A textual Research on the early introduction of Coffee in Taiwan in 1884

1.1 in May 2004, the author visited Gukeng in Yunlin County and Alishan Coffee growing area in Chiayi County, Taiwan. In November 2009, I once again visited Gukeng in Yunlin County and Dongshan Coffee growing area in Tainan County, Jianhu Mountain World Coffee Museum, and visited the World Coffee Exhibition in Taipei and the National Museum of Taiwan History.

1.2 before the 16th century, there were no soft drinks on the table of Westerners. Except for wine, beer and distilled spirits, they could only quench their thirst with clear water. It was the Chinese in the 16th and 17th centuries who taught Westerners to drink tea. Turks taught Easterners to drink coffee. The author paid two visits to Taiwan, focusing on the historical textual research on the early introduction and expansion of coffee in Taiwan. Coffee was clothed as aristocratic and literary in China at the beginning of the 19th century.

In 1884, there were still three years to go before the pro-government of the young Emperor Guang Xu (the 10th year of Guang Xu of the Qing Dynasty). A British Manchester tea merchant named Lawrence came to the treasure island of Taiwan amid the rumbling gunfire of the Chinese and French navies. The middle-aged man who had been trading in Africa and South America found that Taiwan's climate was humid and warm, similar to the Caribbean coast rich in coffee. So he began to think about reclaiming coffee plantations. It was in this year that Lawrence's coffee garden began to experiment. In this story or folklore, the author consulted a large number of historical materials and archives in Taiwan and the mainland, and obtained the basic facts of the early introduction and expansion of Taiwan coffee:

1.3.1 in 1884, British tea merchants imported more than 100 introduced coffee seedlings from Manila, Philippines, and the following year imported seeds to be planted in the three Gorges area of Taipei County. Coffee settled on the land of Taiwan for the first time. According to historical records: "due to remote transportation and poor tree treatment and care, most coffee trees did not grow smoothly after planting, but only ten trees survived."

1.3.2 in 1901, Tian Daisang, a technician at the Government House of Taiwan during the Japanese occupation, introduced Indonesian Java coffee varieties and planted them successfully in Taiwan's Kenting National Park with satisfactory results.

1.3.3 in 1904, the early introduction of Taiwan coffee got a good harvest for the first time. It has greatly stimulated the enthusiasm to continue to introduce more coffee varieties, and further extended the introduction of coffee to Taitung, Hualien and Kaohsiung.

1.3.4 in 1919, Taiwan Chiayi Agricultural Experimental Institute (now Chiayi Agricultural Experimental Institute) collected all varieties from Hengchun and other places and planted them in the institute for scientific research and observation.

1.3.5 in 1928, Taiwan coffee was sold to Japan for the first time, and the quality of its coffee was generally affirmed and praised by the Japanese market, so the planting area became larger and larger, and industrial management began.

1.3.6 in 1936, the present Huisun Forest Farm of Taiwan's Chung Hsing University also began to grow coffee.

1.3.7 in 1942, the planting area of coffee on Taiwan Island reached more than 1000 hectares, which was the heyday of coffee cultivation in Taiwan.

More than 1.4 chronicles of the early introduction and expansion of coffee in Taiwan, and the research records of this historical data obtained most of the textual research in November 2009. the book "Taiwan's early Coffee Culture" published by the National Museum of History of Taiwan has the following record on page 10: "the history of trying to cultivate coffee in Taiwan can be traced back to the tenth year of Guang Xu (1884). The British from Dadao Chengdeji Foreign Company imported coffee seeds from Manila and began to plant coffee seeds in the three Gorges. Later, they also tried to plant coffee seeds near cold puddles in Wenshan and Hsichih. At the beginning, they had a considerable harvest. " In 1901, Tian Daisang, a technician at the Government House of Taiwan during the Japanese occupation, introduced Javanese varieties and planted them in Kenting National Park with good results. In 1904, they were officially harvested. Later, more varieties were introduced and extended to Taitung, Hualien, and Kaohsiung. In 1919, the Chiayi Agricultural Experimental Institute (now Chiayi Agricultural Experimental Institute) collected all of them.

1.5 Coffee strips in the Agricultural Volume of the Encyclopedia of China are recorded as follows: "Coffee was introduced to Taiwan Province of China in 1884, to Hainan Province in 1908, and then to Yunnan, Guangxi, Fujian and other places."

