The Myanmar Coffee Map: Introduction to Myanmar Coffee Varieties and Cultivation - What Coffee Does Myanmar Have?

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Myanmar Coffee Origins

Myanmar began cultivating coffee beans in 1885, but for nearly a century after cultivation began, there were no exports or significant commercial traces.

In the mid-to-late 20th century, the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) began promoting coffee cultivation to encourage Myanmar farmers to abandon poppy cultivation.

However, during this period, due to the astonishing profits from the original drug trade and the continued substantial control by the military government, many farmers joined the program to earn subsidies for coffee cultivation while actually continuing to grow poppies.

Despite this, as of a few years ago, Myanmar had 100,000 acres of coffee plantations, with more than half in the southern Shan State and near Mandalay.

Regardless of Myanmar's current coffee processing techniques, the vast natural shade forests and low-pollution natural environment all provide Myanmar with the potential to produce high-quality coffee.

Myanmar's agricultural officials have also planned to send agricultural experts to search for suitable varieties worldwide and bring back plants and seeds.

Myanmar has been able to find many well-known bean varieties, including H528, Catuai, SL34, S795, Blue Mountain, and the highest quality S795. These varieties are sufficient to compete with common traditional varieties.

The Myanmar Coffee Map Project

The "Myanmar Coffee Map" actually began collecting data simultaneously with the "Sri Lanka Coffee Map" in October 2006. At that time, Sri Lanka was chosen first. Over the past 10 months, I experienced family changes and various work and personal matters, only completing the Sri Lanka article in March, then delaying for almost another five months until today when I finally completed this article.

The original intention was to express the coffee-producing regions and overview of various countries in map form, focusing on the map portion. The text, because it must involve verification, is not my specialty, and I was afraid of frequent errors, which would be inappropriate, so I only provided simple explanations. Unexpectedly, I still had to extensively collect materials and convert them into text so that the map could be drawn based on the descriptions. Therefore, starting from the previous Sri Lanka article, the text of "Coffee Maps" has increased.

The additional text does not all focus on coffee but involves geographical and historical cultural materials. Since I spent time reading the materials, it would be a shame to discard them because "Coffee Maps" didn't need them, only to completely forget them later, so I took the opportunity to organize and write them out together.

Myanmar, quite distant from Taiwan and usually not very connected, who would have thought that after collecting materials, one deeply impactful story after another struck my heart. Using "stories" to describe these materials is actually inappropriate, because within all events, there is a condensation of blood and tears. Tracing back to the root, wars and conflicts caused by human selfish desires and power ambitions have distorted the dreams of family life for too, too, too many people!

There are still many materials about Myanmar that could be written, such as the "Wa Special Region," "Kokang Special Region," "Fourth Special Region" in the Golden Triangle... etc., but these deviate too far from the main theme of this text. Providing several webpages and blog links as references, it's clear that many people in Taiwan still cherish those places.

More than a decade ago, I had female colleagues from Myanmar of Yunnan descent, and their unique accent still lingers in my ears. I haven't seen them for a long time - I wonder how they're doing recently?

Brief History of Myanmar

In the past, we often recited: "The capital of Myanmar is Yangon."

However, on November 7, 2005, the Myanmar government suddenly announced the move of the capital to Pyinmana, even stating that the new capital was named "Nay Pyi Taw." It is understood that Nay Pyi Taw means "Royal Capital." Today, Myanmar is a country under military dictatorship, with almost all important officials and leaders being generals. Such a major event as moving the capital could be secretly planned and then quickly executed.

Due to mountain barriers and rugged terrain, the Myanmar region has extremely complex ethnic composition. In 1886, Britain occupied this area, incorporated it into India under the British Commonwealth, and made it a province of India. In 1937, Myanmar separated from the Indian Empire and became the Burma Proper of the British Empire. During World War II, in 1942, Japanese forces occupied Myanmar. In 1945, after Japan's defeat, Britain continued to possess Myanmar. In 1947, Aung San, leader of Burma Proper, together with leaders of minority states, jointly sought independence from the British Empire. On January 4, 1948, the Union of Burma was established. Since then, Myanmar has experienced a series of political struggles and military takeovers, which continue to this day. In 1989, the Myanmar authorities changed the English country name from Union of Burma to Union of Myanmar. On November 7, 2005, due to strategic thinking, the Myanmar government announced the move of the capital from Yangon to Nay Pyi Taw.

