Quest for the Supreme Bean- part three

The coffee cherries at this farm are dried using one of the oldest methods: dry processing. The beans are separated from the cherry using coffee pulping equipment as seen in the background of this first picture.



The cherries are then disposed of and the beans are spread out in the sun to dry. It takes about a week for the beans to fully dry and it is important step in the overall quality of the coffee. If the beans become to dry they will be brittle and break but if they are too moist then bacteria and fungus will begin to grow on them.

Here one of the farmers is sifting through the drying beans to make sure they dry evenly and thoroughly. After the beans are dried another outer shell is removed. Finally, the beans are sorted by size so that the grade of beans can be determined. After this final step the beans are then bag and made ready to be shipped or sold.

Its at this point that we now buy directly from the coffee farm (for local Yunnan beans) or through a third party (for buying imported beans from around the world.) For us we then cup the coffee to test its quality and then roast the beans so they are ready to make into various beverages from coffee to lattes.

Quest for the Supreme Bean- part two

Coffea Arabica
Miles and miles of Arabica coffee trees. Arabica coffee is far superior to the lesser quality of Robusta coffee. Arabica coffee is much harder to grow and cultivate but produces a more supreb flavor and taste. Robusta on the other hand is used mostly in instant coffee.

Arabica coffee must be grown at a higher elevation so a lot of time it is grown on the side of a mountain.

The Lujiang Coffee farm covers most of the mountainside in the foreground of most of these pictures. There are over 30 employed to cover the picking of all these coffee trees.

When coffee trees bloom a white jasmine-like flower appears for a few days and then disappears making way for small green coffee cherries. As the coffee cherry ripens it turns yellow, then red, and then deep red. When it has reached its deepest red it is now ready to be picked. Arabica beans are almost always picked by hand to ensure that every coffee cherry is perfectly ripe.

Unfortunately standards for Yunnan coffee are a bit lower so you can still see about 15% of the cherries that were picked before they fully ripened. Yunnan coffee is continuing to improve as more and more investment is poured into the crop and stricter standards are enforced. Beans of this region in Yunnan are said to have a stronger and deeper flavor than beans in the other major growing regions around the province.

Below you can see another picture of the coffee cherries as well one of a coffee picker way off in the distance.

Quest for the Supreme Bean- part one

On Thursday I traveled west to Baoshan, so that I could visit a local coffee farm. I have been meaning to do this for quite a while but coffee is only in season during the winter so this was the first chance I have gotten since Chicago Coffee was opened. I plan to post more on the trip over the next few days so check back more this week.

It was a fast trip (1.5 days) but it wouldn't be a trip within Yunnan without the obligatory flight delays or cancels. I took a Lucky Air flight, a local Yunnan airline, that was delayed 3 hours. I knew we were doomed once we boarded and began to crawl towards the runaway when they started to move the stairs back up to the airplane door. Sure enough, our plane was broken so we just needed to hop onto a different before we could take off.

Side Note: Lucky Air
Most translation errors or mistakes are funny and sometimes understandable. But come on. Lucky Air. I will grant you that in Chinese everybody loves Luck and it has a little bit of a different meaning than in English. But please I don't want to cruising at 30,000 with a company that just considers themselves lucky. Not exactly a vote of confidence.

Side Side Note: E-cigarettes
Apparently I missed the announcement of the invention of electronic cigarettes. I was baffled when the folks at Lucky Air informed us that cigarettes, cigars, and electronic cigarettes were all banned on board the flight. I thought it must an error in translation since I had not even imagined such an invention was possible. But then I wikipediaed it when I got home and sure enough, the electronic cigarette.

The flight to Baoshan is only an hour but the coffee farm village is about 2 to 3 hours further into the mountains. In fact, it was very close to the Myanmar border, as the Chinese man with the machine gun pointed out.

Upon arrival at the farm, we waited for the tractor to pick us up and take us up the mountain.

These pictures don't do the 40 minute ride justice but hopefully you can get some sense of it

At the top of the mountain it became clear that this was truly in the middle of nowhere. You know you have gone far if even Coca Cola has not yet arrived.

more of the quest tomorrow...

Middle of Nowhere

Any further into the middle of nowhere will have to put me somewhere
~ Lujiang Coffee Farm, China