1.6 the materials of the Committee of Agriculture of Taiwan Executive Yuan on "introduction to Coffee cultivation in Taiwan" in 2007 further confirmed the research records of this historical material, the article said: "after it was introduced into Taiwan in 1884, it was planted successively in Taipei, Hengchun, Taichung, Taitung, Hualien and Chiayi, tropical cultivated crops produced by the Japanese occupation era combined with colonial policies, and potential crops subsidized by the government after the war. Today, in the local cultural industry combined with local culture, the role of the coffee industry has changed with Taiwan's agricultural economic and social development. "

two。 The spread of early planting of Coffee in Taiwan

2.1 through the field and industry insiders, the author learned that the coffee variety introduced in Taiwan at that time was mainly C.arabica, and later introduced Robesta species (C. robusta) from Uganda and Indonesia, which was more suitable for lowland cultivation in Taiwan despite its resistance to high temperature and resistance to diseases and insect pests.

2.2 with the total destruction of the Beiyang Fleet, Taiwan became a colony of Japan. Lawrence, a British tea merchant, imported Taiwanese coffee beans into cafes at trading ports through Japanese merchant ships, which made Western white people living in China realize that mainland East Asia can not only grow coffee, but also a feasible industrial investment project. In many years of that era, businessmen and missionaries blew the trend of bringing coffee seeds to Chinese mainland to spread coffee cultivation. It is rumored that Tian Deneng, a French Catholic missionary, once drank Lawrence coffee in Shanghai, which inspired a wonderful idea. later, when he preached in Binchuan County, Yunnan Province in 1904, he found the altitude and soil suitable for coffee growth. there is no documentary evidence or textual research.

2.3 in the textual research on the history of early introduction and expansion of coffee in Taiwan, I was most strongly impressed by the large-scale introduction and expansion of coffee in Hainan Island in 1935 and the heyday of coffee planted in Taiwan in 1942. it is inseparable from the formation and development of the early coffee history and culture of Shanghai and Taiwan cafes in China.

2.3.1 Page 56 of the book "Taiwan's early Coffee Culture" published by the National Museum of History of Taiwan: "in the third year of Showa (1928), a cafe was set up in Taipei, which is located in Rong-cho (near present-day Hengyang Road) and Ximen-ding, respectively, but there are also some in Tadaocheng and Taiping (near Daocheng). According to the "more than 60 cases in Taipei City," it is recorded that 21 tea shops are located on the streets of Taipei. "at that time, in addition to the Meiji brewing tea shop, the new high brewing tea shop, and the Shuiyue tea shop in Rongcho and Hsimenting, there were also Matsuzhu, Tianma teahouse, and Moonlight Cafe in Taiping, Tadaocheng. Rong-ching and Hsimenting are the most important and bustling areas in Japanese daily life, and Rong-cho is known as the" Ginza of Taipei. " Ximenting was the location of the theatres and cinemas of Xinhe at that time.

2.3.2 "because of the prosperity of tea trade, Dadaocheng is an important gathering place for Taiwanese, and because of the Tanshui River, Dadaocheng Pier has become a distribution center for trade and smuggled goods." it was reported in the newspaper at that time: (the remarkable modernization of Dadaocheng. Coffee shops are numerous, the birth of permanent theatres) it can be seen that during the period of Japanese occupation, the Japanese regarded the emergence of coffee shops as an important indicator of "modernization".

2.3.3 during an investigation in Taiwan, it was learned that the rise of cafes in Taiwan was as early as 1928, and there were already 22 cafes and tea shops in Taipei. In the 1930s, the owner of the Witte Cafe in Daocheng, the owner of Yang Chengji, the brother of the painter Yang Sanlang, opened the relationship between Taiwan's cafe and the art world. "Victor" was forced to transform into a restaurant because of its slow business. On the other hand, the chef and manager have set up the famous "Polly Road" and "Landscape Pavilion" in the history of Taiwan's literature and art. The Taiwan Coffee Expo held in 1935, with the "Mori Yong Tea Shop" as the exhibition hall, shows the grandeur of the coffee shop at that time. Taiwan coffee spread successively in Taipei, Hengchun, Taichung, Taitung, Hualien, Chiayi and other places.

In a recollection of Shanghai, Elaine Khobhari Kun (Irene Corbally Kuhn), a former American journalist in China, wrote: "We were surprised to find that the old Shanghai in the 1930s was more avant-garde than it is today. At that time, the competition between carbonated cold drinks, coffee and hot tea in the beverage ecology was all the competition of fashion trends. Which can brighten the eyes of innovative Chinese people, or be sought after by fashion celebrities, it will occupy the taste of Chinese people to a greater extent.

