The "living fossil" of Chinese coffee waits for a hundred years of "encounter"

In the second pair of coffee shops, guests taste Zhukula coffee in front of the murals in Ha long Bay, Vietnam. Photo taken by Miao Chao

Chinanews.com, Dali, April 11-(Miao Chao) more than 100 years ago, French missionaries planted coffee trees in Zhu Kula, a remote mountain village in Binchuan, Yunnan, opening the history of coffee cultivation in China. After a hundred years, Zhu Kula coffee was hidden in boudoir, until Binchuan welcomed a group of Vietnamese returned overseas Chinese.

The reporter recently visited Binchuan, the hometown of overseas Chinese in Dali, Yunnan. Under several tall birch trees on the Taihe overseas Chinese Farm, five kilometers east of the county seat, in a coffee shop run by returned overseas Chinese from Vietnam, people are tasting the fragrant Zhukula coffee. The shop, called "two pairs of Coffee", has two huge murals: one is Ha long Wan, Vietnam, and the other is the village of Zhukula, Binchuan.

In 1978, the parents of Xian Lianguo, who lived in Vietnam, returned to China and were settled in Binchuan Taihe overseas Chinese Farm. At first, my parents ran a Vietnamese breakfast restaurant and sold coffee. Later, it has been more than 30 years since I started making coffee full-time. Xian Lianguo said: "Vietnamese returned overseas Chinese are used to drinking coffee in the morning, and their parents can make authentic Vietnamese-style coffee."

It is understood that since 1956, Binchuan County has successively set up three state-run overseas Chinese farms, namely Binju, Taihe and Caifeng, to centrally house 4700 returned overseas Chinese from eight countries, including Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Myanmar. Among them, Vietnamese returned overseas Chinese are the main ones.

"at first, coffee beans were supplied by overseas Chinese Farm supply and Marketing Cooperatives. Later, we found that coffee was grown locally. " Xian Lianguo told reporters that the richness of the two pairs of coffee depends on the ancient Zhu Kula coffee tree in Binchuan.

According to textual research, in 1892, French missionary Father Tian Deneng preached in Zhukula village of Binchuan and planted coffee trees in the village, which became the earliest coffee planted in China. Up to now, Zhu Kula has 13 mu of the oldest coffee in China, and there are still more than 20 coffee trees that are more than 90 years old, which has become a "living fossil of Chinese coffee."

Although coffee has been grown for more than a hundred years, Zhu Kula coffee was hidden in boudoir before Vietnamese returned overseas Chinese came to Binchuan. Local Li Li told reporters, "although it is the earliest place in China to grow coffee, the people of Binchuan are influenced by returned overseas Chinese on overseas Chinese farms and have only begun to like coffee in recent years."

Today, the reporter in Binchuan County, cafes can be seen everywhere, appears to be "foreign style". Traveler Luo Zhonghua said that Binchuan is the county town where he has seen the most cafes.

By the beginning of 2016, the planting area of coffee in Yunnan had reached 1.77 million mu, with a total output of 139000 tons, accounting for more than 99 percent of China's output. And "Zhu Kula" has also become one of many coffee brands in Yunnan, which is sold overseas. (end)

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