Yunnan Coffee: exploring the Legend of Centennial Coffee in Zhukula Village, Yunnan small Coffee

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When it comes to the history of Chinese coffee, we have to mention Yunnan Dali Zhukula Coffee, which plays a vital role in the history of Chinese coffee and is famous in the industry. Since 2007, Yunnan Tropical Coffee Research Institute, Dehong Tropical Coffee Research Institute, Baoshan Coffee Association, Yunnan Coffee Factory and other departments have first sent experts to Zhukula Village to study the 13 mu ancient coffee forest growing here. Finally, it is concluded that the 13 mu ancient coffee forest in Zhukula Village, Pingchuan Town, Binchuan County, Dali Binchuan Autonomous Prefecture belongs to Yunnan small grain iron card variety, which is very rare. And the quality is very excellent, can be called the "living fossil" of Chinese coffee. Today's "window of China" program, let's explore the legend of the century-old coffee in Zhukula village.

Zhu Kula, located in the depths of the mountains in the northeast of Pingchuan Town, Binchuan County, Yunnan Province, is the junction of Chuxiong, Dali and Lijiang, surrounded by the Yupao River, a tributary of the Jinsha River. Because of the inconvenient transportation, Zhu Kula is almost isolated from the rest of the world, so it is a little-known Yi shanzhai. Because of this, Zhu Kula has existed quietly and full of vitality for hundreds of years. So far, the simplicity is still the same.

With a yearning for a mysterious place, eager to see the style of the ancient coffee forest, one morning in October, at dawn, we set out from Binchuan County (the car started the sound pressure mix). After more than an hour of oil road, we arrived in Pingchuan town. After a short stop, we began to bump along the dirt and rocky road leading to the rolling mountains of Zhukula village. I have been thinking about the introduction made by Tan Jialin, secretary of the party committee of Pingchuan Town: (recording)

"the reason why the 13 mu ancient coffee forest in Zhukula area is listed as the oldest coffee forest in China is that except for the coffee trees with 24 beads of more than 100 years old, the rest are descendants of ancient trees, and the tree species are all pure Yunnan small-grain coffee. Its superior quality is very rare. It is the ancestor of Chinese coffee, especially Yunnan small-grain coffee, and has high scientific research value and industrial development value."

In fact, it is no accident that the ancient coffee forest appeared in Yunnan. Yunnan has a long history of growing coffee and has a unique climate advantage. Yunnan small grain coffee has the characteristics of strong but not bitter, fragrant but not greasy, slightly sour and so on. The International Coffee Organization believes

The quality of coffee is similar to that of Colombian small-grain coffee, and the product is more competitive in the market. At present, 95% of China's coffee raw materials are produced in Yunnan. Therefore, Yunnan's coffee industry has a far-reaching impact on the development of China's coffee industry.

The car zigzagged along the rugged mountain road, with precipice on one side and an abyss on the other, which brought my mind back to this tense journey. No wonder Zhu Kula is called "Ruokelai" in Yi language, which means a winding mountain road. It was only in 2010 that such a passage was built.

More than two hours later, the road finally took a U-turn, and in a small cove, I saw the village of Zhukula, surrounded by green coffee forests on the hillside of the Yupao River. At this time, the clear sunshine of late autumn is shining warmly on the whole mountain village, as if it had been plated with a layer of gold, and there is still mist on the top of the hills. this is Zhu Kula, which is regarded as a paradise.

Under the guidance of Yang Tiwu, director of the economic office of Pingchuan Town, and Qi Fenghua, 53-year-old general party branch secretary of the Zhukula Village Committee, we walked into Zhukula village. A unique aroma of coffee drilled into my mouth and nose. It turned out that, after a hundred years of edification, drinking coffee had already become a living habit of the local Yi villagers in Zhukula village. Qi Fenghua told me:

"all men and women, young and old, in the village like to drink coffee, grind themselves with iron pots and grind themselves. However, the processing of coffee is kept secret. No wives or daughters are passed on."

After drinking the original, quaint coffee, I eagerly approached what is known as the oldest coffee forest in China. At this time, the ancient coffee trees have produced clusters of coffee beans, although when they mature next month, some of them will show bright red. Qi Fenghua:

"this forest is considered to be the oldest ancient coffee forest in China. There are 1134 trees on 13 mu, 24 of which have a history of more than 100 years. They were introduced and planted by French missionaries when they built a church in Zhukula in 1892."