2.5 according to Taiwan's historical records, "the establishment of Poly Road Western Restaurant (located on Yanping North Road, Minsheng West Road) in 1934 has given Taiwan's middle class a coffee shop to talk about in their daily life. in addition, the daily consumption of coffee by the general public is also gradually emerging, which is not as remote as it used to be. The Star Cafe (ASTORIA) began in the Shanghai era, about 21 (1932), when it was on Xiafei Road. This was the first stage. Wuchang Street was established in Taiwan from 38 (1949) to 50 (1961). This was the heyday of the Star Cafe. Because of the bread baked every day, the Star Cafe became a gathering center for Russian Taipei in Taiwan, and many literati writers also came here to write articles. "

From the large number of objects on display at the National Museum of History of Taiwan and the book "Taiwan's early Coffee Culture" published by the museum, it is not difficult to find out from the old photos that the chairs used by Cafe Tonbo in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation period are similar to the coffee chairs used in European cafes, which proves that Taipei cafes became popular with European and American cafes as early as the 1930s. The chair was designed by an Austrian furniture store specializing in coffee shop furniture in the 19th century. It was recognized as an indispensable symbol of regular cafes at that time and was collected by MoMA in New York.

According to the statistics of the Committee of Agriculture of the Executive Yuan in 2007, coffee is currently grown in 16 counties and cities in Taiwan, with a planting area of 561.0 hectares (8415 mu), with the largest number in Chiayi County and Nantou County, with 180.5 hectares (2707.5 mu) and 101.6 hectares (1524 mu) respectively. The others are Pingtung County, Yunlin County and Taitung County, totaling 442.8 hectares. It accounts for 78.9% of Taiwan's coffee planting area.

3. Main producing areas of coffee cultivation in Taiwan

The varieties of coffee in Taiwan can be roughly divided into the following four categories: Gukeng Coffee, Dongshan Coffee, Dawushan Coffee and Zhushan Coffee. This paper mainly investigates two local varieties of Gukeng Coffee and Dongshan Coffee.

3.1 Taiwan Gukeng Coffee:

3.1.1 Gukeng Township in Taiwan was formerly known as "an Gukeng". The latitude of the Gukeng is located at 23.7C, the elevation is between 600m and 1500 m, and the annual rainfall is between 1500 and 2000. During the Japanese occupation, the Japanese began to plant a large amount of coffee in Hebao Mountain in Gukeng, and planted coffee exclusively in Arabica, covering an area of 300 hectares. at that time, it was regarded as an important cash crop to pay tribute to the Japanese emperor, and gained the reputation of Coffee Mountain. At that time, Hui Sun Farm and Mizuho Farm were known as the three major coffee farms in Taiwan. After coffee has been in decline for half a century, in recent years, in order to actively promote local industry, Gukeng Township has revived as the hometown of origin of "Taiwan coffee." now Hebao Mountain is beginning to see a large area of coffee plantations, with the planting area catching up with that of that year.

3.1.2 according to the Records of Yunlin County, Gukeng Coffee was introduced during the Japanese occupation period. After the introduction of coffee beans into the Government House of Taiwan, Taitung, Mizuho, Kaohsiung, Yunlin Gukeng and Nantou Huisun Forest Farm were selected as trial farmlands. it was found that Yunlin Gukeng was of the best quality and became a tribute to the Japanese emperor during the Japanese occupation period. Gukeng coffee has the nickname "imperial coffee".

3.1.3 the trend of Huashan in Gukeng is east-west, the sun shines for half a day, and the shade of trees can provide shade, so the conditions for growing coffee are very favorable. During the Japanese occupation, the ancient pit was discovered by the Japanese for its unique conditions and began to grow coffee, concentrated in Huashan, South China, Guilin, wallets and other areas. In addition to paying tribute to the Emperor of Japan, he also won the honor of runner-up in the World Coffee Competition. Later, due to the transformation of agriculture and the lack of popularity in drinking coffee, coffee was transferred to other crops. It was not until recent years that coffee cultivation and coffee culture, which were once interrupted, were revived.

3.1.4 according to the older generation of villagers, a coffee processing plant was built in Douliu City at that time. Because of its well-equipped and novel equipment, it can be called the largest coffee processing plant in the far East. Many foreign visitors often visit the factory to taste the mellow coffee made from freshly fried coffee beans. After the Japanese were defeated in World War II and withdrew from Taiwan, due to factors such as the unformed market and high labor wages, economic farms gradually gave up planting, and Taiwan's coffee industry gradually declined.

3.1.5 Chinanews.com, February 19, 2009-according to Taiwan's China Times, 45-year-old "antique" Taiwanese coffee has been unearthed again. Three cans of Taiwanese coffee powder produced by the largest coffee factory in the far East were accidentally discovered by a couple tidying up their old home. Zhang Jingke, a 63-year-old coffee farmer in Gukeng, said that his friend Feng Zhengyi took a tin can a few days ago and asked him, "do you recognize this kind of thing?" He was surprised to see the rusty iron can. It was Taiwanese coffee produced by Yunlin Economic Farm 40 or 50 years ago, and he packaged it when he was 18 years old.

