Last week, when German Chancellor Mertz visited China, German Eric Baden (Chinese name: Linden) was in a coffee plantation in Yunnan.
Strengthening Sino German relations at this time is indeed timely. Although Mertz's visit to China is not long, Linden still sensed an opportunity. "I hope this can bring practical measures that will help us increase our efforts to export high-quality Yunnan coffee to Germany and enhance the German market's awareness of Yunnan's high-quality coffee
Although he is German, he never leaves Yunnan coffee, which is a major symbol of Linden.
This year marks Lin De'en's 28th year living in China and his 23rd year living in Pudong, Shanghai. He communicates fluently in Chinese and claims to be an "old Pudong native". He also has an online nickname – 'Coffee Old Forest'.
It's currently the coffee bean picking season. Last week, Lin De'en stayed at a coffee plantation in Yunnan. Lin De'en is the founder and chairman of the Coffee Commune. His plantation is located in Nandaohe Village, Simao District, Pu'er, Yunnan, about a 40 minute drive from the city center of Pu'er.
Linden is checking the condition of the coffee beans
For over 20 years, Lin De'en has been working and living in Shanghai, witnessing the transformation of Chinese coffee consumption from instant coffee to premium coffee. Now, Shanghai has become a benchmark for Chinese coffee consumption, with the largest number of coffee shops in the world, and has long been renowned as the "World Coffee Capital" Over the past 10 years, Lin De'en has been deeply cultivating Pu'er, which accounts for 53.59% of the coffee planting area in Yunnan Province and over 98% of the national total. Therefore, Pu'er is named the "Coffee Capital of China".
As a foreigner who travels around the coffee producing areas and markets in China on a daily basis, Lin De'en volunteered, "I can be the spokesperson for Yunnan coffee
'Yunnan flavor' was once a derogatory term
In the coffee shop of the Coffee Commune near the Longyang Road subway station in Pudong, Yunnan coffee is the absolute protagonist.
This is Lin De'en's window dedicated to showcasing Yunnan coffee, which frequently appears on the store menu. Entering the store, the comics with Yunnan ethnic characteristics on the wall are particularly eye-catching, and more than ten Yunnan coffee products produced by the company are prominently displayed in the store.
Yunnan coffee products placed in the coffee commune store
More and more customers are ordering a cup of Yunnan coffee. "Lin De'en is proud that, with the joint efforts of coffee practitioners, Yunnan coffee has gradually gained popularity in recent years, becoming not only a standard product for major coffee brands, but also a new selling point.
Previously, 'Yunnan flavor' was a derogatory term. For a long time, 'Yunnan flavor' was synonymous with poor coffee taste and unclean texture. The low-end image of Yunnan coffee is clearly reflected in the market: its purchase price is 10% -20% lower than the international average price.
In 2016, when the Coffee Commune was established, Lin De'en realized that Yunnan coffee needed a way out, and "this statement must be changed.
This idea comes from a lesson that Lindgren once learned. Before establishing the coffee commune, he passionately opened his first coffee shop near Zhongshan Park in Shanghai, with a small storefront called "Ping Coffee", mainly promoting Yunnan coffee. But if it's not successful, no one wants to drink it. "Speaking of the failure at that time, Lin De'en calmly analyzed the reasons: instant coffee was still the mainstream in the market at that time, and only a few people really walked into coffee shops to taste specialty coffee; More importantly, Yunnan coffee is not recognized by consumers.
The attempt to promote Yunnan coffee quickly ended in failure, but Lin De'en's promotion of Yunnan coffee did not stop. In 2018, Linden was invited to serve as a judge for the world's top coffee roasting event, the Golden Bean Cup Baking Competition, held in Australia. This year, the Coffee Commune explored the establishment of the "Yunnan P86+Premium Coffee Production System". Before leaving, Lin De'en brought along a sample of "Yunnan P86+" coffee beans produced using this process. There is a "coffee break" (i.e. coffee time or tea break) during the competition break, and the judges will taste coffee beans brought by trading companies and others. After lunch one day, Lin De'en handed over the Yunnan coffee beans he brought to the staff responsible for brewing coffee, specifically reminding them, "Don't say I brought them, and don't mention Yunnan coffee
After the coffee was served, a Colombian judge proudly greeted Lindgren, 'Try this, it's our anaerobic fermented coffee from Colombia, and the fermentation is very clean.'. Linden smiled faintly and said, 'It's anaerobic fermentation, but not from Colombia.'. Then he remained silent. For a moment, everyone's curiosity was aroused, and they all guessed where this cup of coffee was produced? Lin De'en revealed the answer, 'It's from Yunnan.'. The judges exclaimed 'impossible', and the more they didn't believe it, the happier Lindgren became.
