Myanmar Ywangan Natural

Myanmar isn't really in Indonesia. It is a country in Southeast Asia, nestled between India on one side and Thailand/Vitetnam on the other, the Indonesian islands are to the South. But it makes sense that coffee can grow here. They have the mountains for it, and they grow other side crops like paypaya and bananas, although historically over 90% of their crop agriculture is rice and beans.

Myanmar specialty coffee has been breaking records at auctions and scoring as high as 90 in SCAA cuppings. It was time to check out what they're up to. We were offered both a washed and a natural process, both were fantastic quality. There are a few growing regions. This one is called Ywangan and is in the southern tip of the country and seems to be where the highest scoring beans are mostly coming from. The co-op is called Mandalay and represents about 2000 farmers. Each farmer has as little as 1/4 acre they grow coffee on, so before the co-op was formed, no single farmer had enough yield to attract an international buyer.

Even though it is a natural processed bean, it needs to go a little bit hotter and longer than a natural processed African. We are roasting it more like a Costa Rica, taking it about 20-30 seconds out of the 1st cracks. At this level, it has a really nice honey sweetness to it, almost coats your mouth with honey it's so smooth. There are hints of tobacco and citrus, but nothing that really hits you. It's very pleasant to drink though.

US Arrival October 2020