Andreas: Lincang Coffee Should Take the Fine Road

Some time ago, his Excellency Andries Pastrana Arango, former President of the Republic of Colombia, went to Lincang for a three-day visit in his private capacity. Inspecting the coffee industry and strengthening exchanges and cooperation were important contents of his visit. He suggested that Lincang take the road of "boutique coffee."

Group photo of Andries (center), Lincang Municipal Party Secretary Li Xiaoping (left) and Yang Zhiqi (right) at Happiness Coffee Base

The president's proposal

Colombia is an important coffee producer in the world, and Colombian coffee is one of the few individual coffees sold in the world under the name of its own country. In terms of quality, no other coffee has been so highly rated. It has another beautiful name, "Emerald Coffee", which is almost synonymous with "boutique coffee" in the world.

The pure taste of Colombian coffee comes from the natural environment that is most favorable for coffee growth. In Colombia, the planting area of coffee has reached 1.07 million hectares, there are about 302000 coffee plantations in the country, and 30-40 per cent of the rural population lives directly on coffee production. Andries, who has a deep knowledge of coffee, found his interest as soon as he arrived in Lincang. "coming to Lincang reminds me of my country, especially the climate, scenery, culture, coffee area and hospitable people of Lincang. Very similar to Colombia." Indeed, Lincang is one of the most suitable areas for coffee production in China because of its monsoon climate, wide hot area, long frost-free period, abundant rainfall, large temperature difference between day and night and acidic soil.

At present, Lincang has established a coffee product quality traceability system, ecological, manorized and socialized coffee industry. It has planted an area of 36900 hectares of coffee with an annual output of 6500 tons. Coffee has become one of the emerging industries and plateau characteristic industries in Lincang. At present, the whole city is making great efforts to build Lincang into an important coffee production base in the country. Lingfeng Coffee Company has grown into the largest coffee enterprise in China after several years of efforts.

On the 22nd, Andries came to Lingfeng Coffee Company Yunxian Happy Stone Foshan Coffee planting Base. Looking at the green hills of the coffee garden, Andries was very excited. He said that Colombian coffee culture is profound and rich, and people drink coffee as Chinese people drink tea, and three meals a day are essential. Arabica mild coffee produced in Colombia is world-famous. With the development of coffee economy, nearly 3 million people in Colombia have enjoyed preferential economic treatment. In this regard, Colombia has a lot of mature experience to exchange and cooperate with coffee cultivation in Lincang City. He believes that Lincang has favorable climatic and geographical conditions and can devote itself to developing boutique coffee and increasing farmers' income.

Fine goods should be able to bear loneliness.

Lincang is thousands of miles away from Colombia, which is a new coffee industry base. Colombia is a big country of traditional coffee industry. Is its industrial model suitable for Lincang?

The world coffee is divided into two series, one is the "hard" coffee represented by Brazil, which has a strong flavor, and the other is the "soft" coffee represented by Colombia, which has a light flavor. The difference lies in the altitude and planting method of the place of origin. Brazilian coffee is more extensive in hilly red soil, while Colombian coffee is cultivated meticulously on mountain black soil. Colombian coffee is often described as silky and smooth. Of all the coffees, it has the best balance, soft and smooth taste, and is known as "green gold" and has won praise unmatched by other coffee.

Praise is not based solely on output. Colombian coffee culture has the principle of "only making fine products" and will never compromise on the pursuit of coffee quality. A widely cited example was that Colombians would never pick coffee beans on trees without confirming their quality, even if they were willing to lose their second place in coffee production. Precisely because every coffee bean can grow calmly, Colombian coffee beans after maturity have the status and reputation of jade in the jade world. Obviously, they are people who dare to surpass and bear loneliness.

In 2013, the Lincang Municipal Party Committee and the government organized local coffee participants to visit Colombia and signed a "Framework Agreement on Exchange and Cooperation in the Development of Coffee Industry" with the main Colombian coffee producing region, Jindio Province, and the two sides planned to carry out extensive cooperation on the development of fine coffee. Lingfeng Coffee Co., Ltd. imports boutique coffee production equipment from Colombia to learn Colombian boutique coffee production technology.

With regard to the suggestion of the former president of Colombia, Yang Zhiqi, chairman of Lingfeng Coffee Company, believes that the development of the Lincang coffee industry starts relatively late and its popularity is relatively low, but the late development of the industry also has its advantages: we can learn from and learn from the successful experience of others to do a better job in the coffee industry. "Lingfeng Coffee will unswervingly follow the path of boutique."