Myanmar Shwe Yi Mon Natural SL28

We taste: Pear, red currant, mulled wine, oak barrel — medium acidity, fruity finish.

In 1922, a vacant sanatorium named after Scottish missionary Dr. Henry Scott was repurposed by the Agricultural Department of the Kenya Colonial Administration to conduct public research, becoming the Scott Agricultural Laboratories.

In 1931, a senior officer of the department collected seeds in Tanganyika — now Tanzania — from a wild coffee tree that appeared drought-, disease-, and pest-resistant. From 1935 to 1939, forty-two varieties were studied at Scott Labs; the twenty-eighth, SL28, was a single plant selected from a population named Tanganyika Drought Resistant.

SL28 has since eclipsed most of its Scott Labs siblings — not for hardiness, but for cup quality. Sparkling, acidic, and effervescent, it may be susceptible to disease, but it tastes so wonderful that cultivation has spread to specialty farms worldwide.

This SL28 was grown 4,300 miles from Scott Labs, intercropped with silver oak and macadamia shade trees at Shwe Yi Mon Estate outside Mandalay. Farm owner U Ye Myint earned his botany degree in 1993, began cultivating coffee in 1998, and founded the Myanmar Coffee Association and Mandalay Coffee Group.

Origin Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay, Myanmar · Farm Shwe Yi Mon Estate · Process Natural · Variety SL28 · Elevation 1,100 masl

Roaster Coffee Project NY