A HISTORY OF THE INTRODUCTION AND EXPANSION OF COFFEE IN EARLY CHINA (IV)

1. A Textual Research on the Early Introduction of Coffee from Taiwan in 1884

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

1.2 Before the 16th century, Westerners had no soft drinks at all on their tables. Apart from wine, beer and distilled spirits, they could only quench their thirst with water. It was the Chinese who taught Westerners tea in the 16th and 17th centuries and the Turks who taught Orientals coffee. The author visited Taiwan twice, focusing on the investigation of the history of coffee introduction and expansion in Taiwan. Coffee in the early 19th century in China was covered with aristocratic and literary coat.

1.3 In 1884, three years before the young Emperor Guangxu came to power. Lawrence, an English tea merchant from Manchester, arrived on Taiwan under the artillery fire of the Chinese and French navies. This middle-aged man, who had once traveled to Africa and South America, found that Taiwan's climate was humid and warm, similar to the Caribbean coast where coffee was abundant, and began to think of coffee plantations. That was the year Lawrence's coffee plantation began trial planting. This story or folk legend, the author in Taiwan and the mainland to consult a large number of historical materials and archives, access to Taiwan coffee early introduction and expansion of the basic facts are:

1.3.1 In 1884, British tea merchants imported more than 100 coffee seedlings from Manila, Philippines. The following year, they imported seeds and began planting coffee in the Three Gorges area of Taipei County. Coffee first settled on Taiwan. According to historical records,"most coffee trees did not grow smoothly after planting due to remote transportation and poor treatment and care of trees, and only ten trees survived."

1.3.2 In 1901, Tian Daisang, a technician in the Japanese occupation government office, introduced Indonesian Java coffee varieties and successfully planted them in Kenting National Park, Taiwan. The results were satisfactory.

1.3.3 In 1904, the early introduction of Taiwanese coffee got a good harvest for the first time. This greatly stimulated the enthusiasm for introducing 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 of 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 its coffee quality was generally affirmed and praised by the Japanese market. Therefore, the planting area became larger and larger, and industrial management began.

1.3.6 In 1936, coffee cultivation also began in Huisun Forest Farm, now known as Chung Hsing University in Taiwan.

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

1.4 The above memorabilia of the early introduction and expansion of coffee in Taiwan, the investigation records of this historical data, and most of the textual research was obtained in November 2009. There is such a record on page 10 of the book "Early Coffee Culture in Taiwan" published by the National Museum of History of Taiwan: "The earliest history of coffee cultivation in Taiwan dates back to 1884, when the British imported coffee seeds from Manila and began planting coffee in the Three Gorges area. Later, they also tried planting coffee near Lengshuikeng and Hsichih in Wenshan. At first, there were considerable harvests." The following year, seeds were imported and planted in Taipei County's Sanshui area. In 1901, Tian Daisang, a technician from the Japanese government, introduced Java varieties and planted them in Kenting National Park. Later, more varieties were introduced and extended to Taitung, Hualien and Kaohsiung; in 1919, Chiayi Agricultural Experimental Branch (now Chiayi Agricultural Experimental Institute) collected all of them."

1.5"Encyclopedia of China·Agriculture Volume" coffee bar, is recorded as follows: "Coffee was introduced to China Taiwan Province in 1884, introduced to Hainan Province in 1908, and later introduced into Yunnan, Guangxi, Fujian and other places for planting."

1.6 The 2007 "Introduction to Coffee Cultivation in Taiwan" of the Agricultural Committee of the Executive Yuan of Taiwan further confirmed the investigation records of this historical data, saying: "After it was introduced to Taiwan in 1884, it was planted in Taipei, Hengchun, Taichung, Hualien, Chiayi and other places at that time. From tropical cultivated crops produced in coordination with colonial policies during the Japanese occupation period, potential crops managed by government subsidies after the war, to local cultural industries combined with local culture today, the role of coffee industry has changed along with Taiwan's agricultural economy and social development."

2. Spread of early coffee cultivation in Taiwan

2.1 The author learned that C.arabica was the main coffee variety introduced into Taiwan at that time, and C. robersta introduced into Uganda and Indonesia later. Robusta), although resistant to high temperature, disease and insect pests, is more suitable for lowland cultivation in Taiwan.

