Seed of Hope Coffee Company was born out of the need for the education of marginalized children in Northern Thailand. Majority owner Lawpa Mayoe fled the war zone in Burma (Myanmar) when he was 13. In the struggle for his family to simply survive, the opportunity to go to school wasn’t an option. Later, as he and his wife Bairak began raising their three children in a remote village, they were determined to change the narrative.
Lawpa moved his family off the mountain with his wife and three children, along with 20 more kids from other Akha villages who wanted to go to Thai public school. Lawpa and his wife boarded 23 kids with a very small budget while the kids attended school.
This is when Ryan and Rebecca Stowell met them and saw their massive vision to improve the lives of stateless and marginalized children. The operation became the Seed of Hope project and operates as a non-profit, continuing to board and develop what is now anywhere between 31 to 35 students seeking education and life skills.
For years, the families of the kids attending Seed of Hope project have been asking, “Will you help us find a market for our coffee?”
So in 2021 Ryan and Rebecca changed to business visas, handed off their directorship roles to Thai leadership of the dorm and started Seed of Hope Coffee Co., Ltd. with Lawpa and Bairak.
This single origin Arabica, shade grown coffee comes from 1,100 to 1,500 MASL, a perfect elevation in the coffee belt, in what is one of the last undeveloped coffee regions of the world. The coffee is already regularly cup-scoring 80+ and will continue to score higher as education, training and responsible organic and sustainable practices increase as a new generation of coffee farmers find hope in the specialty coffee market.
Seed of Hope Coffee Co. Ltd gives a portion of annual sales to the Seed of Hope Education fund which provides scholarships for students seeking higher education. This fund has already supported 9 students in receiving bachelor degrees and also funds vocational training scholarships for students. Some degrees the students have received are: nursing, education, dentistry, business, bible, culinary arts, English and Mandarin. The funds also allow Seed of Hope staff to attend classes such as counseling, trauma healing, art thearapy, English learning and more. While the Seed of Hope Project and Seed of Hope Coffee Co. are separate entities, they remain interconnected in support of the students and their families.
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