The shaken black gold of Taiwan! How can Taiwan coffee make a comeback after 30 years of silence?

While coffee is popular all over the world, Taiwanese are also following up on their coffee drinking habits. According to Diet 2019, coffee fans, who can't have coffee? The results of a questionnaire survey show that the number of coffee cups drunk in Taiwan has increased from 36 in 1990 to 204 in 2018 in less than 30 years, but in fact, before that, Taiwanese only "planted" and did not "drink"! Taiwan's "black gold industry" has even entered a 30-year ice age! Later, why did coffee cultivation in Taiwan rise again? How can Taiwan coffee beans re-enter the global coffee market with its unique flavor? Let "eating power" give it to you!

Taiwan's coffee bean industry has its ups and downs! It was silent for nearly 30 years and was shaken up overnight!

It has been more than a hundred years since the first written record of coffee appeared in Taiwan in the Qing Dynasty (1877), and the earliest record of coffee cultivation in Taiwan actually began in 1884 when the British merchant Deji Foreign Company conducted a trial in northern Taiwan. Around 1927, under the incentive production of the Government House at that time, many tropical industrial crops began to be planted in Taiwan, and Taiwanese coffee began to be sold to Japan at this time, and even became the imperial products of the King of Japan!

However, after the Japanese defeat in 1945, Taiwan's coffee production immediately hit rock bottom, and then in 1956, with the technical support of US aid and Chiayi Agricultural Research Institute Chu Ching-kuo, who introduced drought and coffee leaf disease resistance in Hawaii, it reached its peak again in 1962. However, with the bumper harvest of coffee in Brazil, the sharp drop in international coffee prices and the end of US aid, the government has also adopted a strategy of "no encouragement, no restriction, and no guidance." since then, Taiwan's coffee beans have entered an ice age that lasted nearly 30 years. Until 1999, the 921 earthquake revived the coffee bean industry, and coffee planting, accompanied by the recovery of the tourism and leisure industry, became the choice for post-disaster reconstruction.

Coffee production in Taiwan is growing steadily! But it's still only 3% of imports!

Up to now, the main coffee planting areas in Taiwan are located in south-central Taiwan within the coffee belt of 25 degrees between north and south latitudes. Pingtung is more suitable for the growth of coffee trees due to topographical factors such as rainfall and temperature. It has been planted in Sandimen, Wutai, Taiwu and other places, and its output is the highest in all counties and cities.

However, although Taiwan's coffee production has grown steadily under continuous research on variety improvement, it is still a small quantity. If we compare the amount of raw coffee beans imported by Taiwan in 2017 to about 29,249 metric tons, the total amount of coffee beans produced in Taiwan that year was only 947 metric tons, about 3 percent of the total imported. However, the output value of coffee in Taiwan has actually grown a lot over the past 15 years. Compared with the tiny output of 35 metric tons in 2003, the 947 metric tons of coffee beans in 2017 is 27 times that of it.

Less output and more flavor! Taiwan coffee beans can be divided into three major flavors!

Although the output of coffee beans in Taiwan is small, they have their own characteristics in flavor. According to the producing area characteristics of Taiwan coffee summarized by the breeding Laboratory of the Department of Agronomy of National Taiwan University, the flavor of Taiwan coffee beans can be roughly divided into three categories: "mountain type, plateau type and island type" flavor. Among them, the mountain type is mainly located to the west of the Central Mountains, and its coffee flavor is floral, tea and moderately sour, which is similar to that of alpine coffee beans in Central and South America. On the other hand, the Highland flavor is closer to the charm of the highland producing areas of Ethiopia in Africa, with spice and chocolate aromas, which are mainly found in southern Taiwan. The flavor of coffee beans in the coastal mountains of eastern Taiwan is closer to that of coffee beans in islands such as the Hawaiian Islands, with floral and spicy flavors as well as obvious sour flavors.

Lin Zhe-hao, director of the Taiwan Coffee Research Office project, also mentioned that Taiwan's geographical environment is located at 23.5 degrees, so the altitude does not have to be as high as in equatorial countries. can have a good temperature difference between day and night and other growth conditions so that coffee beans can produce enough sugar and organic acids to give coffee beans miscellaneous and beautiful aroma, so coffee has been grown in Taiwan below 300 meters above sea level. And can get the American Fine Coffee Association (Specialty Coffee Association of America, referred to as SCAA) cup test score of more than 84 good results!

Taiwan coffee can not take the "quantity", then take the "quality"!

Under the densely populated geographical environment of the isthmus, compared with Brazil and other countries with a vast territory, Taiwan's output is not only difficult to reach, but also difficult to have a stable supply for export. Therefore, in recent years, Taiwan's exports of raw coffee have also experienced ups and downs, and at present, domestic sales are still the main market!

Dong Dinghe, founder of Sengao Sand Coffee, which focuses on the export of Taiwan's boutique coffee beans, also says that since the labor cost of growing coffee in Taiwan is high, it is even more difficult to compete with foreign producing countries in terms of price. therefore, he believes that the road to high-quality coffee is an opportunity for Taiwan's coffee in the future.

Although Taiwan is small, the average number of cups consumed is extremely high. The mature domestic market and the convenience of circulation also enable consumers in Taiwan to enjoy more "fresh" local coffee than in other countries. Therefore, apart from taking "turning Taiwan coffee into boutique coffee" as its mission and working with local coffee farmers in Taiwan, Dong Tinghe also hopes to promote Taiwan's "fresh coffee" to consumers through "Senggao Sand Coffee." so that they can taste a cup of really fresh Taiwanese coffee!

In addition, in recent years, through the integration of resources, the Pingtung County government has jointly established the "Pingtung County hometown Coffee Alliance" with six aboriginal coffee farmers in Pingtung County. with the local coffee farmers successfully making Taiwan coffee beans stand out in the European and American markets through the "group war" model! Mojocoffee, a well-known popular cafe in Taichung, has also held a Taiwan coffee raw bean media association, through closer exchanges between buyers and sellers, so that the industries can better understand each other's needs, from "buyers" to "sellers" to jointly promote Taiwan coffee beans!

However, in the long run, Taiwan's coffee will not be priced by quantity, but if we want to take the road of "scarcity is precious", at a time when consumers' tastes are getting stricter and stricter, how to become a real "boutique" still awaits the transformation of the industry!