Mai Thuzar Khaing, Founder“You are not just drinking a cup of coffee. You are tasting the essence of the mountains.”
I’m Mai Thuzar Khaing, Chin ethnic and the founder of Larr Zort Coffee. Our farm is nestled in the Nghaphae Rom mountain range, where highland Arabica — locally known as Kafi — has become the main livelihood for every village in the area.
Over thirty years ago, my father and his friends led a ten-year rural development project here, in collaboration with a missionary initiative. Families moved from shifting cultivation to settled farming. They planted citrus, pineapple, avocado, and coffee. Today, Kafi is the region’s primary cash crop, with an annual yield of over 50 tons.
My passion for coffee deepened when I realised it doesn’t require clearing land. Coffee plants thrive in the understory of the existing forest and large trees. By farming coffee, we preserve the forest it grows in — and the mountains that give it its taste.
The name comes from the Asho Chin language, where Larr Zort means top tier. We use it as a standard — high-quality, ethically sourced, purely organic coffee, grown for customers who care about where their cup comes from.
From our own organic farms to your cup, we provide authentic local coffee produced with a purpose. Our goal is twofold — to establish a sustainable homegrown brand, and to empower our community by creating jobs for youth and women, while supporting vital Children’s Ministry programs.
To open up fair-trade opportunities for farmers in our region. Most growers here don’t see a fair price from large buyers — we pay above market for cherries from our neighbours, process to one standard, and turn their harvest into premium products that carry the Chin community with them to market.
We grow coffee on the Larr Zort farm in Ngaphe Township and buy additional cherries from farmers across the same mountain range — all processed to one standard.
Coffee doesn’t need cleared land. We grow it in the understory of the existing forest, and we close the loop on everything we pack.
A portion of profits directly supports Children’s Ministry (Formations) programs in our region.
Bring us 25 empty 250 g bags and we’ll give you a new one. Same deal for 120 g — 25 returned, one fresh bag in your hand.
Returned bags and coffee waste are reused as plant bags in our own nursery — seedlings raised in the same pouches our coffee came home in.
Our coffee grows under the canopy of the Nghaphae Rom range. No clearing, no mono-cropping — the forest stays, and the beans get better for it.
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