Page 30 - #46 English

Cover Story

Article by David Han
Photos: by Coffee t&i Taiwan

Coffee: A History Lesson

Taiwan’s Coffee Industry and the Historic Events

China’s caffeine addiction started more than 1300 little coffee today. At fewer than 1,000 tons, its production
years ago. The early Chinese took to drinking tea to obtain quantity is far less than the annual production level of
the caffeine necessary to stay vigorous. Then came Tang 60,000 tons in Yunnan. In recent years, Taiwan produces
Dynasty, when Lu Yu, later known as “The Sage of Tea,” 200 to 900 tons of coffee annually, a mere 0.01% of the
(733 - 804 C.E.) wrote The Classic of Tea, the first com- total quantity of coffee produced per year in the world.
prehensive study of all things tea related in the world. The Additionally, the 900 hectares of coffee farmland in Taiwan
collection of articles Lu Yu penned effectively reshaped make up a meager 0.008% of all the coffee farmlands in the
the relationship between the Chinese people and tea, pav- world. Yet, despite the seemingly minuscule numbers, the
ing the way for Chinese tea culture, which would remain organic coffee beans planted by Lee Gaoming on Alishan, a
leagues ahead of all other similar tea cultures for much mountain in Central Taiwan typically known for tea farms,
time to come, to develop into a unique and unparalleled surprisingly received the 11th place in 2009 SCAA Coffee
th
cultural identity. It was not until end of the 19 Century of the Year. That was the first instance any Asian coffee
that another caffeinated plant, namely coffee, made its way received a rank.
to China. Essentially, this means Chinese coffee culture and Moreover, even though Taiwanese population is
Chinese coffee industry are both centuries behind those of only about twenty-three million, the number of cafes in the
Eastern Africa, Arabian Peninsula, the Americas, Indonesia, major metropolises boggles the mind. There are more than
and Europe, whose coffee affections had been blooming 4,000 7-Elevens selling Lattes, Cappuccinos, and Americanos,
th
th
from the 15 century to the 18 century. more than 300 Starbucks, and an astounding amount of per-
According to historic documents, the earliest sonalized, independent cafes throughout the island. Coffee
Chinese territory to receive coffee was Taiwan. R.H. Bruce is ever within walking distance, and the density of cafes is
from the British trading company Tait brought 100 coffee higher than those in both Mainland China and Hong Kong.
plants from Manila to Taiwan in 1884, near the end of the In 2013, Taiwan imported a total of 30,846,141 kilograms of
Qing Dynasty. Yang Shiaoming then planted the coffee at coffee, with the average consumption per capita estimated
what is today New Taipei City Sanxia. All these happened at 1.33 kilograms. Although that number is leagues behind
eight years before the earliest recorded planting of coffee the European average of 9 kilograms, it is already higher
in Yunnan on the Chinese Mainland, which historians than the global average of 1.22 kilograms. If we compares
established at 1892. that number to Mainland China’s average consumption per
Despite the fact that Taiwan was the earliest Chi- capita of 100 grams, we realized that the Taiwanese average
nese territory to plant actual coffee, it produces relatively is ten times higher than the Mainland average.
30