Topeca ✕ Indochina

This limited-edition box showcases coffees from one of the world’s most exciting and emerging origins: Myanmar. Curated in collaboration with Indochina Coffee, this collection features three unique lots that highlight the diversity, craft, and story behind Myanmar’s growing specialty coffee movement.

In the Box:

The Lady Cooperative
Two coffees from a women-led cooperative in Ywangan, grown at 1350 masl and processed as anaerobic honey and anaerobic natural. Each is a single-variety Red Catuai. Read below and learn more about this inspiring cooperative.

Green Land Estate SL-34
A washed SL-34 grown by one of the largest single estate arabica producers in the entire country. This incredible offering reflects the work of U Sai Wan, one of Myanmar's leading figures in coffee development.

The story behind this collab:

Topeca x Indochina Myanmar Box Set

When we first looked over the catalogue of coffees offered by Indochina, the first selections to pique our interest were a series of coffees from one particular cooperative based in the mountainous township of Ywangan in the western part of the Shan State of Myanmar called The Lady Specialty Coffee.

Before we received these samples, we had yet to try any coffees from Myanmar and the enthusiasm we felt to source them was underscored by the excellence that shimmered through in the cup. The Lady is a cooperative that was formed in 2017 by Su Nandar Linn and Thi Ha Gyawalie, two of the region’s foremost figures in specialty coffee production. As the name implies, their entire membership is composed of women who cultivate and consolidate their coffees. In the process of creating a network of mutual support for one another with the incentive of demanding higher market rates, instituting profit sharing initiatives, and state of the art training programs, their membership has skyrocketed from the original fifty one farmers to now representing over four hundred members. The fact that the Lady’s coffees are incredible and truly world-class is just the cherry on top. The project has become a resounding success, and one we are happy to support as the only US-based roasters who have been honored with the privilege to share these coffees with our community. We have opted to include two of their offerings in this box set, grown at an elevation of 1350 masl, Both offerings are single cultivars of Red Catuai, one processed as an anaerobic honey, and the other as an anaerobic natural. They are among the very best offerings we’ve sampled in a long while and are sure to exceed your expectations.

The third coffee in this set is an incredible washed SL-34 grown at 1158 masl on the Green Land Estate. This massive coffee farm is located on the outskirts of the township Pyin Oo Lwin in the Mandalay Division of Myanmar, which is about 100 miles north of Ywangan, where the Lady cooperative produces their coffee. When selecting coffees for this project, we made the decision to source coffee from another farm and region in order to give our community a broader sense of what the specialty coffee of Myanmar has to offer. This selection is notable due to the fact that it was grown by one the largest single estate arabica producers in the entire country. Founded in 1999, the Green Land Estate is a family enterprise led by U Sai Wan, a man who has long since championed coffee production in Myanmar. Not only does he operate one of the largest farms in the country, he is also the Vice Chairman of the Myanmar Coffee Association, and the Sales Director for the Mandalay Coffee Group.

You may notice that both the Lady Cooperative as well as the Green Land estate have relatively recent histories, both having been established within the last twenty six years. The history of coffee production in Myanmar is a fascinating one, and while we often get to learn more about the origins we source from, sourcing from an entirely new region gives us a great opportunity to learn more about the history behind these communities and people behind the coffee in question. In this regard, Myanmar has a fascinating story behind its industry, while both similar and dissimilar to nearby Thailand’s history in the coffee supply chain, it is no less remarkable.

Thai coffees are a relatively rare commodity to come by abroad due to being relative newcomers to the specialty export market, as their first coffees were exported in the late 1970s, Myanmar has a longer history with coffee, but less in terms of specialty arabica. Though coffee was introduced to the region, then called Burma, by British colonists in the late 1800s, when Myanmar declared independence in 1948, the production of coffee fell out of the mainstream in favor of opium cultivation until being revitalized in the early 2000s. This was chiefly due to a process that was quite similar to the nearby country of Thailand’s agricultural reforms, as the government of Myanmar introduced a program to reduce and further eradicate opium poppy agriculture by supplanting the industry with coffee farming. Over the last decade, coffee has become an important commercial crop for the country, with specialty coffee production coming into focus as recently as 2015 after a series of NGO development programs. These initiatives led to the first specialty exports hitting the US market in 2016, marking a noted shift in Myanmar’s burgeoning reputation abroad for producing exceptional coffees. It wasn’t until the following year, however, that Myanmar’s coffees were first exported to the UK, and Indochina was among the first importers to do so.

We hope this box set gives our community a great opportunity to explore coffees from Myanmar as well as a chance to learn more about this fascinating and fast-growing coffee producing origin. Supplies are limited, so snag a box while you can to experience these rare and one of a kind coffees, representing our exclusive collaboration with Indochina! Cheers!

Region: Shan State, Myanmar

Producer: The Lady Coffee Cooperative

Cultivar: Red Catuai

Process: Anaerobic Natural, Anaerobic Honey

Altitude: 1350 masl

Roast Degree: Light

Importer: Indochina

Region: Mandalay Division, Myanmar

Producer: The Green Land Estate

Cultivar: SL-34

Process: Washed

Altitude: 1158 masl

Roast Degree: Light

Importer: Indochina