Thiha Gyawalie
Ruby Hills Farm, Mogok, Myanmar
One of our big Myanmar specialty coffee favorites comes as an organic, fully washed from Ruby Hills Farm in Mogok. Thiha Gyawalie is one of the youngest coffee farmers in Myanmar and produces a great Catior there, at a height of around 1,500 meters. Despite his young age, he and his coffee have won several awards already. Thiha was one of the first coffee farmers in Myanmar to go purely organic. In 2018 he won the Myanmar Coffee Competition with 87 SCA points. He’s constantly experimenting with new processing methods such as carbonic acid maceration and fermentation, as well as with natural and honey coffees. It’s part of his normal routine to stay up until the morning to experiment and get the most out of his harvest.
The Ruby Hill farm lies pretty isolated in the south of the Shan State in the middle of the largest ruby fields in Myanmar. The area surrounding Mogok is both namesake of the farm and the reason for this area being so closed to foreigners. It can only be visited with a difficult-to-get special permit.
As soon as the cherries of this specialty coffee are picked, they are pulped and fermented for 48 hours in tanks of exactly the same size to ensure consistency within the batches. Once this is done, they are sun-dried for around 3 weeks.