Yunnan Coffee Information: I went to Yunnan and found a magical village full of coffee!

Yunnan is a place full of coffee smell. Yunnan people are addicted to coffee. In western Yunnan, every time you go to an inn, you can find a small cafe full of fragrance and smoothness. After a cup of Espresso, there is a bit of sweetness in the bitterness, which soothes our spirit as we drive all the way through Yunnan. Under the dim light of the inn, the breeze blowing outside the window, a few cups of hot coffee, three or five bosom friends whispering, is what a beautiful picture. This makes us feel a little bit about the coffee in Yunnan along the way.

Legend has it that on the banks of the Yupao River, a tributary of the Jinsha River, there is a mysterious and beautiful Yi village-"Ruokelai", which means "winding mountain road" in Yi language. In 1892, a French missionary came to "Ruokelai" with great pains to preach. He combined Yi language with French romantically and called the village "Zhukula". Later generations translated "Zhukula" into "heaven on earth". For the sake of drinking coffee, the French missionary propagated the first coffee tree outside the church with the coffee fruit he carried with him, and then cultivated more coffee trees and planted them around the church. Since then, the "Zhukula" village began to grow coffee, and the village has been surrounded by coffee trees ever since.

Although the village of Zhukula is poor and backward, it has an inextricable bond with coffee. In addition to growing coffee all over the country, the villagers have a tradition of drinking coffee: self-growing, self-grinding and self-brewing. The villagers here have a special feeling for the coffee tree, even if the coffee beans do not bring them any economic benefits, the villagers are not willing to cut down a coffee tree. Now when we visit the "Zhukula" village, the local villagers will receive guests with local coffee and walnuts. Although the coffee made from earthen cans is not the best, this primitive drinking method reflects the villagers' love for coffee and is also the highest etiquette reception for the guests.

Most of the local coffee beans in Yunnan belong to Arabica coffee, of which "Typica" and Bourbon and Catimor from Kenya have the largest planting area. In recent years, international coffee giants such as Nestl é and Starbucks have been stationed in Yunnan, so their favorite high-yield, disease-resistant Catimor has been booming, and is also known by coffee lovers, known as "Yunnan small-grain coffee" and widely spread. However, the most traditional and high-quality Typica variety in Yunnan has correspondingly less and less planting area. nowadays, coffee fields are rarely seen around Dali, while the small village of "Zhu Kula", which is only 100 kilometers away from the ancient city of Dali, is also gradually unknown.

On the last night of "Caixin Media-Volvo traversing Yunnan", we were stationed in Shuanglang Town in Dali, which is the place closest to "Zhu Kula" by Erhai Lake. When I was about to leave the next morning, I passed the local market and accidentally saw a Yi woman setting up a stall and hawking. I saw that the sack under her feet was filled with bright red coffee fruit and accosted again. This aunt is a villager of "Zhukula", and her coffee beans come from Tiebika, the local "Zhukula". Unexpectedly, I was able to find the initial taste of coffee from Yunnan in the bustling vegetable market in the double corridors, which made me feel so valuable that I immediately bought this bag of coffee fruits and stuffed them into my suitcase. Friends have asked me why I am in such a good mood, I laugh but do not speak, such a treasure, of course, I have to wait to get home to savor it carefully.

After a seven-or eight-hour trek, I returned to my home in Guangzhou and hurriedly took out this precious bag of coffee fruit, peeled, degummed, dried, roasted moderately, selected one by one, then ground the powder, and brewed it. The strong aroma of coffee filled my little studio.

When I turned this bag of coffee fruit into this cup of coffee in front of me, it was more than three o'clock in the morning the next day. With a tired body and bloodshot eyes, I looked at this cup of beads I got from the vegetable market. It was light and fragrant. Due to the use of the most traditional drying method and moderate roasting, this cup of coffee is not as thick as Starbucks, but as amber as strong tea.

Thinking about the coffee placed on the desk of French missionaries, perhaps it was the same cup of coffee, which was tainted with a strong sense of history, which made me come to the low chapel in the Yi village in a trance. A priest was writing something on the table with a quill pen, and a cup of coffee on the table was fragrant.

I raised my cup and took a sip. The taste of the iron pickup was very similar to that of the world-famous Blue Mountain Coffee. It was sour at first, but it soon melted into a bitter taste like a canoe in my mouth. Once again, there was no trace of bitterness, only a touch of sweetness in my mouth. That's the smell of coffee I've been looking for.

So I drank this one and made another one, and so on and so on until dawn.

In the early morning corner of Foshan, Guangdong, between Mingzhong and that ancient Yi village, there is an if nothing aroma of coffee, whether it is 1892 or 2015, whether in a busy city or a quiet and peaceful village. whether it's waiting for dawn at 04:00 in the morning, or waking up after a nap at 03:30 in the afternoon, the aroma of coffee is always the same. Maybe you can feel the flow of time, the traces of time, maybe it's just an ordinary cup of coffee for you. But in any case, it is always quietly waiting for you and me, waiting for everyone who feels the bitterness of these years.

Complete feature content, review the trip through Yunnan.

Source: Enjoy Yachi

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