Page 86 - #58 English

Origin

MYANMAR
COFFEE

protection for coffee trees while only bio-fertilizers are
used without any chemical impact.
The perfect climate of Pyin Oo Lwin makes it a most
desirable place for Arabica coffee to thrive with an opti-
mum daily temperature of 68F and rainfall of about 55
inches per year.
When I had an opportunity to cup this year cupping About author
competition winners of Myanmar at Mandalay Coffee
Group I was shocked and more than surprised to find out Mikhail Sebastian started in specialty coffee in 2010
that such varietals like Catimor and S795 that usually after discovering coffee from Ethiopia’s Yirgacheffe region.
performed poorly in cupping table changed my perception He has visited coffee farms in Rwanda, Ethiopia, Cuba,
of cultivar and hidden treasures behind certain varietals Ecuador, Brazil, Panama, Guatemala, and El Salvador. He
we know less about. Nobody argues that growing environ- worked with processing experiments in coffee farm in
ment and varietals used to plant coffee tree will have the Puerto Rico. He’s trained baristas in Ecuador, has judged
huge influence on cup quality and the yield. What I’ve the U.S. Latte Art Championship, and was a technical judge
heard here was that the yield of Myanmar coffee is low but at Puerto Rico’s Barista Championship and Coffee in Good
the farms I visited in Pyin Oo Lwin area did not complain Spirits Championship. Based in Martha’s Vineyard island,
much about the yield rather than being happy of the pro- Massachusetts, USA where he manages coffee bar and
duction they receive every season. works as barista as well.

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