Myanmar - Myay Ni Kone | Natural 2026

About the Coffee

Shwe Taung Thu, which translates to "Golden Farmer," is a farmers group made up of Danu and Pa-O smallholder farmers producing specialty coffee in the Ywangan area of Southern Shan State, Myanmar. The group organizes around 140 smallholders in the Myay Ni Kone village alone, providing financing, technical guidance, and direct market connections to help its members get fairer prices for their coffee. Each village under the Shwe Taung Thu umbrella operates its own working group responsible for managing processing at the local level.

Myay Ni Kone means "Red Earth Town," named for the rich red soil that supports not just coffee but also citrus, bamboo, and forest vegetation across the area. The group focuses exclusively on dry natural processing (where whole coffee cherries are dried in the sun with the fruit still intact, rather than being washed off before drying). This isn't just a stylistic choice: the dry heat during harvest season in this part of Shan State makes it particularly well suited to this approach. Coffees are named after the villages where they're grown and processed, keeping the chain of accountability short and traceable.

Myay Ni Kone is relatively new to specialty coffee production. The Rogue Wave team visited Shwe Taung Thu in early 2023 and came away impressed by how well the trees are maintained and how seriously the community takes the work. The trees are carefully tended and the town has built real pride around its coffee, which is visible in the quality coming out of this relatively young producing community.