Gukeng Coffee Xu Yihong and his wife returned to their hometown and learned from the beginning of the supermarket owner to creat

Xu Yihong, chairman of Yunlin Gukeng Coffee, said that different degrees of roasting have different flavors.

Xu Yihong and Guo Cixun, who used to run 7 supermarkets in Kaohsiung, returned to their hometown of Yunlin Gukeng 14 years ago and started the coffee business. They are now the largest Gukeng Taiwanese coffee distributor in Taiwan, with an annual turnover of 60 million yuan. Yuan, the product was selected as one of Yunlin's top 10 souvenirs. After the "Dajianshan" brand established itself in the domestic market, in 2011, it entered the international market with the "TGC" (Taiwan Good Coffee) specialty coffee brand and successfully sold to the United States, Australia, and China , Japan, Thailand and other places, and has been selected as "Mainland Top 10" Taiwan Souvenirs for 4 consecutive years, letting the world see the vitality of Taiwan's agricultural innovation.

Xu Yihong and his wife went to Kaohsiung County to start a business in 1994. Xu Yihong, who was 24 years old at the time, had only 1,800 yuan on him, and had to rely on his wife to borrow 10,000 yuan from her natal family to set up a roadside stall to sell Cantonese porridge, but often had to hide from the police. More than a year later, the supermarket downstairs of her natal family was going to be sold, and the couple accepted it. With diligence and enthusiasm, they expanded into 7 supermarket chains with an annual turnover of over 100 million yuan.

Hsu Yi-hung, who successfully runs a supermarket chain, saw cheap products pretending to be Gukeng coffee, and then became suspicious of the "fake Gukeng coffee incident". The expectation and ideal of promoting Taiwan's high-quality coffee was born.

Coupled with the government’s promotion of one township, one specialty product plan at that time, Xu Yihong and his wife sniffed out coffee business opportunities. They returned to their hometown in 2004 and established Yunlin Gukeng Coffee Enterprise Company, dedicated to promoting Gukeng coffee and actively finding a way for small coffee farmers in their hometown .

Guo Cixun has the American SCAA and European SCA barista certificates.

Hsu Yi-hung said that in 2008, he closed all the supermarket business and tried his best to apply the experience and model of supermarket operation to the coffee business. He worked hard to expand the brand of "Dajianshan" coffee in Gukeng, and contracted with small coffee farmers all over Taiwan to grow coffee. Purchase safe and pesticide-free coffee beans at a reasonable price, and regularly send them to the SGS inspection center for pesticide and heavy metal residues and koji toxin inspections to ensure coffee safety.

According to the "Yunlin County Annals" records, Taiwan's Governor-General's Office during the Japanese occupation period imported coffee beans from Brazil, and chose Taitung, Hualien Ruisui, Kaohsiung, Gukeng and Nantou Huisun Forest Farm as test farms, and finally found Gukeng Gukeng Coffee has the best quality and became the place where Japanese companies planted coffee trees on a large scale in Taiwan. At that time, almost all the coffee harvested in the Hebaoshan Economic Farm was shipped back to Japan for the Japanese Emperor and nobles to drink, which made Gukeng Coffee have a "royal use". Coffee" reputation.

According to local coffee elders, there was a coffee processing factory in Douliu, Yunlin at that time. It was well-equipped and novel, and it was the largest coffee processing factory in the Far East. Many foreign visitors often visited and tasted the mellow coffee made from freshly roasted coffee beans.

Xu Yihong and Guo Cixun returned to their hometown Gukeng to establish a Taiwanese coffee brand.

But the good times didn’t last long. After World War II, the Japanese were defeated and evacuated. Due to factors such as the lack of popularization of coffee drinking in Taiwan and high wages, economical farms gradually gave up planting, and Taiwan’s coffee industry gradually declined. It ignited the coffee trend in Taiwan!" Xu Yihong said.

It is understood that Zhang Laien, a senior coffee industry veteran whose grandfather and father both worked in the coffee garden of the economic farm, faced the coffee industry from prosperity to decline, but still silently guarded the coffee garden next to his home, continued to plant coffee trees, and even planted coffee trees in Hebao Village. Next to the mother temple, there was a "Baden Coffee" that specializes in selling Taiwanese coffee. This small shop, which was not very eye-catching, later prompted the Gukeng Township Office to hold the first Taiwan Coffee Festival in 2003, driving Huashan to drink coffee and enjoy the night view. .

In May 1999, Xie Shuya, the deputy head of Yunlin County who was the head of Gukeng Township at that time, accidentally learned that Hebao Mountain had planted coffee trees in the early years. In order to piece together a more complete history, he held an event in front of Baden Cafe A reading session of "Visiting the Past and Present of Taiwan's Coffee" not only reminded the villagers of Gukeng of the scene of coffee trees all over the mountain when they were young, but also aroused widespread repercussions in China.

