Page 77 - #59 English

and discuss specialty coffee scene of Myanmar. Comparing to Myanmar coffee has great potentials, more mar-
Easy Coffee, Coffee Circles does not offer pour over option due to kets to conquer. The perfection of harvest, the me-
lack of demand for black coffee. Their customer base is oriented on ticulous sorting, explosive flavors puts Myanmar as a
espresso and milk beverage. Coffee Circles is lovely place in not so new specialty coffee region on the map of new discov-
busy area of Yangon. Cute and welcoming location with nice decor. ery. I wish Myanmar a lot of success, more freedom in
Cappuccino I ordered came with nice texture, taste of sweet caramel, getting strong buyers with top dollar paid to those farm-
milk chocolate and perfect velvety finish. Both brothers are gradu- ers who sacrifice what needed to make our coffee more
ates from the US and moved back to Myanmar to start introducing special rather than commercial.
specialty coffee movement in their country. Besides coffee shop “The art of people is a true mirror of their mind”, Aung
they also distribute coffee grinders, espresso machines, various San Suu Kyi.
coffee related equipments under the name of “Element Coffee”
which is located across from Coffee Circles with barista school inside
the premises for training and further developing barista carrier in
Myanmar where it becomes more profession rather than job. Zaw-
Phone want to see specialty coffee of Myanmar to be more recogniz- ABOUT AUTHOR
able among specialty coffee communities around the world as main
destination for coffee lovers who come to the country not just to Mikhail Sebastian started in spe-
see coffee farms, or visit pagodas but being able to broaden their cialty coffee in 2010 after discovering
knowledge about what Myanmar has to offer when it comes to coffee from Ethiopia’s Yirgacheffe region. He has visited
specialty coffee shops with properly trained and skilled baristas who coffee farms in Rwanda, Ethiopia, Cuba, Ecuador, Brazil,
also compete in local championship to showcase the possibilities of Panama, Guatemala, and El Salvador. He worked with pro-
treasure hidden within the country. Barista Championship of Myan- cessing experiments in coffee farm in Puerto Rico. He’s trained
mar is not part of WCE due to lack of resources and organization baristas in Ecuador, has judged the U.S. Latte Art Champion-
structure within Specialty Coffee Association of Myanmar but it ship, and was a technical judge at Puerto Rico’s Barista
does have its own competition where the winner is representing Championship and Coffee in Good Spirits Championship.
Myanmar on broader Asian competition. The first Myanmar Based in Martha’s Vineyard island, Massachusetts, USA where
Barista Championship started in 2014 and was organized by Coffee he manages coffee bar and works as barista as well.
Circles and Element Coffee Consulting and machine supplies.

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