Coffee in China
- Thread starter tieguanyin
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The articles note that this is a good opportunity for individual farmers and common man trying to get ahead, which sounds great to me. But no mention on the quality of the coffee and whether its on par with other regions. ....So where do we get some green beans to try it out. 
There is a chain of coffee shops in Shanghai called jamaica blue, I spoke with the owner who said that he was actively sourcing local coffee as the tax on importing coffee was too expensive. maybe this is the coffee he was talking about, I will check next time I see him.
Also on the subject of coffee in asia, the coffee produced in the Philippines is now maturing and the quality goes from strength to strength each year.
Also on the subject of coffee in asia, the coffee produced in the Philippines is now maturing and the quality goes from strength to strength each year.
Jamaica Blue Mountain is a fine variety of coffee, amiright?
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It would be interesting to find out if the coffee farmers in Yunnan are growing arabica or robusta beans. When Vietnam went full bore with coffee growing, robusta was their bean of choice...
Yup. Here's a list of the important varieties & countries. Is it too early to fill in any details about China?
Some more news sources:
Govenment & Starbucks Joint Venture
Financial Times
Focus on the Farmer
Environmental view of Growing Coffee in China
An interview
Another slide show
Plantation & satellite photos
Pesticides & deforestation, low quality, forced government planning, Nescafe & Starbucks as the major backers, and even they admit there's nothing worthy of a single origin in sight. If Nescafe's complaining about the quality being low for instant...
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- #7
Thanks for all the additional info SB
! Sounds like they are going the robusta route, which in the case of Vietnam caused a steep fall in the price of coffee once they flooded the market with the stuff. One can hope that enough farmers learn the growing of coffee on their own and establish something good (a la single estate arabica). Not encouraging that the 800 lbs gorillas of the coffee world are converging on China...
One of the articles mentioned they're using a strain of arabica that has some robusta characteristics or is a cross breed or...I don't know. Frankenbean?
Yeah, from those links you posted it sounded like most of the coffee grown in China is either Robusta or Catimor a cross between Caturra and Hibrido de Timor. High yields, often grown as sun coffee, with a reputation for inferior quality.
That Coffee growing in China article contained a wealth of information and links, almost too much to read at once. One of the easier reads it linked to was this slideshow - Coffee Harvest Season Under Way In Parts Of China
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