Ga Naing Yar is nestled in the mountains in Southern Shan State, and is so remote that their current elementary school only has 4 grades. While Atlas has not yet purchased coffee from Ga Naing Yar, proceeds from the community’s past coffee sales have allowed many community members were able to send their older kids to schools in the valley in order to continue their education. The folks at Ga Naing Yar used to sell their coffee at the local 5-day market, but are now selling a lot of their coffee to the specialty market and able to fetch higher prices.

During our visit, we saw a variety of coffee trees on family plots of land, including a near-mythical tree that was thought to be over 100 years old, only producing cherries once every three years. As a parting gift, we were given some dried cherries from the trees last harvest, and were able to cup back at the Atlas lab.  We look forward to bringing in coffee from Ga Naing Yar in the future and supporting this motivated and friendly community.