Coffee Blog

Established in 2018, The Lady Specialty Coffee (TLSC) is a women-run specialty coffee processing facility in Myanmar. Su Nandar Linn, the Managing Director, works with 51 farmers from Nwar ban Gyi Village in Southern Shan State, Ywa Ngan. As the name suggests, the farmers are all women, and even the processing facility is 99% staffed by women.

TLSC prides itself in the women that are behind the coffee, all the way from the farm level to the processing facility. They share 20% of the profit from sale of the green coffee with the farmers. This serves to encourage the farmers to grow more coffee, and at the same time, give recognition to the rightful producers.

The Coffee Diversa is one of our favourite coffee garden in Biolley, Costa Rica, with one of the largest private collection of coffee varietals. By choosing the path of genetic diversification, Gonzalo Hernandez has preserved the history of coffees that were once grown around the world but have long been forgotten.

The Purpurascens Longberry is a natural mutation of the Bourbon varietal. It is characterised by its purple foliage, hence its name. We first learnt of this varietal from Gonzalo in 2016 and were enamoured by the unique cup profile. We are delighted to be able to showcase this coffee once again, and it is tasting just as good as we remember.

This year, we are excited to once again feature coffees from Pa-O, by the folks from Behind the Leaf Coffee. The Pa-O tribe is one of the ethnic tribes from Shan State in Myanmar. Legend has it that the Pa-O are descendants of a dragon and an alchemist named Zawgyi. Traditionally isolated from the outside world, they have their own language and traditions, like many other tribes in Myanmar. Behind the Leaf Coffee (BTL) is an organisation that aims to resurrect Myanmar’s coffee farms and bring sustainable income for the Pa-O tribe. BTL involves the people throughout the entire production process,...

In this August’s subscription, we have included one of our favourite non-coffee products, cascara, also known as husk or rind in Spanish. When coffee cherries undergo wash-processing, it is depulped, which is the removal of the skin of the cherries. These husks are usually discarded as a by-product of coffee processing. In the case of Finca Isnul, they took the husks of one of their best varietals, the Pacamara, and dried it into cascara. If you have been following our coffee offerings, you may have learnt that Finca Isnul is part of Family Bonds Coffee, similar to San Antonio Chaguite.  There...