Yunnan Coffee Origin Plan] Why did Qianjie Coffee choose the most difficult road?

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Looking at the weather forecast on the mobile phone, it was rainy in Yunnan for more than a week two days later, and the editor embarked on the same road he used to visit in the past few years, planting the second batch of Arabica coffee.

In the past few days in Yunnan, I came into contact with several farmers who knew each other, and they all mentioned the recent price of coffee, as the Yunnan Coffee Industry Association said at a news conference on May 25: Yunnan coffee once again suffered a low price.

On March 18, I did a question and answer "Q & A | Why do I question Q-Grader" caused controversy. Many Q-Grader said that Yunnan boutique coffee is getting better year after year, but it does not explain why the price is lower, while on the other hand, this year's red mark has set a new high price. One fan commented: "the editor is so ambitious, please come to Yunnan to grow coffee." At that time, I did not respond directly to this comment because we were still on our way.

Qianjie coffee roasting coffee should be about five years, and we should be involved in coffee cultivation for five and a half years, yes, six months longer than starting to bake coffee. Qianjie Coffee was formerly known as "Dazhen Coffee". It was named because we wanted to grow coffee in a place called Dazhen in Guangdong. When we used Katim to grow seedlings to 20CM, it took us more than half a year to understand the relationship and order of breed, altitude, and treatment. Choosing the right variety, planting it at an appropriate altitude, and experimenting with a treatment that can express its unique flavor after maturity is the only logical relationship that I think fine coffee can have obvious regional flavor. it is also the work led by Yunnan Agriculture Department recently: to establish the flavor map of Yunnan boutique coffee. This sentence means to find out the regional flavor of Yunnan boutique coffee.

So we gave up our plan to grow coffee in Guangdong, and the place where the coffee was first baked was in Baoqian Street, so we renamed "Big Town Coffee" to "Qianjie Coffee". In Qianjie, while baking coffee, we continued to move forward with the idea of growing fine coffee, and successively visited the Institute of Hot Science (Tropical Agricultural Science Research Institute), which had in-depth research on coffee cultivation and the coffee provenance bank of the Ministry of Agriculture, and a small number of farmers who planted fine coffee. We found out the reasons why Tibica and Bourbon, the mainstream varieties of fine coffee, were not planted in Yunnan, and found suitable land for planting under the circumstances of coincidence.

If you just want a ready-made self-owned coffee farm, it's really easy. The reason why farmers in Yunnan have been reluctant to grow coffee is that one kilogram of coffee is more expensive than the selling price, and they are unwilling to pick coffee when they are mature unless they have surplus labor at home. At this time, buy a small piece of land from the farmers before harvest, and then do the sun, honey treatment and so on. Yunnan boutique coffee will come out in two or three months. We do not know whether this controversial practice is correct, as the old factory director Yuanyunka made a comment earlier: "the current situation of more than 1 million mu of Katimo in Yunnan is the main problem in front of us that urgently needs to be reformed and improved." So it's good to have arguments, but we can't deny all the efforts we're making now. " In the fog, Qianjie coffee chose one of the most difficult roads: choose highlands, breed Arabica seeds, and plant them properly.

There are no four seasons in Yunnan, only dry season and rainy season, and the same is true in most coffee producing areas, which is the root cause of the use of tanning in some producing areas. June is the beginning of the rainy season in the producing areas, and it will rain for the next three or four months, which is the most favorable time for growing coffee. Only when seedlings are planted at this time and moistened by Rain Water for a few months will they be able to grow well-developed roots to survive the first half-year dry season.

The seedling we selected in this batch is the iron pickup, which is characterized by the new copper leaves. The output of iron pickup is very low, which is 1/3 of that of Katim, so why is the price more expensive? At the same time, Tibika and Bourbon are also very prone to rust, which is one of the reasons why farmers are reluctant to grow Arabica.

Due to the time relationship, in order to plant this batch so that it has a good growth foundation when it falls to the ground, we have raised the seedlings in the nursery a year ahead of schedule, which is usually carried out within one or two months after the harvest of the previous season. and in this year, appropriate control of water and fertilizer, so as not to grow too fast, to ensure that the seed has the highest germination rate and that the main root of the seedling is not too long to be cut off when planting in the coffee garden.

When it comes to coffee gardens, in addition to meeting the requirements of elevation, we also hope that our coffee can grow in natural and comfortable living conditions, such as clouds, diverse plants and ecological environment, because there is another important difference between Arabica and Katim: one is afraid of the sun, the other is not afraid of the sun.

In addition to the planting season, timing is also important. As long as you come to the producing area of the planting season, you can really realize what the rainy season is. It will be sunny for a few minutes and it will rain for half an hour. If the plantation is big enough to walk around without a rain gear, your clothes will be wet and dry and have been wet several times.

The first second might be something like this:

This is the only way to do it the next second:

In most of the morning, I almost live in the clouds. And clouds are also divided into many kinds, such as this:

This:

And this:

At the end of a day, you can't grow much coffee.

And we still enjoy it, because we know very well that it will eventually bear fruit in two years' time, just like the seeds we planted two years ago have already blossomed and borne fruit.

However, this is actually not the most difficult. After planting the coffee for three to four years, and then experimenting with the appropriate treatment and finally reproducing it, it will take as fast as five years to achieve a basic goal. The most important and most important thing is that the same style rhyme has appeared in many places, allowing the old coffee drinkers who have been drinking for many years to take a sip. Well, this is the taste of Yunnan boutique coffee. Perhaps, it is just the beginning in the wind and rain. Because after this basic five years, it can only be said that Arabica coffee has been planted and varieties have been paid attention to, and there is no guarantee that high-quality high-quality coffee has been produced. I am convinced that there is nothing so easy in this world. After many breeds are selected and refined after fruit production, several years will pass.

The road to boutique coffee is not so difficult, nor so easy. The current transformation from Yunnan coffee to Yunnan boutique coffee has actually entered a dead end: Kadim is too cheap and can only be sold as a unified product, about 15-20 yuan a kilogram. The price is difficult to offset the pickers and fertilizers, and farmers are unwilling to protect them. The output of iron pickup and bourbon is low and easy to get sick, and the cost of management and protection is high. it takes longer to explore, not to mention whether it can form a unique flavor. On the one hand, curry farmers do not have a sense of fine coffee. On the other hand, even if you know it, it will take a few years to cut down the old tree and replant it.

Turning water-washed Kadim into red cherry honey to treat Kadim, the price can go up a little, as long as the immature market has this acceptability, which has been illustrated by the low price of Yunnan coffee in recent months. According to the inquiry on the CQI official website that issued the Q-Grader certificate, among the 5842 Qs in the world, the Chinese mainland region ranked 857. however, there were only two Chinese boutique coffee scores submitted to CQI in 17 and 18 years.

Boutique coffee this difficult road always needs some people to explore, try perhaps there is some hope, no, it is always a blank.