The "Aung San Suu Kyi" we often hear about in the media is the daughter of Aung San, who was assassinated shortly after gaining independence. Aung San Suu Kyi studied in England and later returned to her country to advocate for democratic politics through non-violent means. In the 1990 general election, the "National League for Democracy" she led won an absolute advantage and should have become Myanmar's prime minister, but the military refused to hand over power, causing huge international repercussions. She subsequently won the Sakharov Prize in 1990 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She donated the $1.3 million Nobel Prize money to a trust to contribute to the health and education of the Myanmar people, while she herself suffered long-term house arrest by the military government.

Relying on its natural environment, Myanmar should have abundant resources, and its water resources and mineral deposits are very rich, which should be able to provide affluent living conditions for its people. In fact, during the early period of independence from British rule, Myanmar's economic situation was quite good, but due to years of political struggles and military turmoil, Myanmar has become a poor and difficult country.

Administrative Divisions of Myanmar

Myanmar's administrative divisions are quite interesting. Under the federal government, it is divided into 7 divisions and 7 states. Originally, due to complex terrain and numerous ethnic groups, Myanmar has the largest ethnic group being the Bamar people, accounting for about 65%, living in the central "Burma Proper," while ethnic minorities established several states in the surrounding areas. In 1947, Burma Proper led various states to seek independence from Britain, and after adjustments to administrative divisions, 7 divisions and 7 states were formed, jointly organizing the Union of Myanmar.

The 7 divisions are generally divided from Burma Proper, namely: Sagaing Division, Bago Division, Magway Division, Mandalay Division, Tanintharyi Division, Ayeyarwady Division, and Yangon Division.

The 7 states are: Kachin State, Kayah State, Kayin State, Chin State, Mon State, Rakhine State, and Shan State.

The Golden Triangle

Speaking of Myanmar, one cannot fail to mention the "Golden Triangle." The Golden Triangle refers to the border areas of northern Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos (some sources believe it should also include southern Yunnan Province, China, and northern Vietnam). This area has blocked transportation, continuous mountains, and is world-famous for producing poppies, which are processed into opium and heroin through warlords and drug lords. Within the Golden Triangle, Myanmar's territory occupies the largest area. More than a hundred years ago, the British began planting poppies here, and since then, poppies have almost become the only economic crop for farmers in the mountainous areas of northern Myanmar.

The ethnic groups of the Indochinese Peninsula and the ethnic minorities in southwestern China are extremely close both geographically and in terms of blood ties. During the late Ming Dynasty of China, some members of the royal family and soldiers fled to the mountainous areas of northern Myanmar, becoming quite powerful local forces there.

During World War II, to coordinate with the Allies against Japanese forces in the Indochinese Peninsula, China organized the Expeditionary Force into the Indochinese Peninsula under the call "Every inch of land is paid for with blood, one hundred thousand youths for one hundred thousand soldiers." Most of the Expeditionary Force died in battle, some returned to China after the war, and a small number remained, living and intermarrying with local mountain people.

In the 38th year of the Republic of China (1949), the Kuomintang and the Communist Party fought in a civil war. The Kuomintang was defeated, and the National Government forces in the southwestern region failed to retreat in time. They took the route from Yunnan through the Indochinese Peninsula to advance to Taiwan. Among them, a few remained at the border to become the "Anti-Communist National Salvation Army," wandering through the jungle, engaging in jungle guerrilla warfare with communist forces and even government forces from China, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. In the 50th year of the Republic of China (1961), through international mediation, the Taiwanese government withdrew the military and their dependents to settle in Taiwan. Today's veterans in the Qingjing area of Nantou County are members of this operation. However, a few people refused the arrangement and remained to become residents of the Golden Triangle. They possess combat capabilities and weapons. These people, regardless of whether they are Chinese, indigenous, or descendants of intermarriage, expanded poppy cultivation for survival and maintaining armed forces, becoming the world's main source of drugs.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) once promoted drug crop substitution programs in the Golden Triangle region, hoping to guide farmers to cultivate other crops such as grains, fruits, tea, rubber, coffee... etc., to replace poppy cultivation, with the aim of eliminating drugs, but the results have not yet been significant.

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