The Taiwanese coffee we chased in those years

For professional baristas, please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

In recent years, high-density cafes and excellent coffee talents have made the world remember the name of Taiwan. Cup testing, bean baking, and coffee masters, including the World Cup brewing champion announced last month, have all fallen in Taiwan. In fact, in addition to tea, Taiwan, which is located in the subtropics, is also the promised land of coffee. We follow in the footsteps of baristas and drink Taiwanese coffee from different elevations, with a distinct style, which is unique in the world, such as the lingering flavor of tea, which is no less than Kona and Geisha.

Perhaps many people know that there is a kind of coffee in Taiwan, but few people know how rare it is to drink their own coffee in their own country. When you walk into a coffee shop in big countries with a thriving coffee industry, such as Northern Europe, the United States, Italy, and Japan, you still order Kenya AA, Guatemala Antigua, almost all beans from Central and South America and Africa, and only a small amount of beans are grown in Hawaii and Japan in the United States. Taiwan, on the other hand, has the advantages of both talent and origin.

But what is the flavor of Taiwanese coffee? We asked the owners of "Fika Fika Cafe", "Sengao Sesame Coffee", "in Hongben Shop" and "Goodman Roaster" who love Taiwanese coffee, and they all mentioned a key word: tea.

Champion bean baker James baked beans for the Taiwan Baking Competition this year.

James, the head of Fika Fika Cafe, came to the bean baking factory in Nangang, such as the cast iron behemoth's Joper baking machine, which was roaring. James stared at the baking curve on the screen, the beans were pressed by a button, and 30kg brown coffee beans rushed into the cooling plate like a flood.

As the champion of Nordic cup coffee roasting, in the past, people's impression of him was always equated with Nordic coffee, but in the past few years, he went deep into teaching in various producing areas in Taiwan and found that Taiwan coffee has grown amazingly. "three years ago, many of them still smelled of mud and mildew, but they have made rapid progress in recent years. Taiwan coffee farmers use a variety of wonderful methods to experiment, add milk, raise Ledo, and develop their own unique fermentation technology. You can see the perseverance of Taiwan farmers. "

When baking Taiwan beans, James is very light, so as not to cover up the delicate and distant flavor.

To this end, James even developed the exclusive baking curve of Taiwanese coffee. "the taste of Taiwan coffee is very meticulous, and if it is medium-roasted, it even feels the same bitterness as black tea, and if you use the international baking degree standard Agtron (infrared caramelization detector) 58max 63 (the former is the surface of the bean, and the later is the test after grinding, the lighter the baking degree is, the lighter the roasting degree is 7080.) "

The coffee cherries from the coffee farm in Baisheng Village, Nantou County, are full of flavor despite their low altitude. (courtesy of Baisheng Village)

James freezes coffee from Taiwu Township in Pingtung for eight hours into ice bricks and sprinkles with honey to give it a delicate fragrance of flowers. (not yet on sale)

The coffee cherries from the coffee farm in Baisheng Village, Nantou County, are full of flavor despite their low altitude. (courtesy of Baisheng Village)

Whenever foreign friends come, James likes to take out coffee from Nantou Baisheng Village Manor and ask them to guess the altitude after they have tried it. "the internationally famous coffee producing areas are all at high altitude, and the coffee fruit will be tighter, but Baisheng Village is only more than 400 meters above sea level, but it has a clean taste without miscellaneous flavor, with a similar apricot aroma, and the sun treatment will have pineapple, wine leaven, and mango flavors, mild and balanced. When the answer was revealed, the surprised expressions on the faces of foreign experts made James very proud.

Zhongzhangtou, Yunjia Gaoping, Hualien Taitung and other coffee beans "Sengao sand coffee" are available all over Taiwan. (700yuan-1300 yuan / 227g)

"in a small Taiwan, the taste of coffee varies greatly from place to place, so it is a very interesting coffee. Dong Dinghe, the person in charge of Sengao Sand Coffee, said. Coffee from Sengao sand covers 12 major townships in Taiwan, and the number of cooperative farmers is as high as 121, accounting for as much as 40% of Taiwan's coffee supply. These are the results of Dong Dinghe's six-year visit to the producing area to fight with farmers.

Dong Dinghe, a former boss of the electronics industry, plunged into the coffee world for the sake of coffee farmers.

