新西兰媒体：云南咖啡悄然“香飘”新西兰

Brief (coffeeyo.com): New Zealanders take their coffee seriously, and a new origin is quietly turning heads: Yunnan, in south-west China. An RNZ report looks at how two decades of investment have reshaped Chinese arabica — and why its tea-like filter profile is such a natural fit for a nation devoted to the flat white.

RNZ, 14 September — original headline: “China’s booming coffee industry is challenging New Zealanders’ idea of the perfect cup.”

New Zealanders are particular about the coffee they drink. Although most of what they consume comes from traditional producers such as Brazil and Colombia, another coffee-growing region is quietly drawing their attention: Yunnan, China.

Coffee grows in the “green belt” between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Yunnan Province, in south-west China, sits right on the northern edge of that band, and over the past 20 years it has steadily built a solid reputation as an arabica-growing region.

Kelly, co-founder of an Auckland coffee company, says a visit to a coffee farm in Yunnan changed the way she thought about coffee. There she learnt about the whole process, from picking and processing through to roasting. “Ordinary coffee drinkers don’t always think about where their coffee comes from. They only think about the finished product,” she says. Habbs, who heads the company’s education arm, says sustained investment, in-depth research and strong domestic demand have transformed China’s coffee industry. “In the beginning, the arabica there wasn’t very good. But as more and more resources went into it, the craft of producing higher-quality coffee in the region has kept expanding and improving.”

Although China’s coffee output has grown rapidly, its coffee culture has taken a different path from New Zealand’s. One of the biggest differences between the two countries lies in how coffee is drunk. Habbs says that in China, specialty-coffee drinkers tend to prefer pour-over or filter coffee over espresso. Filter coffee is light and gentle on the palate, bringing out delicate notes of citrus, florals and honey. He links the preference to China’s long tea-drinking tradition, because filter coffee is “a drink that is more like tea”.

Most of the coffee grown in Yunnan is consumed within China. But Kelly says New Zealand consumers are beginning to see it at some specialty roasters. Habbs describes Yunnan coffee as richly aromatic, full-bodied and layered. Kelly adds that “it blends beautifully with milk” — which makes it a natural match for New Zealanders’ long-standing love of the flat white.

The New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association recently revived its long-dormant brewing competition, a sign of growing interest in pour-over and filter coffee. For New Zealand’s coffee lovers, the next great cup may come from an origin they least expect — Yunnan, China. (By Liz Garton; translated by Wang Huicong)

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