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and Nanmay were oddities half a century Coffee Festival to promote locally grown 2004, promoting freshly brewed coffee at
ago, serving freshly brewed coffee at a time coffee, drawing much attention to Taiwan every 7-eleven locations. Nowadays, the
when milk-and-sugar-filled instant coffee coffee. Finally, in 2009, Lee Gaoming’s freshly brewed coffee market, backed by
was considered the “more authentic and Alishan coffee received 11th place in the innumerous 7-elevens and independent
premium” coffee experience. Many con- SCAA’s “Coffee of the Year.” This was cafes, has risen to the same level of instant
sumers at the time would go as far as calling the strongest rebuttal to nay-sayers who and bottled coffee. Each of the three cat-
syphon coffee cheap, bitter knock-offs. claimed Taiwan as unsuitable to producing egories enjoys a market of more than 10
Specialty Coffee. The news also boosted trillion New Taiwanese Dollars, with coffee
The Advent of Bee Coffee the morale of coffee farmers throughout in general having a total market worth of
After 1965, Taiwanese economy Taiwan, who saw the fruit of their hard 50 trillion New Taiwanese Dollars. The
slowly stabilized and American aid stopped. labor recognized by authoritative coffee rise of freshly brewed coffee is a blessing
As coffee production in Central and South- professionals for the first time. The three to coffee farmers, roasters, and importers.
ern America increased year after year and events, having happened in quick succes-
the international market price of coffee sion within the same decade, birth the The Third Wave and the Nordic Coffee
fell, the government stopped sponsoring phoenix of Taiwan coffee from the ashes Revolution
Taiwanese coffee farming. In 1968, the of its previous incarnations. Before the millennium, Taiwanese
state significantly lowered the import tax According to data provided by Coun- cafes and roasters mostly worked with dark
of coffee, allowing foreign coffee to enter cil of Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food or medium-to-dark roasts after the second
Taiwan in bulk. This blew a heavy blow Agency, Taiwan produced more than 800 pop. This was in line with the American
to Taiwanese coffee farmers, but granted tons of whole coffee beans in 2013. Though “Second Wave of Coffee” traditions. Since
quite a boon to importers and cafes. to be fair, most coffee farmers would esti- 2010, however, Taiwan has joined in the
In the 1980s, Bee Cafés started to fill mate that number at a significantly lower “Third Wave” movement and started ex-
the streets. The cafes served Japanese styled 200 tons or so. In either case, the number perimenting with the lighter Nordic roast.
Sumiyaki coffee, which is a secret blend is far above and beyond those during the Whereas consumers once preferred the
roasted on charcoal or longan wood fires. periods of Japanese occupation and Ameri- bitter, chocolatey taste of dark roast, many
It is a dark roast that is brewed with the sy- can aid. In recent years, Taichung City and of them have now come to embrace the
phon or flannel dripped. If the formula, the Taitung County have also begun developing pre-second-pop fruity acidity. In addition,
roasting profile, and the extraction profile coffee farms. As a result, we can foresee cafes nowadays also place heavier emphasis
are all done right, then the coffee should the number of coffee produced in Taiwan on roasting techniques, cupping skills, and
taste sweet, lingering, thick, and sourness- going even higher once those farms can be certification programs. These are all posi-
free. Most cafes at this time learned their harvested. tive developments for the Taiwanese coffee
methodologies from Japan, from brewing industry.
techniques to roasting skills. In 1974, Fan Taiwanese coffee industry has come
Zhengyi, the owner of Bee Café, went to a long way. It did not hit its sweet spot back
Japan to learn its charcoal roasting secrets in the period of Japanese occupation, nor
and opened the first Bee Café in Taiwan. during the period of American aid. It’s hit-
The shop has been in business for more than ting its sweet spot right now, so to speak,
40 years now. During that time, Mendeling in the present progressive, as locally grown
mixed with Brazilian was the winning for- coffee, cafes, and coffee industry continue
mula, and it propelled Bee Café to the apex to rise in both quality and quantity. I be-
of its popularity. That is until 1998, when lieve the rise will continue throughout the
Starbucks entered the Taiwanese market foreseeable future.
and started replacing Japanese cafes such
as Bee Café. The “Second Wave of Coffee”
saw the rise of shot-based, Seattle styled
dark roast Latte and Cappuccinos.

Third Peak: The New Millennium
An opportunity once presented
itself after an earthquake shook the island
of Taiwan, caused devastating landslides,
and destroyed large portions of Central
Taiwan on September 21, 1999. This was Uni Group introduced "City Cafe" freshly
the biggest natural disaster that Taiwan brew coffee at every 7-11 locations.
had suffered in recent memories, and
the government, in an attempt to con- Uni Group and City Cafe
serve soil and water and prevent similar In Taiwan, the coffee market is gen-
destructions in the future, encouraged erally divided into three categories: instant
betel farmers to plant coffee trees below coffee, bottled coffee, and brewed coffee. In
their betel trees. The intercropping, the the past, instant coffee and bottled coffee David Han
state reasoned, would not only increase were the unchallenged king and queen of Coffee Consultant, Writer of Coffeeol-
farmer incomes, but would also help with the coffee market, but Uni Group, one of the ogy Series
soil and the water conservation. Then, in largest corporations in Taiwan, introduced A former journalist at United Daily News,
2003, Gukeng held its first International the City Café program into their shops in Taipei.
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