With this "test of the water", Lin De'en realized that participating in a competition and having professional judges judge the quality of Yunnan coffee may be the breakthrough that can be recognized by the outside world.
One year later, the opportunity came. A Chinese New Zealander stood out in the 2019 Australian Golden Bean Cup Baking Competition with their "Yunnan P86+" coffee beans, becoming the first Chinese coffee bean to win a silver medal. Yunnan coffee has made its debut internationally. As a result, the "Yunnan P86+" coffee beans continuously won awards in world competitions. Since then, with more and more Yunnan coffee beans emerging internationally, the global industry has changed its stereotype of "Yunnan flavor".
I didn't expect it to be so successful, but it's not enough
During the conversation, Linden took off the deep red wristband from his wrist and placed it in front of the reporter. Why is there a wristband in this color? Because the truly fully ripe coffee fruit is this color. Not only Lin De'en, but also coffee farmers who use the "P86+Premium Coffee Production System" have a wristband for every hand.
What's the use of a small wristband? During the coffee bean ripening period from November to March of the following year, fresh fruits that are green, yellow, light red, deep red, or excessively red and spoiled will appear on the trees. To make high-quality coffee, it is necessary to distinguish and pick them one by one. Lin De'en customized a batch of wristbands and repeatedly reminded, "When picking, be sure to reach this color. If it still hasn't reached this color, don't pick it
A coffee farmer wearing a wristband is picking fresh coffee beans and fruits
It's simple to say, but it's not easy to do. As Lin De'en spoke, he performed a performance without any physical objects. He closed his hands and quickly pulled down the coffee beans from the branches, picking both good and bad fruits together. This is the picking method taught to local coffee farmers by an international instant coffee giant many years ago. "Instant coffee doesn't have any special flavor and has low requirements for coffee beans," Lin De'en explained. This is also one of the important reasons for the poor reputation of Yunnan coffee in the past.
There are even more troublesome things. In the late 1980s, that coffee giant introduced Katim coffee in Pu'er, which has the name Arabica and good advertising effects. It is also resistant to disease and high-yielding, but its quality is difficult to reach the top level. Therefore, Yunnan can only be used as a raw material base for instant coffee and is at the bottom of the value chain. With the arrival of the premium coffee wave, this gap has become increasingly severe, but coffee farmers have not yet realized that the market has changed.
In recent years, Yunnan has been vigorously promoting excellent varieties such as Guixia, but Lin De'en bluntly stated that currently more than 80% of Yunnan's coffee is still Katim coffee. This is exactly the dilemma faced by Lin De'en and others when they pioneered the "Yunnan P86+" system several years ago. In the cup test of professional coffee competitions, there are 10 indicators, including aroma, sourness, sweetness, richness, etc., with 10 points for each indicator. Coffee with a score of 80 or above on the cup test is considered premium coffee, while coffee with a score of 87 or above can be called COE (Excellence Cup) coffee. ”Lin De'en pointed out that in order to achieve higher scores, not only stable quality coffee fresh fruits are needed, but also a very stable system processing plan, which is the origin of the "Yunnan P86+" system.
Nowadays, "Yunnan P86+" is a patented processing system owned by the Coffee Commune, among which "anaerobic fermentation" is one of the important links in "turning beans into gold". But the annual roasting volume of premium coffee in the Coffee Commune is only 100 tons. In order to drive market development faster, Lin De'en chose an open technology solution and "welcomes everyone to learn". During this time, Lin De'en will regularly visit Yunnan to teach coffee farmers how to plant, pick, process and process coffee beans, helping small and micro plantations produce high-quality specialty coffee beans. At present, 100 to 150 new coffee farmers are added each year using the "Yunnan P86+" system, which has benefited about 1000 coffee farmers in Pu'er and surrounding areas.
Linden and local coffee farmers picking fresh coffee fruits
Looking back at the starting point of 2016, "I didn't expect to be so successful within 10 years," Lin De'en sighed. It is precisely because it has driven more and more coffee farmers that more and more people know that "Yunnan has good coffee.