2.2 With the destruction of the Beiyang fleet, Taiwan became a Japanese colony. Lawrence, a British tea merchant, imported Taiwanese coffee beans into the cafes of the treaty ports through Japanese merchant ships, which made Western whites living in China realize that East Asia could not only grow coffee, but also be a viable industrial investment project. For many years in that era, merchants and missionaries brought coffee seeds to the mainland of China to spread coffee cultivation. It is rumored that French Catholic missionary Tian Deneng once drank Lawrence coffee in Shanghai, which inspired a wonderful idea. Later, he found the suitable altitude and soil for coffee growth when he was preaching in Binchuan County, Yunnan Province in 1904. There is no documentary evidence or textual research for this theory.

2.3 In the textual research on the early introduction and expansion history of coffee in Taiwan, the strongest impression to me is that the large-scale introduction and expansion of coffee in Hainan Island in 1935 and the heyday of coffee cultivation in Taiwan Island in 1942 are inseparable from the formation and development of the early coffee history and culture in Shanghai and Taiwan.

2.3.1 It is recorded on page 56 of Early Coffee Culture in Taiwan published by the National Museum of History that "coffee shops were established in Taipei City in the third year of Zhaohe (1928). They were located in Rongding (now Hengyang Road and Boai Road) and Ximen Town in the city, but there were also some in Dadaocheng and Taiping Town (near Dadaocheng). According to the record in" More than 60 cases in Taipei City,"21 tea shops were located on the streets of Taipei." "In addition to Meiji Tea Shop, Niigata Tea Shop, and Moon Tea Shop in Rongding and Ximending, there were also Songzhu, Tenma Tea House, and Moonlight House in Taiping-cho, Taicheng. Rongding and Ximending were the most important lively and prosperous areas in Japanese daily life, and Rongding was known as Taipei Ginza." West Gate was the site of a new theater and theater at that time."

2.3.2 "Because of the flourishing tea trade, Tataocheng was an important gathering place for Taiwanese, and because of the Tamsui River, Tataocheng Wharf became a distribution center for trade and smuggled goods.

2.3.3 During the investigation in Taiwan, we learned that the rise of coffee shops in Taiwan was as early as 1928, and there were already 22 coffee shops and tea shops in Taipei. In the 1930s, the Witt Cafe opened in Tataocheng, owned by Yang Cheng-chi, the elder brother of the painter Yang Sanlang, and opened the relationship between Taiwanese cafes and the arts world. "Witt" was forced to transform into a restaurant because of its slow business. The chef and manager started a new business, opening the famous "Boli Road" and "Shanshui Pavilion" in Taiwan's literary history. In 1935, the Taiwan Coffee Expo was held, and the "Morinaga Tea Shop" was used as an exhibition hall, which shows the grand occasion of coffee shops at that time. Taiwan coffee spread to Taipei, Hengchun, Taichung, Taitung, Hualien, Chiayi and other places at that time.

2.4 Irene Corbally Kuhn, a former American journalist in China, wrote in a memoir of Shanghai: "We were surprised to find that the old Shanghai of 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 a fashion competition. Which one can make the eyes of the Chinese who are keen on innovation shine, or be sought after by fashionable celebrities, it will occupy the taste of the Chinese to a greater extent."

2.5 According to Taiwan historical records: "In 1934 Polly Road West Restaurant (located in Yanping North Road, Minsheng West Road) was established, so that the daily life of the middle class in Taiwan had a cafe to talk about, and the daily consumption of the general public gradually had coffee, and it was not as remote as before." ASTORIA started in Shanghai era, about the year of Republic of China 21(1932), when it was on Xiafei Road, this is the first stage, Republic of China 38(1949)~50(1961) years to establish Wuchang Street in Taiwan, this is the most prosperous time of Star Cafe, because the bread baked every day, so that the Star Cafe became the gathering center of Russians in Taipei, many literati writers also came here to write articles."

2.6 From a large number of objects on display at the National Museum of Taiwan History and from the book Early Coffee Culture in Taiwan published by the museum, it is not difficult to find through old photos that the chairs used in Cafe Tonbo in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation period are similar to Thonet No.14, which is a coffee chair dedicated to European cafes. This proves that Taipei cafes have been popular with European cafes as early as the 1930s. This chair was designed by an Austrian furniture store specializing in the production of coffee house furniture in the 19th century. It is recognized as an indispensable symbol of the formal coffee house at that time. It was also collected by MoMA in New York.

