History of Coffee in Caiyun South of Yunnan Province

Coffee originated in Ethiopia in central and northern Africa, and was introduced into Arabian Peninsula from its place of origin as early as 15th century. It was introduced into Taiwan in 1884 and Hainan Province in 1908.

Coffee was first introduced into Yunnan Province in 1902 by French missionaries in Binchuan County, Yunnan Province, which can be called East Road; West Road was introduced into Yunnan Ruili Jingpo nationality in 1908, but these coffees were only used for viewing and growers 'own consumption, and no large-scale production was carried out. Until the 1950s, in order to meet the demand of coffee in the Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist countries, China began to commercialize coffee cultivation, forming two coffee production bases in Hainan and Yunnan, among which Hainan mainly produces medium-sized coffee and Yunnan mainly produces small-sized coffee.

According to textual research, the earliest coffee introduced in Yunnan can be divided into "east and west two roads". The east road was carried by the French Catholic missionary "Tian Deneng" in 1902 through Vietnam and Laos, which were then French colonies, to Binchuan plant Kula for their own drinking. According to the field investigation records in 1981, there are still 24 original species, which are more than 80 years old and still grow healthily. The local villagers developed and planted more than 30 mu of coffee. According to the villagers, it was planted in the early 1960s. The provenance was the original 24 old coffee trees. According to Huang Junxiong's article "Development and Review of Yunnan Coffee"[3], the structure of this variety was a mixed population of 69% Boubon and 31% Typic. The provenance spread to Hekou, Kaiyuan, Shuangbai and Dayao counties around 1969. According to the introduction of local villagers in Dayao County, more than 300 mu was planted around 1969, and only sporadic plants are preserved now. The variety comes from Binchuan Zhukula.

Zhukula is a mysterious, legendary and beautiful natural village, belonging to Zhukula Village Committee of Pingchuan Town, Binchuan County, Dali Prefecture. It is located on the bank of Yupao River, a tributary of Jinsha River. This is a place where Dali Prefecture, Chuxiong Prefecture and Lijiang City meet.

More than 100 years ago, Zhu Kula was called "Ruokelai"(Yi language), which means curved mountain road. In 1892, due to the arrival of French missionary Father Tian, the essence of Yi language and French romance were combined, so there was the name Zhu Kula, which later generations translated as "heaven on earth".

In 1892, French missionary Father Tian used coffee berries to breed the first coffee tree outside the church door for his own coffee needs, and later cultivated more coffee trees and planted them around the church. Since then, Jukula village began coffee cultivation, and the village has been surrounded by coffee trees ever since. Qi Guanghui and Li Fusheng, the two oldest elders in the village, are both in their eighties this year. Together, they witnessed the formation of China's oldest coffee forest.

Although Zhukula is poor and backward, it is a place that has an indissoluble bond with coffee. In addition to the cultivation of coffee by the whole people, the villagers have a tradition of drinking coffee: self-cultivation, self-grinding, self-cooking, and now the village has the habit of drinking coffee regardless of men, women and children. Villagers here have a special feeling for coffee trees. Even if coffee beans do not bring them any economic benefits, villagers are reluctant to cut down a coffee tree.

Zhukula Village receives guests with local coffee and walnuts. Although the coffee brewed in earthen pots does not taste the best, this primitive drinking method reflects the villagers 'love for coffee and is also the highest courtesy reception for guests. The unique and rich original ecological coffee culture makes everyone who knows Zhu Kula have to sigh. It deserves to be called the first coffee village in China. Zhukula coffee forest belongs to Arabica, bourbon and Typica varieties.

West Road was introduced by Jingpo people from Myanmar to Ruili Nongxian Village in 1908 as garden ornamental plant planting. In the spring of 1952, the scientific and technological personnel of our institute discovered and introduced it to Lujiang Dam for trial planting and succeeded. In the 1960s, more than 40,000 mu was planted in Lujiang Dam. Due to its high sensitivity to rust and damage from longicorn, it was gradually replaced by other varieties in production, and now it has only 500 mu, mainly concentrated in Baoshan Lujiangba, and other planting areas are only scattered or mixed plants in the field. According to Huang Junxiong's article "Development and Review of Yunnan Coffee", the structure of this variety is a mixed population of 83.6% Typic and 16.4% Boubon.

Yunnan coffee production cultivation has a history of more than 40 years, and its development has experienced ups and downs. It entered a stable development stage in the 1980s.

"In 1997, the planting area was 6633 hectares, and the yield of dry coffee beans was 3078 tons, accounting for 65% and 82% of the country respectively, ranking first in the country; the average yield per mu was 74 kg, and the total output value was about 33 million yuan. It is mainly distributed in Baoshan, Simao, Yuxi, Dehong and other 11 prefectures and cities.

In 2008, the coffee planting area of Yunnan Province reached 350,000 mu, with an output of about 28,000 tons, accounting for 98% of the national planting area and output, and the total output value was close to 600 million yuan.

In the first three quarters of 2009, Yunnan Province exported 25,000 tons of coffee, earning 59.23 million US dollars.