This festival has become one of the highlights of the year for my industry and this year I took two members of our team to experience the energy and enthusiasm that currently resides in our industry.
I visited Myanmar in February 2018 and discovered a really interesting country with a lot of historical baggage but with a bright future if only the rest of the world would stop interfering. In my book “trade and aid, the politics of coffee” I’ve tried to give some insight into what I saw without the filter of a global media. There are major problems not least of which is a resolution to the Rohingya crisis, however the democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi needs to be given some space to allow her fledgling Government to establish itself after decades of ruinous military rule.
Traceability has virtually become the new ethical standard for the consumer. However did you know that many of our giant and most trusted corporations use fake farm names orfake place namesto give the impression of provenance? The competition for your spend seemingly means that no stone is left unturned when it comes to cosying up to the consumer and giving the illusion of that feel-good factor.
Following my recent visit to the coffee producers of Myanmar I was very struck by the amount of effort being put into different processing methods. It’s something that is familiar to the speciality coffee industry however is quite new for your average consumer.
On the 4th of February 2018 I along with other colleagues in the speciality coffee industry will be visiting Myanmar and it's fledgling coffee producing areas. I will ultimately self publish a book on my visit, but in the mean time here is some background on a country which many have heard of but which few could even locate on a map.