2.7 According to the statistics of 2007 by the Agriculture Council of the Executive Yuan, coffee is cultivated in 16 counties and cities in Taiwan, with an area of 561.0 hectares (8415 mu), with Chiayi County and Nantou County having the most, with 180.5 hectares respectively.(2707.5 mu), 101.6 hectares (1524 mu), others in order of 72.3 hectares in Pingtung County, 44.3 hectares in Yunlin County and 44.1 hectares in Taitung County, totaling 442.8 hectares in the five major counties, accounting for 78.9% of Taiwan's coffee planting area.

3. Main coffee growing areas in Taiwan

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

3.1 Coffee from Taiwan:

3.1.1 Taiwan's Gukeng Township was formerly known as "Angukeng", which is located at a latitude of 23.7 degrees, an altitude of 600 to 1,500 meters, and an annual rainfall of 1,500 to 2,000. During the Japanese occupation period, the Japanese began to plant a large number of coffee in the ancient pit, and planted "Arabica" coffee, 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 obtained the good name of Coffee Mountain. At that time, Huisun Farm and Mizuho Farm were known as the three major coffee sites in Taiwan. coffee has declined for half a century, and in recent years kukeng rural township has been revitalized as the original home of "taiwan coffee" in order to actively promote local industry. today, large coffee plantations have begun to appear on kaohsiung mountain, and the planting area has reached the same level as in the past.

3.1.2 According to the Yunlin County Chronicle Draft, Gukeng Coffee was introduced during the Japanese occupation. After introducing coffee beans to Taiwan, the Governor-General's Office selected Taitung, Hualien, Mizuho, Kaohsiung, Yunlin Gukeng and Nantou Huisun Forest Farm as experimental farmland. Finally, it was found that Yunlin Gukeng had the best quality, and it became a tribute to the Japanese emperor during the Japanese occupation period. From then on, Gukeng Coffee has the nickname "Imperial Coffee."

3.1.3 The Huashan Mountain in the ancient pit is east-west, the sunlight is half sunlight, and there is shade to shade the sun, so the coffee planting conditions are very favorable. During the Japanese occupation period, Gukeng was discovered by the Japanese and began to grow coffee, concentrated in Huashan, South China, Guilin, Hebao and other areas. In addition to paying tribute to the Emperor of Japan, he also won the second prize in the World Coffee Competition. Later, due to the transformation of agriculture, coupled with the lack of coffee drinking, coffee was converted to other crops. Only in recent years has coffee cultivation and coffee culture, once interrupted, been revived.

3.1.4 According to the older generation of villagers, a coffee processing factory was built in Douliu City at that time. Due to its perfect and novel equipment, it was the largest coffee processing factory in the Far East. Many foreign visitors often visited the factory and tasted the fragrant coffee brewed from freshly roasted coffee beans. After the defeat of the Japanese in World War II and their withdrawal from Taiwan, economic farms gradually abandoned cultivation due to factors such as the lack of a market and high labor costs, and Taiwan's coffee industry gradually declined.

3.1.5 China News Network February 19, 2009: According to Taiwan's "China Times" report, the 45-year-old "antique" Taiwanese coffee has been re-unearthed. Three cans of Taiwanese coffee powder produced by the largest coffee factory in the Far East were accidentally discovered by a couple cleaning up their old home. Zhang Jingke, a 63-year-old coffee farmer in Gukeng, said his friend Feng Zhengyi recently took a tin can and asked him,"Do you recognize this kind of thing?" He was startled to see the rusty tin cans of Taiwanese coffee produced on Yunlin Economic Farm 40 or 50 years ago, which he had packed when he was 18.

3.1.6 Kukeng coffee farmer Chang Ching-ke recalls that during the Japanese occupation, Kukeng Hoh Pao Mountain planted Taiwanese coffee, which was harvested and sent to a coffee factory in Touliu for processing. At that time, there was one of Southeast Asia's largest coffee roasters, which could roast 200 pounds of coffee beans at a time. Almost all of Taiwan's coffee was sent for processing. His father, Chang Pang-kui, was a technician. Chang Ching-ke points out that Taiwanese coffee was very high-end at that time. After fermentation, roasting, grinding, and vacuum packaging in tin cans, it was exported to Japan and other countries, and it was also a public relations product for senior officials on the island. He said Feng Zhengyi found three cans of antique coffee when he tidied up his old home. It was produced in 1964. Although the shell had rusted, he opened one of the cans and the coffee powder stored for 45 years was still good. The aroma was still very strong when brewing.