Unexpectedly, impermanence came one after another. Natural disasters such as the September 21 earthquake in 1999 and Typhoon Nari in 2001 caused serious landslides. The Gukeng Township Office took the crisis as a turning point and helped Huashan residents rebuild their homes. " as the starting point, through the community building and one township one characteristic plan to carry out industrial transformation, successfully brought about the reappearance of Taiwanese coffee in Gukeng.

Since then, "Gukeng" and "Taiwanese coffee" have been almost synonymous. With the joint efforts of the government and local residents, the Huashan area began to change rapidly. Residents have uprooted the original betel nut trees and tea gardens, and planted coffee trees instead. Then one garden cafe after another was opened. In 2003, the first Taiwan Coffee Festival concert was held in the Green Tunnel, which successfully established the popularity of Gukeng Taiwan Coffee. The Gukeng coffee industry began to shine. In addition to witnessing the earthquake disaster Huashan was reborn from the ashes and set off a coffee trend.

At that time, there were more than 30 types of coffee beans and processed products sold under the name of "Gukeng" coffee or Taiwan coffee. The speed of brand innovation was astonishing, but it took 4 years from planting coffee saplings to flowering and fruiting. There is a serious shortage of coffee beans in China, and some manufacturers sell imported coffee beans as Gukeng Coffee.

In 2004, it was hit by the media, and the reputation of Gukeng Coffee was severely damaged. Although the industry clarified that the law at that time did not require a clear labeling of the place of origin, the suspicion of the "fake Gukeng coffee incident" caused consumers to lose confidence, business plummeted, and local coffee beans also showed unsalable prices Falling embarrassment.

At this time, because Xu Yihong did not want his hometown Gukeng coffee to be dragged down by inferior products, and he could not bear the small coffee farmers who could not find a way out, he resolutely ended the supermarket business and returned to his hometown to engage in the coffee business. He and his wife grew coffee beans, roasted, packaged Learning all the way, at the beginning, the brand "Dajianshan" was the main brand to sell instant coffee. In 2005, it began to launch high-quality specialty coffee, selling coffee beans grown in various places in Taiwan and Gukeng and drip filter hanging ear coffee, and gradually expanded to the whole Taiwan. path.

Xu Yihong and his wife relied on their diligence in successfully running supermarkets and rich marketing experience, and their products have successfully entered Nanren Lake, the national highway service area contracted by New Dongyang, Taoyuan Airport Chengmeng Boutique, Yimei, Baoya, Laierfu, etc. In order to share Taiwan's good coffee with the world, the "TGC" brand was launched in 2011, focusing on the international market.

"TGC" takes Taiwan specialty coffee as the main force, and actively participates in food exhibitions in Japan, Malaysia and Thailand, and has been successfully sold all over the world. The "TGC" premium Gukeng coffee gift box was also put on sale at Uni-President Supermarket before the Lunar New Year last year. After 10 years After years of hard work and expansion, it has become the largest distributor of Gukeng Taiwan Coffee in Taiwan.

According to the statistics of agricultural authorities, Taiwan's coffee planting area is about 1,100 hectares at present, and the Arabica variety is the main variety, with an annual output of about 800 metric tons. Among the mountainous areas above, including Hebao Mountain, Huashan, Huanan, Zhanghu and Caoling in Gukeng Township, where the "Taiwanese coffee splendor" is reproduced, the planting area is about 80 hectares. Among them, Xu Yihong planted about 4 hectares, and contracted with farmers all over Taiwan to plant more than 20 hectares, with an annual harvest of 30-50 tons.

Guo Cixun, who holds a coffee quality appraiser from the Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and a barista certificate from the European Coffee Association (SCA), said that planting coffee is the same as tea, the sun, air, and soil conditions are related to the quality. Taiwan has good mountains and good water. The environment, together with the soil and climate suitable for coffee growth, have achieved a special and mellow Taiwanese coffee.

Generally speaking, Taiwanese coffee has a soft and fresh flavor, a fragrance of flowers and fruits, and a sweet aftertaste. It is different from imported coffee with a strong and unrestrained taste and bright acidity, and each has different consumer groups.

After the coffee fruit is washed, peeled and dried, it becomes green coffee beans.

Xu Yihong entered the international market with the "TGC" (Taiwan Good Coffee, Taiwan Good Coffee) brand.

