Business.Coffee|Food Farmer’s Small Travel: No matter how busy you are, you have to go to the upstream and downstream of Gukeng

The Huashan area, Gukeng Township, Yunlin County, has abundant sunshine and rainfall. During the Japanese colonial period, it was planned as a commercial coffee crop area. Because of its high quality, it was once a tribute to the Japanese emperor. It has the beauty of "royal coffee" name.

Although Gukeng coffee once declined, in the past ten years, farmers have replanted and sold it, and the brand of Gukeng coffee has once again been launched. In order to let more people know the origin of Taiwanese coffee, Huashan Community Development Association combined with South China Elementary School to develop a A complete set of "upstream and downstream coffee" tour.

This summer, welcome to Gukeng Township and drink a cup of your own fragrant and honest Gukeng coffee!

In Gukeng Township, Yunlin County in early summer, the warm sunshine is not as powerful as the scorching sun in midsummer, but when it shines on the small green fruits on the branches of coffee trees, it is as dazzling as emeralds.

After a few months of gentle care of the sun, rain, and breeze, they will turn into bright rubies. After the farmers harvest, bake and other procedures, they will become the fragrant and pure Taiwanese coffee in your cup.

It was this coffee aroma wafting from his hometown that brought back Xu Yihong, a wanderer from afar. He was working in Kaohsiung at the time, and because he loved coffee, he established the "Dajianshan" brand in 1993 to purchase and sell coffee beans from small farmers in Gukeng.

"I'm not good at farming, and I never thought about being a farmer. But if I want to run an industry for a long time, I must have a deep understanding of the difficulties in planting and plant diseases and insect pests. At that time, I consulted a lot of teachers and coffee farmers, and I was discouraged by many people, but I grow coffee not for profit, but to leave the experience points of Gukeng coffee and prevent this industry from disappearing from Gukeng.”

Four years later, he decided to start returning to his hometown to become a coffee farmer.

Drying coffee beans experience

Gukeng Township, Yunlin County, after the September 21 Earthquake and Typhoon Nali, the Taiwan Coffee Festival was held again in 1989, starting from "Taiwan Coffee". The original agricultural town was transformed into a tourism industry. .

The tourists who come here every day are no longer just for the world of Jianhushan, they also want to taste the taste of Gukeng coffee and visit the beautiful Huashan Village.

Xu Yihong, who insists on drinking only Taiwanese coffee, often feels unworthy of coffee lovers in China, "Actually, the imported coffee that Taiwanese people drank in the early days, because of the low demand and lack of coffee knowledge, they often drink inferior coffee instead of coffee. Self-knowledge, I think coffee is bitter, and it needs to be sweetened with sugar and milk.

After drinking that kind of coffee, I must feel that the taste of Gukeng coffee is too weak, but this is the original taste of Taiwanese coffee. It tastes like Taiwanese tea, with a sweet aftertaste and a sweet taste. "He also specially set up a Taiwan coffee experience hall, so that tourists who are interested in coffee can have an in-depth understanding of the coffee production process.

Explaining differences in coffee bean quality

Most Taiwanese coffee is of the Arabica variety, and the best quality is planted in the area of Caoling and Shibi, extending south to Alishan. This area is slightly higher in altitude, and the quality of coffee beans is excellent, which is classified as Gukeng coffee. s brand. In the past, there were unscrupulous operators who imported cheap coffee beans and pretended to be Gukeng coffee.

It has dealt a big blow to local coffee farmers. Xu Yihong said: "Our task now is to rebuild consumers' confidence in Gukeng coffee. Although the cultivated land is small, it is impossible to set the price according to the quantity like imported coffee beans, but as long as you are willing to give Gukeng coffee opportunity, you will definitely fall in love with the delicacy of Taiwanese coffee.”

Coffee Specialty Course Makes the School Popular

Huanan Elementary School, not far from Huashan Village, has also successfully transformed into a special school because of the development of a complete coffee industry and environmental care course. Not only has the number of students enrolled increased, but students have also begun to care about agriculture and the environment.

