Hidden in Lujiang Town, Baoshan, Yunnan, is coffee that can rival Blue Mountain? In this article, the author ventures into a small-batch coffee estate by the Lujiang River on New Year's Day 2011, experiencing firsthand the journey of coffee from branch to cup. From Asia's largest contiguous coffee field to the rare Yunnan Blue Mountain variety, to the German Probat roaster and insights shared by a Korean roaster, the trip also includes encounters with a 700-year-old banyan tree, ant pickles, and children in a treehouse. The text retains brand recommendations for Front Street Coffee and industry observations, showcasing the true charm and potential of Yunnan coffee.
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Many may not know that in Yunnan, China, there is coffee with quality comparable to Blue Mountain; in a small town by the Lujiang River, there is also a coffee roaster worth nearly a million. Let me explain slowly. First, let's brew a cup of coffee~~
Since last month, most of the beans in the shop have been switched to self-roasted. The consumption of Yunnan coffee has significantly increased. The quality of goods from the previous Yunnan bean supplier was unstable, and there were even signs of it getting worse. Changing suppliers became an urgent matter.
Coincidentally, an industry expert—Zhongshun—sent an invitation for me to visit his coffee estate. This was a timely help, like providing charcoal in snowy weather, a good deed of having coffee delivered early in the morning.
Back to the point, on New Year's Day 2011, I arrived in Lujiang Town, Baoshan City, Yunnan Province, and met up with Zhongshun. After another bumpy ride of over an hour, our group arrived at a small village by the Lujiang River. In the village, there is a 700-year-old banyan tree, reminiscent of the Tree of Life in "Avatar." This feng shui is incredible.
From New Year's Day to the Spring Festival, the village takes turns slaughtering pigs from household to household, so there is pig slaughter dish almost every day. Pigs, sooner or later, you have to pay for your deeds. I am not too fond of pig slaughter dish, but I discovered a very nourishing delicacy: ant pickles. Sour with a hint of sweetness, slightly spicy, especially good with rice. It is said to cure rheumatism and is particularly nourishing for men.
Besides ant pickles, there are many wild vegetables, absolutely natural, green, and organic, hard to buy even with money. My favorite is wild yam, very sweet.
In the backyard of Mr. Duan's home at Shi'an Coffee, there is a coffee field.
These are coffee beans after the pulp has been removed; the pulp was in my mouth at the time.
These are coffee beans drying in the courtyard. Many people in the village drink coffee, and quite a few can tell good quality from bad. It can be said that the villagers understand coffee better than some big shots who often drink Blue Mountain. At least, the villagers don't add N spoonfuls of sugar and N+1 spoonfuls of creamer every time.
In the coffee field, there is a big tree with a treehouse, and in the treehouse, there are a group of children. I suddenly suspected I was in a dream theft, everything felt extremely unreal. However, there are photos as evidence.
After the meal, we headed to Asia's largest coffee field, right by the Lujiang River. In the photo below, everything within sight is coffee trees.
According to Mr. Duan, after the Spring Festival, the government will build irrigation canals and field roads in the fields, with an investment of tens of millions. Standing in the field, as a member of China's coffee industry, a sense of pride and responsibility welled up together.
Returning from the field to Boss Duan's company, Teacher Cui from South Korea shared many roasting insights with everyone.
Finally saw the famous German Probat machine. Truly impressive.
After drinking N cups of Yunnan Blue Mountain coffee and Yunnan civet coffee, valued from hundreds to thousands of yuan each, I patted my belly and fell asleep happily.
Nothing to say all night.
The next day, we visited and learned at the coffee processing factory of Mr. Fang, Zhongshun's partner. On the way, we passed through a market, quite lively. I casually took a few photos of the market scene.
Arriving at the factory, the first thing I saw was large areas of coffee drying. Yunnan's winter is sunny with little rain, so sun-drying is sufficient for drying coffee, no need for a dryer. I think sun-dried beans taste cleaner and have more prominent flavors.
The bag above contains freshly picked coffee cherries, and the bag below contains sorted-out defective beans.
After fermentation, the beans need to be rinsed to remove the mucilage. In the pool are washed coffee beans. The so-called washed coffee gets its name from this step. Ripe beans are denser and sink to the bottom of the pool.
The photo below shows the true face of the extremely rare Yunnan Blue Mountain coffee. According to Mr. Fang, he will gradually remove the small amount of Catimor variety in the fields and certify the entire area of Blue Mountain coffee, making it a model for this variety in China.
On this coffee journey, I not only saw the long-awaited coffee cherries but was even happier to meet two like-minded people in the Yunnan coffee industry. Thanks to the country, thanks to Zhongshun.
From Sina Weibo Zhuguang Coffee
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