Guo Cixun said that coffee beans are divided into high-quality beans and commercial beans. The coffee beans produced in Taiwan are almost all high-quality beans. The so-called high-quality coffee beans must not have Class 1 defective beans according to international standards, namely sour beans, black beans, and serious bugs. Bored beans (more than 3 holes), etc.; the 10 evaluation indicators include aroma, flavor, acidity, consistency, cleanliness, overall appearance, aftertaste, body, balance, sweetness, etc., with a total score of more than 80 points, can Obtained the qualification of fine beans.

Most of Taiwan’s coffee bean production areas are located in mountainous areas and are sporadic. They need to be harvested by hand. The wages for harvesting are about 1,200 yuan per day. The number of fruits picked per person per day is only about 10 kilograms. , with only about 1 kilogram of finished coffee beans left, the harvesting cost is high, second only to Hawaii.

At the same time, during the cultivation of coffee trees, in addition to paying attention to water, fertilization and weeding, it is also necessary to effectively prevent and control leaf rust, anthracnose, oriental fruit fly, fruit beetle and other diseases and insect pests. less.

Xu Yihong said that it takes 4 years from planting coffee seedlings to harvesting the fruit. Farmers have to go through 3 months of washing, peeling, fermenting, drying, bagging and storing green fruits after they are collected, before they can be sold to the coffee industry for further processing. The process of shelling, bean picking and grading, roasting, flavor testing, packaging and shipping, etc., the process of producing high-quality green beans is cumbersome.

Taiwan's coffee bean production areas are mostly in mountainous areas, and the cost of manual harvesting is relatively high, second only to Hawaii.

Xu Yihong is well versed in the principle of "seeing the best in the same way and striving for excellence", so he also introduces high-quality manor coffees from various countries. In addition to letting consumers know the quality of various international high-quality coffees, "TGC" can also understand the coffee of well-known foreign coffee manors. Where is the good thing? Strengthen professionalism, strengthen technology, and continue to improve, so that the self-produced Taiwanese coffee will be better!

To the outside world, there is often a myth that Taiwanese coffee beans are more expensive than imported beans? Xu Yihong said that the price is graded according to the altitude, flavor, particle size, hardness, etc. of the place of origin. The price of Taiwanese specialty coffee beans ranges from 1,600 to 3,500 yuan per pound. Compared with the world's top specialty coffees, the price is still moderate. For example, Hawaiian "Kona" costs 3,500 to 5,000 yuan per pound, and Panamanian "Geisha" even costs 6,000 to 12,000 yuan per pound.

"The flavor and texture are different depending on the degree of roasting." Hsu Yi-hung said that with the popularization of coffee drinking population in Taiwan, roasted coffee is also becoming more customized. Some people like the taste light and fruity, while others prefer strong coffee. Strong taste, so the baking time, temperature in the oven and the size of the damper must be properly controlled, and judged by the experience of the baker to meet the needs of consumers.

At the 2018 Taiwan Coffee Festival in Gukeng, Xu Yihong pretended to be a real claw machine and grabbed his own products.

Generally speaking, the roasting time is about 12 to 15 minutes, divided into light, medium, dark, and heavy roasting. Taiwan specialty coffee beans are not suitable for heavy roasting, so as not to lose their unique aroma.

Modern people make coffee in a variety of ways, such as pour over, siphon pot, mocha pot, Italian and American coffee machines, etc. Guo Cixun said that the best way is the one that suits you. High-quality coffee beans depend on freshness, proper roasting and extraction Ratio, generally speaking, soft coffee with natural fruit acid and mellow taste is good coffee, while bitter and astringent coffee is inferior coffee.

The coffee beans must be stored in a cool and dry place. The best tasting period is one month. Grind them only when brewing, so as not to oxidize and lose flavor, or even get moldy due to moisture.

Xu Yihong and his wife believe that after the rebirth of Taiwanese coffee in Gukeng, people in the country will have different emotions towards coffee. As long as they can make good use of the characteristics of Taiwanese coffee, which is not sour, not astringent, not bitter, and warm and mellow, find out their own characteristics and establish a perfect coffee. With a unique coffee evaluation mechanism, there is no need to worry about competition from foreign coffee.

Xu Yihong and his wife of "Loving Hometown and Building Dreams" have created a win-win situation for themselves and their hometown through the success of their coffee business, and also found the true happiness of seeing their hometown develop.

In recent years, Xu Yihong and his wife have made good use of their own corporate resources, participated in sponsoring public welfare activities, provided funds, products, manpower, etc., not only supporting local small coffee farmers, Guo Cixun, who has dual barista certificates in the United States and Europe, also provides free coffee experience courses to teach young students Relevant knowledge, and actively give back to the land of Taiwan.

Source: "Apple" interview compilation

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