4.1 Taiwan Dongshan Coffee

4.1.1 During the Japanese occupation period, Dongshan villagers worked on coffee experimental farms run by Japanese in Nanxi Township, and then brought back coffee seedlings. Coffee cultivation began in Kantou Mountain of Dongshan. Located between latitudes 18 and 27 degrees, Jiantou Mountain in Dongshan is located in Nanshan District at 23.5° to Tropic of Cancer, with an altitude of 500-800 meters. The geological, climatic and rainfall conditions are suitable for the growth of coffee trees. There are Zengwen, Wushantou and Baihe reservoirs nearby to regulate humidity. There is a half-sunlight environment. Organic cultivation management is adopted. The temperature difference between day and night is large. It belongs to volcanic ash soil and the soil pH is moderate. This makes the coffee produced in Tungshan Township a unique quality coffee native to Taiwan.

4.1.2 During the visit to Dongshan, local coffee farmers emphasized that Dongshan coffee trees naturally spread and grow in the mountain forests. For more than 60 years, these coffee trees naturally propagated in the mountains have adapted to the land of Dongshan and become domesticated as local trees. It is also said that the present Dongshan coffee is different from Arabica and Robusta. In view of this, the author observed the tree shape and biological characteristics of Dongshan coffee tree on the spot, and collected 1000 grams of coffee beans in place of shell in the sun field.

4.1.3 In Dongshan, Taiwan, the author learned that there is no large coffee planting base in Dongshan, Taiwan. There are only 22 private leisure and holiday coffee gardens, all of which are small in area. Among them, Dongshan Coffee Garden, Dazhuanjian Coffee Garden and Danpin Coffee Garden have relatively large areas. The author selected the coffee garden of Dahoe Flower Room, communicated with the owner amicably, and experienced the good time of Dongshan Coffee.

5. Current status of Taiwan coffee industry

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, Taiwan now drinks about 3 billion cups of coffee (including canned and ready-to-drink coffee) every year, which is equivalent to 130 cups of coffee per person of Taiwan's 23 million people every year, more than double the 50 cups consumed 10 years ago. In particular, green coffee beans accounted for more than half of the coffee imports last year, reaching 12,364 tons, while roasted coffee beans and coffee products accounted for only about 1,507 tons and 7,323 tons respectively.

5.1.2 In terms of exports: In 2007, a total of 183.8 tons were exported, with an average export unit price of 30.88 yuan per kilogram. exports were mainly to hong kong (66.5%) and mainland china (21.0%).

According to production and import and export data, Taiwan's annual coffee bean market is estimated to be about 14,140 tons, with an average consumption of 0.85 kg per person.

5.1.3 Local coffee: local coffee beans need to be graded to improve the level. with the change of people's leisure taste, the demand for coffee increases greatly, and local coffee is expected to become a new agriculture in Taiwan. Emphasize coffee brands, and combine culture and tourism resources marketing as backing to attract people to go deep into the origin, close to and experience coffee-related activities, it is expected that a unique coffee culture industry will be formed. In addition, the innovation of practitioners in goods, services and formats has also led to the development of Taiwan's coffee industry. In view of the continuous expansion of coffee-related industries in Taiwan, although most of Taiwan's coffee raw materials are imported, only a small number of coffee processing products in the market use local raw materials. However, the cultivation of local coffee has been invested in 16 counties and cities one after another. In the case of the increasing popularity of people drinking coffee, it is necessary to carry out a quality identification and grading system for local coffee beans to improve the quality and professionalism of local coffee.

5.1.4 in terms of production and imports: Taiwan produced 452.7 tons of coffee beans in 2007. The main raw materials for processing and drinking in Taiwan rely on imports. According to customs statistics, Taiwan imported 13871 tons of coffee beans (including unroasted and roasted beans) in 2007, an increase of 28.9% over 2006, with an average import price of 20.71 yuan per kilogram. According to import statistics in 2007, the main sources of imports were Indonesia (38.1%), Brazil (16.7%), Viet Nam (11.4%) and Guatemala (10.2%).