Organically grown sour pickled tea leaves are findingconverts around the world, and that is sweet news for one Myanmar company.
Yathar Wathi Co. ltd., a tea company based in Myanmar’s Shan State, is successfully processing pickled tea leaves for its domestic customers. Myo Win Aung, the company’s managing director, intends to go global.
“We run the company with the vision of being (the) bestfermented tea leaf supplier in the world,” Myo Win Aung said. “Our success (is)based on how the world market regards the quality of Myanmar laphet.”
Laphet, the fermented tea leaf, is central to everything thecompany produces. It is a traditional, ethnic food served in Myanmar. Itappears as a salad, stirred with legumes, seed and beans. Laphet tastes bitter anddelivers a post-meal “caffeine kick,” Myo said.
Yathar Wathi operates a tea leaf shop in China as it seeksto introduce edible green tea leaves to a much larger market. And, while tealeaf salad does not often appear on Chinese menus, Myo looks to that country’smany street dumpling stands and envisions tea leaves being used instead ofvegetables.
He said he sees “massive potential for fermented tea leaf inChina.”
The company also started exporting to the United States in2014. A U.S. importer, Burma, Inc., packages the tea as organic “Burma Love”and distributes via American organic food stores including Whole Foods Market,Myo said. He expects the U.S. market to purchase 70 tons.
And Burma Superstar, a San Francisco restaurant, also uses thetea leaves.
The family company was founded 40 years ago as a wholesaletea operation in northern Myanmar. It began producing and packaging Shan ShweTaung tea leaves, a spicy and sour pickled leaf that became so popular that Myoexpanded production and moved from hand to machine packaging. About 10,000 tonsof Shan Shwe Taung are sold in small packets each year.
Myo now manages operations with his executive director, wifeKhin Ye Yupar Aye. All Yathar Wathi products are approved by the Food and DrugAdministration in Myanmar.
The company produces conventional Shan Shwe Taung andPaline, a premium organic brand. It operates retail shops in Mandalay city andat the nearby airport. Myo calls Paline “the very first and only laphet brandin Myanmar. The ingredients are quite simple; fermented tea leaves with sesame.”
And, he stresses, it is 100% organic.
Yathar Wathi teas are grown on about 300 acres inpartnership with about 150 farmers, Myo said. The plantations are certifiedorganic under both Myanmar and European Union standards. Farmers provide theland and buildings, and Yathar Wathi provides the machinery and technology aswell as a commitment to buy their tea.
The farmers diligently maintain organic farming practices,forgoing chemical fertilizers and insecticides.
Source: Yathar Wathi