The different meaning of Xinglong Coffee

In the early 1950s, the first batch of returned overseas Chinese came to Xinglong ruins on the banks of the Sun River in Wanning. They pioneered planting and built Xinglong Farm. In order to realize the practice of "growing in the short term", the newly established farm uses the income of short-term crops such as coffee and citronella to make up for the income of long-term crops such as rubber, while the prosperous altitude, latitude and climate provide a good guarantee for the settlement of coffee. As a result, coffee has become one of the main cash crops in Xinglong.

Historically, more than 10,000 overseas Chinese have returned from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. It was they who brought the tradition of drinking coffee and the skill of making and brewing coffee to Xinglong and produced the later famous Xinglong coffee.

In 1960, only three months old Huang Laixiang was in his mother's arms. When he came to Xinglong from Indonesia, his home was in the coffee field. "coming to the hometown" places my father's deep feelings for his native Hainan.

Huang Laixiang's earliest memory of coffee comes from the hard life of childhood. "at that time, I had no money to study, and I went to pick up coffee beans at more than 5 o'clock in the morning to exchange money." Sitting in his own "Old overseas Chinese Coffee Shop", Huang Laixiang recalled the scene of that year and smiled at the corner of his eye. The coffee beans picked up by the children are called "bird coffee", which means the birds cut off the coffee beans scattered on the ground. The early bird catches the worm, but Huang Laixiang always picks up more than others. At that time, one jin of coffee beans could be sold for 20 cents, which really lightened the burden on the family.

At that time, when people drank coffee, they had to buy it from the coffee shop on the farm. "when I was a child, I was a bystander, but I was a coffee maker!" Huang Laixiang said that a 9-cent cup of coffee was not enough for the family, so his mother sent him to fetch coffee with an empty oil bottle or wine bottle. Sometimes when there is a shortage of sugar, the coffee shop will replace it with salt, and salty coffee will become a special taste in the memory of the old Xinglong people.

At the age of 20, Huang Laixiang came to Qiaoxia Coffee Shop to make coffee for guests, which was one of the only two coffee shops in Xinglong at that time. Six years later, Huanglai Township opened its own coffee factory and started a 30-year coffee processing career.

The unique technology of manual frying

In the town market of Xinglong, the corner where the courtyard-like factory building in Huanglai Township is located is inconspicuous. This is like a metaphor, in this huge industry, Huang Laixiang and his colleagues do not seem to attract much attention. Some people are even surprised to hear that Xinglong coffee still retains the traditional manual stir-frying.

Sunshine communicates with fresh coffee fruit in the most thorough way, which is the first agreement between time and coffee. "the craftsman must first know how to recognize beans." Huanglai Township grabs a handful of coffee beans and carries out on-the-spot teaching: the quality of coffee beans is an important decisive factor in coffee quality. the quality of beans, new and old, will make coffee have different tastes. After more than ten days of drying, the red appearance of the coffee fruit gradually dried into a brown thin and crisp shell. Huang Laixiang wearing old-fashioned plastic slippers gently crushed the coffee fruit shell, revealing brown-green small coffee beans, put a bite in the mouth, if it is crunchy, it shows that the sun is just right. "some people use the dried coffee beans directly for processing, while others like to store them for a few months, which is the difference between fragrance and richness, depending on their personal preferences." Huang Laixiang said.

The next step is the most critical baking, which is the second agreement between time and coffee. Prepare the firewood, light the slow fire, turn on the stove, and the coffee bean begins its fragrant journey. As the temperature in the furnace rises, the hot bottom of the pot plays a wonderful symphony with the coffee beans in the collision. "in the past, there was no machinery, and it all depended on manual cauldrons." Huang Laixiang said.

When the coffee beans change from raw to ripe, the coffee beans are transferred to the cauldron on the local stove. At this time, we still need to keep stir-frying. Stir-fry 25 jin of coffee beans in a pot, how to stir-fry evenly without spilling coffee beans has become a standard to measure the level of technology. Huang Laixiang took the shovel that had followed him for more than ten years and sat sideways on the stove, demonstrating his unique skills: holding the shovel in both hands and holding the shovel high and low. Under the movement of the wrist, the shovel kept turning in circles, and with the waving of the arm, the shovel circled back and forth in the cauldron so that the coffee beans could be heated evenly.

Under the joint action of strength and technique, the color of coffee beans deepens, expands gradually, and overflows the aroma. At this point, you have to listen with your ears. "Coffee beans will crackle, which tells us that it is time to add ingredients." In the view of Huang Laixiang, turning sugar is the most important 3 minutes in the process of coffee frying. Add a little wood to the fire, quickly add sugar and margarine and continue to stir-fry. If the frying time is not enough, the coffee taste will be slightly sour, if the time is too long, the coffee will not only lose its color, but also taste bitter. When to start the pot, it all depends on the experience of the master, "only hands are familiar with you".

"in the past, when you fried coffee, you had to replace it with two people, but one person couldn't do it." Huang Laixiang says that it is the blisters in the palm of the hand that have developed such a skill, and the shovel, which has a history of more than ten years, has been worn off half its length by temperature and time.

Coffee culture immersed in life

In the impression of Huanglai Township, in order to increase the flavor of coffee, Xinglong people once added egg whites when stir-frying. Unfortunately, due to the poor storage of coffee beans, this flavor no longer exists. Some people have even tried to spray wine during stir-frying, looking forward to the wonderful fusion of wine and coffee.

As time goes by, the people of Xinglong find that their favorite is the traditional coffee of Xinglong overseas Chinese, which is "strong but not bitter, fragrant but not strong, mellow and delicious, and a long aftertaste."

Perhaps because of its origin, the more mellow the coffee is, the more common it is, and it is interpreted as ordinary and simple.

In Xinglong, a cup of coffee ranges from 2 yuan to 10 yuan. Farmers who wash their feet in the fields and residents who come back from work sit in a coffee shop on the street. Drinking coffee is like drinking dad's tea, casual and natural. There is a lot of noise here, and it is a pleasure for people to talk about their parents and lottery codes. Here, you can see the traditional way of making Xinglong coffee: a slender aluminum pot with boiling water, and the coffee girl holds a gauze leak filled with ground coffee powder. The leak is pulled up and down in the aluminum pot, and the most original coffee is left in the boiling water. The coffee brewed in this way is mellow and fragrant.

"the people of Xinglong only recognize this smell." Huang Laixiang said that as long as the Xinglong people continue to drink coffee, the stir-frying process of traditional flavor coffee will not be lost. However, with the development of the times, the coffee frying process has been gradually mechanized. Today, the stir-frying masters in various coffee factories in Xinglong are all old, while those who master all manual stir-frying skills are only 10. "it will take at least three years to learn. Are there any young people willing to learn now?" Huang Laixiang asked.

Under the infiltration of time and coffee, the palm of the frying master shows an indelible brown mark, which is the trace of their pious ingenuity to build a dream.