An Update From Origin :: China

A traditional tea-drinking country, 2017 was an important year for China as both a coffee producing and consuming country. China continued to work hard at both the farm and mill level to elevate its raw material into higher quality. Coffee Corps Volunteer Dr. Osgood introduced leaf tissue analysis to Yunnan farmers as a tool to guide fertilization and be economical with fertilizers. With his efforts and persistence, leaf analysis will possibly become a routine test/service provided to Yunnan farmers in the near future.

CQI also started a new project collectively with Yunnan Coffee International Exchange (YCE) - Model Farm Program - with the tremendous support from the Ministry of Agriculture. Based on several factors, Dr. Osgood and Luis Delgado, together with Ted Lingle and a YCE consultant, chose ten model farms from the Pu'er, Baoshan and Lincang regions. These farms will eventually become the showpieces of Yunnan farms after a series of trainings and promotional efforts.

People's knowledge of cupping and usage of a common quality language will undoubtedly help the industry develop towards a quality-focused sector. Marketing of Yunnan coffee continued all year, and it’s clear that the country is gaining momentum as an important player in the specialty coffee industry.

We have taken part in two CQI-YCE trainings, where we learned how to sample leaves for tissue analysis (to fertilize trees in a more efficient and economic way), how to measure sugar content of cherries, how to get a better control over fermentation, and how to calibrate pulpers. Armed with new expertise, we started producing specialty coffee in 2016/17 harvest. 3,100 kg of specialty coffee was produced and sold that harvest, and this number increased to 24 tons in 2017/18 harvest, from which 20 tons were washed and the rest were double-fermented. Pickers are now paid more if they pick fully ripe cherries, and we are now getting more from specialty coffee sales. This is truly a win-win situation that we coffee people desire.