Myanmar, formally known as Burma, is located in South-East Asia, in the middle of the trade routes linking Europe to China and India. In the late 1800s, British colonisers took over the country, until the country gained independence in 1948.

Coffee was first planted in Myanmar in 1885 by missionaries who introduced Robusta around Myeik and Dawei, on the South Western coast. In 1930, Catholic missionaries then brought Arabica to Southern and Northern Shan and Pyin Oo Lwin.

From 1930 to 1934, a 120-acre Arabica estate (“Chaungwe”) operated in Naung Cho township of Northern Shan. By 1935-1936, Myanmar produced 268 tons of coffee (175 t exported, 108 t roasted domestically). State farms managed by the Ministry of Industry ran key plantations from 1968 to 1994. A 1998 government plan aimed to expand Arabica to 100,000 acres, and by 2005 total plantings reached 35,485 acres.

After British colonisation in the late 1800s and independence in 1948, civil war and military rule kept coffee on the margins. Isolationist policies led to the waining of coffee production.

In the 1980s, the government partnered with the United Nation to replace illegal poppy production (used for opium) with coffee trees. And since the 2010s — with liberalisation, investment in research institutes, and formation of the Myanmar Coffee Association (2014) — Specialty production gain real momentum. A partnership project between Winrock Internation and the Coffee Quality Institute has helped farmers with intensive sorting and grading, increasing the quality of coffee produced and its ability to be sold on the Specialty market.

Most of Myanmar’s coffee comes from the Shan Highlands (1,000–1,600 m), where cool nights and rich red-yellow soils yield nuanced Arabicas. Most of the coffee produced in the Shan State is grown by smallholders with less than 1 hectare of land, with a dozen trees planted among other crops. Coffee is collected at a village level, then sent to a central mill for processing.

The Mandalay region (around Pyin Oo Lwin) supports larger washed estates, while Kayin State (Thaung Daung area), Chin State, and emerging areas in Kachin State also cultivate Robusta and small-batch Arabicas at 800–1,400 m under a tropical monsoon climate.

Washed processing leads among Mandalay’s larger estates: cherries are pulped, fermented, and washed before sun-drying on patios or raised beds. Many washing stations still use legacy 1950s McKinnon machines, so drying racks and patios remain vital. Myanmar's largest mill is operated by the Mandalay Coffee Group, formed in 2014 and owned by Myanmar citizens.

Smallholders in Shan and Chin States often employ natural (whole-cherry) and honey methods—removing only skin or part of the mucilage for added sweetness and body. Organic and agroforestry practices are increasingly adopted to conserve biodiversity and enhance cup complexity

Arabica dominates (≈85 % of plantings), with Robusta making up most of the remainder (≈14 %) and other types under 1 %. Beyond the core species, growers cultivate Liberica and Excelsa in small volumes. Hybrid and heirloom varieties include:

• Catimor
• Catuai
• Caturra
• Typica
• Bourbon
• SL34
• S795

These selections balance disease resistance, yield, and cup clarity. Specialty lots often highlight Typica and Bourbon heirlooms in micro-lots from high-elevation farms

Lilypad, the parent company to Behind the Leaf Coffee and was established in 2006 to empower communities with innovative agricultural and processing techniques, appropriate rural technologies, and linkages to value chains and markets. In 2015, employee Melanie Edwards was invited to a remote region in Pinlaung and started partnering with the Pa-O coffee farmers of Myanmar to resurrect their coffee farms, harvest at peak time, and process the coffee meticulously. Her partnership provides a sustainable and honourable
income for families who’ve been hidden much like their coffee – “Behind
the Leaf.”

Behind The Leaf is not an estate farm, but a small, demonstration plot
incorporating natural farming techniques. 99% of the coffee they process is grown and harvested by Pa-O families across Southern Shan State. BTL buys fresh coffee fruit from villages and then processes that coffee for export to the international specialty coffee market.

The price farmers receive for ripe, mature, hand-picked fruit has more than doubled with this linkage to an international market. In their first coffee season 2016, they produced two tons of specialty coffee. BTL has trained and employed 50 women from the neighbouring village for 5 months every year to help with processing and hand sorting.

Melanie has identified and partnered with about 10 different coffee-growing villages of the Pao Tribe, in the Pinlaung area, from whom she buys and processes exceptional coffee cherries, while controlling every step of the process. Her amazing work has helped them to resurrect their farms, as well as inspiring those small-scale producers to a sustainable and environmentally responsible growth. Melanie’s sustainable Coffee Relationship Model has been helping those farmers to produce top quality coffee with traditional Myanmar varieties (Catuai, Typica, S795 and some SL34).

By buying coffee cherries at a high price, Melanie has helped the neighbouring coffee-growing families and has pushed the communities
to commit to the highest quality standards possible, while focusing on
innovative practices that protect the ecosystem.

In the villages, after hand-picking the fruits, the farmers bring it to local stations that Behind the Leaf established in each village to check the quality of every batch harvested. After this first sorting stage Behind the Leaf sends trucks to pick up the coffee every single day to avoid fermentation, and once back to the mill it goes through another quality check where they sort out the floaters and process only the ripest fruits. They make sure that the coffee is processed on the same day of the harvest.