3.1.6 Zhang Jingke, a coffee farmer in Gukeng, recalled that during the period of Japanese occupation, Taiwan coffee was grown in Hobao Mountain in Gukeng, which was harvested and sent to the coffee factory in Dou Liu for processing. at that time, there was the largest coffee roaster in Southeast Asia, which could roast 200 pounds of coffee beans at a time. Almost all coffee in Taiwan was sent for processing, and his father, Zhang Bangkui, once worked as a mechanic. Chang Ching-ke points out that at that time, Taiwan's coffee was very high-end. After it was fermented, roasted and ground into powder, it was vacuum packed in tin cans. In addition to being exported to Japan and other countries, it was also a public relations product for senior officials on the island. He said that when Feng Zhengyi was tidying up his old home, he found that three cans of antique coffee were produced in 1964. Although the shell had been rusty, one of the cans of coffee powder that had been stored for 45 years was still good, and the aroma was still strong when brewed.

4.1 Taiwan Dongshan Coffee

4.1.1 during the Japanese occupation, the villagers of Dongshan once worked on the coffee experimental farm run by the Japanese in Nanxi Township, and then brought back coffee seedlings, and coffee was planted in Dongshan Yutou Mountain. Located between 18 and 27 degrees latitude, Dongshan Gantou Mountain is located in the mountain area south of the Tropic of Cancer 23.5 °, 500-800 meters above sea level. The geology, climate and rainfall conditions are suitable for the growth of coffee trees. Nearby, Zengwen, Wushantou and Baihe reservoirs can adjust humidity, there is a half-day environment, organic cultivation and management, the temperature difference between day and night is large, it belongs to volcanic soil ash, and the soil pH is moderate. As a result, the coffee produced in Dongshan Township can be called a relatively unique local high-quality coffee in Taiwan.

4.1.2 during the visit to Dongshan, local coffee farmers stressed in particular that Dongshan coffee trees spread and grew naturally in the mountain forests, and that for more than 60 years, these coffee trees naturally propagated in the mountains had adapted to the land of Dongshan and domesticated into local tree species. It is also said that Dongshan coffee is different from Arabica and Robesta. In view of this, the author observed the tree shape and biological characteristics of Dongshan coffee tree in the field, and collected 1000 grams of substitute shell coffee beans in the sun field.

4.1.3 in Dongshan, Taiwan, the author learned that there is no large coffee planting base in Dongshan, and there are only 22 private leisure coffee gardens, all of which are small in area. Dongshan Coffee Garden, Dahoe Coffee Garden and Danpin Coffee Garden have a relatively larger area. The author chose Dajiahua Coffee Garden to communicate with the owners and experienced the good time of Dongshan Coffee.

5. The current situation of the coffee industry in Taiwan

5.1.1 in terms of the consumer market: based on the average consumption of about 7 grams of coffee powder per cup of coffee, it is estimated that up to now, Taiwan has consumed about 3 billion cups of coffee (including canned coffee, etc.) each year, which is equivalent to about 3 billion cups of coffee per person of Taiwan's 23 million people per year. more than double the 50 cups a decade ago. In particular, of the coffee imported last year, raw coffee beans accounted for more than half, reaching 12364 tons, while roasted coffee beans and coffee and its products accounted for only about 1507 tons and 7323 tons respectively.

5.1.2 on the export side: a total of 183.8 tons were exported in 2007, with an average export unit price of 30.88 yuan per kilogram. Mainly exported to Hong Kong (66.5%) and the mainland (21.0%).

According to the production and import and export data, it is estimated that the annual coffee bean market in Taiwan is about 14140 tons, with an average consumption of 0.85kg per person.

5.1.3 Local coffee: Local coffee needs to be graded to improve the standard With the change of people's leisure taste, the demand for coffee has increased greatly, and local coffee is expected to become Taiwan's new agriculture. Emphasizing coffee brands, combined with cultural and tourism resources marketing as support, attracting people to go deep into the origin, close to and experience coffee-related activities, it is expected to form a unique coffee culture industry. In addition, because of the innovation of practitioners in goods, services and formats, it has also led to the development of Taiwan's coffee industry. In view of the continuous expansion of Taiwan's coffee-related industry, although Taiwan relies heavily on imported coffee raw materials, only a small portion of coffee processed products in the market use local raw materials. However, 16 counties and cities have invested in the cultivation of local coffee. Under the increasingly popular situation of people drinking coffee, it is necessary to carry out quality certification and grading system for local coffee beans to improve the quality and professionalism of local coffee.

5.1.4 In terms of production and import: Taiwan produced 452.7 tons of coffee beans in 2007. Taiwan relies entirely on imports for its main raw materials for processing and drinking. According to customs statistics, Taiwan imported 13,871 tons of coffee beans (including unroasted and roasted) in 2007, an increase of 28.9% over 2006, with an average import price of 20.71 yuan per kilogram. According to the statistics of import volume in 2007, the main import sources are Indonesia (38.1%), Brazil (16.7%), Viet Nam (11.4%) and Guatemala (10.2%).