He analyzes the flavor of "tea" in Taiwan's coffee. "Taiwanese farmers are used to planting sweet fruits, and even coffee has a strong sense of sugarcane, resulting in the characteristics of Huigan. And this kind of sweetness, it feels like tea. "however, coffee from all over the country still has its own style. For example, Alishan and Mizuho have the most perfect sour taste. Gukeng has a strong aroma of sesame and nuts, and Taichung News Agency has less sunshine, but it uses a mushroom dryer to make amazing sun-dried beans.

The individual coffee in the shop must be cold and hot to make you taste better. (320 yuan per portion of Alishan sun-tanned coffee in Chiayi County)

In addition, Taitung Tai Ma Li is not high above sea level, but the temperature difference between day and night is still large, and the brown sugar and brown sugar are beautiful, while the Ami people in Guanshan even use millet wine wine to ferment, and Mizuho tea farmers are also very talented. Tea withering technology is used to make honey-treated coffee beans. His favorite planting area is to grow coffee under the betel nut groves. Betel nut trees not only provide shade for coffee trees, but also their roots can hold on to soil and water.

Atsushi Ito was the first Japanese to vigorously promote "Alishan Coffee" and even moved to Taiwan for coffee.

Takashi Ito was the first Japanese to promote "Alishan Coffee" and even moved to Taiwan for coffee.

When it comes to promoting Taiwan coffee, we have to mention the Japanese who emigrated to Taiwan for Alishan Coffee: Atsushi Ito. Having been in Taiwan for five years, he has gone from running events and handing out leaflets to introduce Alishan Coffee to three stores and even to Central Hong Kong. "Japan doesn't have its own coffee. My colleague who worked at Starbucks told me that the nearest coffee farm was in Taiwan. "

Because of its strong tea charm, Ito made "Alisan Coffee Caramels Alishan Coffee Caramel" from Alishan Coffee Bean extract (300RMB / can).

Ito, who flew to Taiwan, drank his first cup of shallow roasted coffee in Zhongpu, Chiayi. "is that what coffee looks like? Like oolong tea, lemon black tea, high sweetness. In 2009, Taiwan coffee, which has always been unknown, made an unprecedented great leap forward in the international coffee industry, ranking 11th in the annual ranking of the American Fine Coffee Association (SCAA) and becoming the first in Asia. This bean comes from Alishan's Tropical Dance Coffee Farm.

It is also the manor that Ito cooperated with after founding the brand. This cup of Ali landscape washing bean coffee, with a clean and bright sour aroma, rushed out of the amazing oolong tea rhyme as soon as it entered the throat. With its unique tea flavor, Ito is also used to make dessert. The concentrated liquid extracted from Alishan coffee beans is made into "Alisan Coffee Caramels Alishan Coffee Caramel", which is strong and not greasy.

Cold soaked coffee in Taiwan with nitrogen is the secret weapon in Hong Hong this summer. The foam made by adding nitrogen is particularly thick and dense, and the bubble feeling makes the coffee easy to drink. (200 yuan / copy)

Yang Fengxu, the head chef of Juhong, is in charge of making all the desserts in Yuhong, and he often uses Taiwanese coffee for dessert.

The idea of Taiwanese coffee also appears in "in the Red Book Shop." "for some reason, Taiwanese coffee feels a little more like tea than other foreign beans. "dessert chef Yang Fengxu said. The coffee in the shop, including the coffee made in Italian, American and lattes, is all made of Taiwan beans.

This summer, according to the texture of Taiwan coffee, they launched Taiwan bean nitrogen cold brewed coffee (Nitro Cold Brew). First, the coffee was cold soaked and mixed with nitrogen through the draft beer system to produce a dense and delicate foam like Guinness black beer. "the texture of Taiwan coffee is thicker, the bubbles are particularly dense, and the unique wood texture is presented by bubble drinks. "carbonic acid seems to change the flavor structure of coffee. It tastes like beer without wheat flavor, but fresh fruit juice.

In response to the taste of Huigan coffee, the tea set is used instead of the coffee cup, which requires you to enjoy it. (230 yuan per copy)

When we start not only respecting foreign ingredients, but also looking for more local agricultural products, can we also look back at the different flavors of coffee beans in various parts of Taiwan, beside tea gardens and under betel nut trees? perhaps the quality of foreign coffee is not as stable, and because of labor and land costs, the price remains high. But they are special. Taiwan is unique, but we have never understood it.

I admire these cafes and are willing to choose the most difficult road and insist on using high costs as a window for people to get in touch with Taiwanese coffee. Next time, when you stand in front of the Menu, maybe you can spend more time with a cup of coffee and give yourself a chance to get to know Taiwan.