we’ve begun to develop close working relationships with them during each and every harvest.

  • Shwe Taung Thu: the “Golden” Farmers

    Many of Myanmar’s best single-origin coffees are sourced from Shwe Taung Thu co-op in Ywangan, a stunning region that sits roughly between 1,300-1,600 meters above sea level.

    Shwe Taung Thu, which translates to Golden Mountain People, was first formed by smallholder Danu and Pa-O communities motivated to deliver better transparency, quality control and market linkages to their members–and has ultimately set a gold standard for other coffee growing regions across the country.

  • Turning poppies to Myanmar’s finest beans

    Further east in the remote mountaintop villages of Hopong region, several Pa-O communities founded Indigo Mountain co-op as a way to start replacing local poppy farming and opium production with new, more sustainable livelihoods created through specialty coffee.

    The results have been inspiring. In 2019, just two years after their first pilot batch, they achieved the highest SCAA-rated coffee in Myanmar.