However, Linden still feels that it is not enough. He revealed his "small goal" to the reporter – "about 10 times more needed", and he made up his mind early on to collaborate with 10000 Yunnan coffee farmers.
From 'foreigner' to 'old man'
In China, Lin De'en can be considered one of the "foreigners" who have the best understanding of coffee preferences in different regions of China.
From the perspective of acidity, coffee with high acidity is more popular in Guangdong, while Shanghai and surrounding cities prefer coffee with low acidity, "Lin De'en understands this well." This is highly related to diet. "Guangdong people drink herbal tea in their daily lives, so they have a higher acceptance of acidity, while Shanghai cuisine tends to be sweeter.
This' cold knowledge 'that many Chinese people may not necessarily know stems from a collaboration. In March 2024, at the Shanghai International Hotel and Catering Industry Expo, Linden reached a cooperation agreement with a leading national enterprise in the field of plant-based milk in the Yangtze River Delta. Linden participated in the company's offline activities held in multiple cities across the country to showcase the different combinations of its products and coffee to coffee practitioners.
Why do we have to collaborate with Linden? They needed a coffee master, preferably a foreigner, so they found me. "Lin De'en understands the considerations of the brand: coffee culture is a Western culture, and having a foreigner come forward is more convincing. At the same time, he has been deeply involved in coffee in China for many years, and his peers have heard of the name" Coffee Old Forest "to some extent.
Lin De'en's collaboration with his coffee teacher Zhu Hewen also originated from a sentence from Zhu Hewen, 'I need a' foreigner '.'. Before the cooperation, Zhu Hewen had been helping Pu'er coffee farmers train in coffee planting, management, and other related work, but he had been struggling to expand the market and find sales channels.
After the cooperation, the two have clear division of labor: Zhu Hewen will be stationed in Pu'er for a long time, mainly responsible for innovative research and development of coffee technology and coffee farmer training, while Lin De'en will become the spokesperson for local coffee, expanding markets in Shanghai and abroad. Linden's "foreigner" identity has achieved value optimization. With Linden's active efforts, the coffee beans here have connected to Shanghai, the largest coffee consumption market in China. They have not only entered major coffee festivals and exhibitions in Shanghai, but also coffee shops in major cities such as Shanghai, allowing consumers to taste fresh Yunnan coffee. At the same time, he has also opened an online store, allowing more consumers to shop Yunnan coffee products online.
Lin De'en participates in Yunnan coffee activities
But the international coffee industry has been slow to adopt new products. In order to gradually introduce Yunnan coffee to the world, Lin De'en not only frequently sent samples to foreign customers, but also led Yunnan coffee to various competitions, which led to the later "Yunnan P86+" coffee repeatedly winning awards.
Nowadays, Linden has transformed from a participating baker to an organizer of international events. In November 2024, the Golden Bean Cup East Asia competition will be held at Shanghai Hongqiao International Coffee Port, covering countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea. The second competition kicked off around November last year during the Wuxi International Coffee Festival.
At the Wuxi Coffee Festival, the head of a Brazilian coffee bean trading company approached Linden, hoping to collaborate with him to promote Brazilian coffee beans and expand the Chinese market. I think it's quite suitable. Many of my clients need to do blending, and Brazilian beans are very important among them. "This Brazilian found Linden because he was familiar with the Chinese market. This time, Lin De'en, the 'foreigner', has become the 'old man' again.
Linden is organizing samples provided by Brazilian coffee bean traders
When naming "Yunnan P86+" back then, colleagues all questioned it. I think it's okay, just wait for us for a moment, "Lin De'en replied with a smile. Now, he has more confidence. From the changes around us, it can be seen that many cooperative coffee estates have been able to produce good boutique coffee, "even earning over 86 points". By 2025, the premium coffee rate in Yunnan will reach 31.6%, and the deep processing rate will reach 80%.
When talking about his new expectations for this year, Lin De'en expressed his hope to build a large comprehensive coffee plant in Yunnan with a designed production capacity of over 10000 tons. At the same time, he also plans to quickly convert the production into export volume. This year, Yunnan P86+coffee, which will be exported to Germany, is expected to exceed 200 tons.
Original title: "Why should a German who has lived in Pudong, Shanghai for 23 years become a spokesperson for Yunnan coffee
Column Editor in Chief: Chen Shuyi
Source: Author: Ren Junmang from Liberation Daily
Liaoning ICP Security No. 21122402000217