200 years ago, the governor of Nyaung Shwe (Nyaung Shwe Zaw Bwar) set up an army and based it in Tet Kone. Initially, there were only 13 households in the village and residents grew trees as windbreaks.
As legend has it, it is under the shade of those trees that coffee plants were first grown in Ywangan, and some of the trees you see are over 100 years old. When surrounding villages realized that income could be made from coffee, the coffee spread to the whole region. In 2015, the community got involved in the specialty coffee trainings put on by CQI and Winrock. They grow mostly Cauai, and the pride they take in their coffee is evident the minute you show up at the village and see the pristine red cherry trying on raised beds.
All Tet Kone households produce tea and coffee as their main source income as well as upland, rain-fed paddy for family consumption.
Their secondary source of income is from pig breeding and cattle rearing. Coffee production organized as a group started in 2016 with the participation of 30 households in the coffee working group.
The village received a loan from Ban Chuan, a local coffee company, to produce around 1 MT green bean naturals this season.
Coffee Stats:
- GPS: 21.09726, 96.51233
- Elevation: 1,203 masl
- Area: 40 hectares
- Participants: 155 households
- Production: 1 ton of naturals in 2015
- Varietals: Catuai, Caturra, Catimor, S795
- Processing: Natural