When the principal Chen Qingzhen first took office six years ago, the population of South China Village had migrated seriously. There were only about 20 students in the whole school, and the school was facing the crisis of abolishing the school. Teams of teachers work together to plan special courses for the lower, middle and upper grades.

The level of care is from the origin to the end, including visiting coffee gardens, understanding the ecology and environment of coffee trees; being a small reporter, interviewing coffee farmers; and analyzing coffee production and marketing issues from the interviews, helping local small coffee farmers to market their brands and selling coffee for charity.

Helping disaster relief charity sell self-roasted coffee

When it comes to growing coffee, the students are little experts. Chen Defan said: "Coffee cannot be directly exposed to the sun, and the rainfall is between 1,500 and 2,500 millimeters. Moreover, good coffee farmers now restrain each other and do not use chemical fertilizers to prevent the land from losing its vitality."

Dai Ziyuan has a deep understanding of the plight of coffee farmers, "Coffee farmers are very hard, the purchase price of processing manufacturers is low, and the coffee beans that are hard-grown cannot be sold for much. Although Taiwan's coffee production is limited, the market still needs to import coffee, but I I hope everyone will support the farmers and drink Taiwanese coffee together.”

Chen Qingzhen developed this set of courses into a short two-hour "Coffee Upstream and Downstream".

Tourists who participate in the activity can really walk into the coffee forest, touch the small fruits of the coffee tree with their own hands, or smell the fragrance of coffee flowers, and then go to the coffee factory to observe how the white coffee beans experience after the coffee beans are peeled and the shell film is removed. Beans are sorted by machines, roasted, and become commercially available coffee beans.

As the roasting time gets longer, the roaster will continue to emit coffee aroma, and there will also be a popping sound like popcorn. When the roasting is completed, you can choose to make it into a three-in-one, hanging ear type, or pure coffee beans in bags. , and finally as long as the date is printed, it is a pack of coffee that belongs to you and is really "hot out of the oven".

The coffee garden can develop guided tours throughout the year.

For example, "Admiring the Snow in March", when the coffee flowers are in full bloom, a whole bunch of small white flowers spread out along the branches, like pieces of snowflakes. Moon snow is an unmissable itinerary in Gukeng spring.

After the flowering season in May and June, you can experience drying and grinding coffee beans. From September to the whole winter, it is the harvesting experience season.


(From left: Principal Wu Qingzhen, coffee farmers Xu Yihong, Xu Hualong, Chen Defan)

These coffee courses attracted more than 10,000 people to participate in last year. Community residents are responsible for guiding tours, and students have increased opportunities to communicate with children from other places.

Another river tracing activity that is popular with tourists also developed from the school curriculum.

Chen Qingzhen said: "At the beginning, the Jiaojiao River was going to be rehabilitated, but the riverbed was full of fossils, and it was an excellent place to learn about the ecology of the stream. The stream is not dangerous, so why bother to remediate it for the sake of remediation? I asked Wu Dengli, director of the Huashan Conservation Community, to take care of the children. Go up the stream, let their feet step on the cool stream, and small fish and crabs can swim past their hands and feet."

The enthusiastic response of the students to the activity of tracing the stream moved Wu Dengli. He asked the Water Conservation Bureau to cancel the renovation, and finally left a stream that can be left in memory for the children.

Wu Dengli said that the promotion axis of Huashan Conservation Community is ecological conservation. Since last year, the Cherishing Mountain Festival was held in March, the Heavenly Festival was held in April, and the Heavenly Thanksgiving Festival was held in Lidong at the end of the year. Through these activities, farmers were jointly signed not to spray pesticides , Stores do not use herbicides, let creatures multiply, protect the land, and introduce the concept of traceless mountains and forests.

At the beginning, there were not many shops that were willing to cooperate, but the financial tsunami in 2008 became a turning point. The shops found that no matter how bad the economy was, the eco-tourism market would not be affected. Value for money, so that Huashan tourism can continue to develop.

This summer, the coffee farmers in Gukeng Township and the Huashan Conservation Community invite everyone to drink coffee, wander in nature, learn to respect the heaven and earth, and learn how to respect each other and coexist with the land.


Help small farmers sell coffee

Source: Compiled by Daily Headlines