In 1892, that is, the 18th year of Guang Xu of the Qing Dynasty, Tian Deneng, a French Catholic missionary, left such a legend. Sent by the Catholic Church, he went to Binchuan County from Kunming to preach in Zhukula, built a church there, and introduced the habit of drinking coffee to Zhukula village. He personally planted a coffee forest and taught local villagers to grow, drink and sell coffee. From then on, the local villagers began to grow, grind and drink their own coffee, which continues to this day.

Li Fusheng, a villager of Zhu Kula Village, aged 86:

"the coffee was planted by Father Tian for 117 years. I remember when the house was high, there was a shed like this, and the roots were as big as this."

Qi Guanghui, a villager of Zhu Kula Village, aged 90:

"at that time, when I was 5 or 6 years old, I remembered that there was a coffee tree. When the French priest came, I read at that point and helped them pick the fruit."

Old man Qi Guanghui is the first clerk in the village, and old man Li Fusheng is the first president of the village. The two old people witnessed the history of coffee trees in Zhukula village. In 1948, President Li Fusheng launched the villagers to plant coffee on a large scale, which once grew to more than 80 mu, but a heavy snow in 1983 froze the coffee trees far away from the village to death. The 13 mu coffee trees around the village basically survived, with only 1134 left.

Ms. Huang Shuyun, a cultural scholar in Yunnan Province, introduced:

"A Malaysian coffee expert once said that if you keep the old varieties of coffee in Yunnan, you will keep the position of Chinese coffee in the history of coffee in the world. Zhukula coffee is a kind of Yunnan small-grain iron pickup coffee, and this kind of coffee is already very rare in Yunnan, so it is necessary for us to carry out rescue protection and development."

In recent years, the local government is also fully aware of the importance of the protection and development of ancient coffee varieties in Yunnan, and regards coffee as a key industry for protection and development. The finance of Binchuan County allocates 100000 yuan of support funds every year to build the brand of "Zhu Kula century-old coffee". Yang Tiwu, director of the Economic Office of Pingchuan Town, is also resident in Zhukula Village to raise seedlings as a technician of seedling breeding of Zhukula Coffee. Yang Tiwu: (recording)

"after we go to Zhukula Village, the first is to do a good job in the irrigation ditches (ditches) of ancient coffee; second, to control the diseases and insect pests of ancient coffee; and third, to do a good job in pruning and interrupting to protect ancient coffee. on this basis, the next step is to do a good job in breeding."

At this point, the middle-aged man could not hide his joy and told me:

"We have established a total of 15 mu of original seed breeding base, which can provide 1000 mu of field transplanting seedlings. Now we have planted 400 mu, and then gradually grow to 1000 mu by 2012, and complete a total (planting) area of 1400 mu by 2013."

He also told me that now this pure old variety of Ironpika coffee has been cultivated for seven months, and by next year, these seedlings can be provided free of charge to the villagers of the nearby village committees of Dudi, Dongsheng and Zhugula. At that time, the villagers will be subsidized for planting 500 yuan for every mu of coffee trees that survive. In addition, considering that coffee takes three years from raising seedlings to hanging fruit, and the villagers have no source of income in these three years, he put forward a scheme of interplanting "feeling fragrance" (extractable spices) in the field according to the local reality. In this way, the villagers will have a stable source of income in the first three years, and at the same time, Pingchuan Town is also prepared to subsidize a certain amount of rice to special poor families to ensure that they have food to eat. Only in this way can we promote the development of the ancient coffee industry one step at a time, so that the descendants of ancient coffee trees can reproduce from generation to generation. With regard to this, Qi Fenghua is also full of confidence in leading the villagers to increase their income and become rich.

Pushing open the door of the century-old church, the building is empty. The century-old house with green tile and white wall remains the same except for the mottled traces, it still stands in the center of Zhukula village, silently telling the vicissitudes of this small mountain village. May the Yi family shanzhai, which has the oldest coffee forest in China, be as mellow and fragrant as Zhu Kula coffee!