About This Coffee
When Jane Luo and her husband began growing coffee on Yirong Farm in 1987, their coffee was among the first coffee grown in Menglian prefecture, in Yunnan. Today, over 30 years later, their daughter, Jean Luo is working with her mother, Jane, to take the next step forward and expanding their business into exporting. Jane’s partner, Song, is also involved in managing Agronomy and Farm Operations.
Yirong Farm has also emerged as a community leader for economic opportunities. Yirong Farm’s focus on coffee production has spurred numerous industries that have been major job creators, allowing many households to purchase their own transportation and build houses for their family.
Cultivation
This coffee uses compost to fertilize coffee trees, reducing the need for chemical pesticides. The farm is watered year-round by a mountain spring.
While coffee is the main crop grown at Yirong, the farm also cultivates tea, a common agricultural product in Yunnan, and corn.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Cherry is selectively handpicked and then pulped on a mechanical pulper. Pulped coffee is then fermented in tile-lined concrete tanks for 24 to 30 hours. After fermentation, parchment is cleaned in washing channels and laid to dry on raised beds. Parchment is raked frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 30 to 38 days for parchment to dry.
Sucafina Yunnan
Despite not being well known for coffee production, Yunnan has the ideal conditions for specialty coffee production. We are building an increasing number of coffee projects as our presence in Yunnan increases. We see a lot of potential producer-partners who have previously sold their coffees to blenders. With some investment in training and infrastructure, a lot of hard work and a strong quality control system, we just know that coffee producers in Yunnan can shine. Learn more about our operations in Yunnan.
Coffee in China
The majority of coffee produced in China is grown in the Yunnan Province in western China. Our operations in the country are young, but through our partnerships and our Yunnan-based lab and wet & dry mills, we are able to offer a range of great value coffees that display uniformity and consistent profiles.
Sucafina has a lab, office, wet mill and dry mill in the heart of Munaihe, just outside of Pu’er. This small village is where most of the key traders and dry mills in Yunnan are based. We have a small but very experienced team who are committed to delivering coffees to the high quality and ethical standards of Sucafina.
The Yunnan team has worked to develop specific products to represent Yunnan coffees for Sucafina. These products span a quality and value range to allow for a dynamic offering to our clients. In a market where consistency has not always been a focus, we are excited by this opportunity to deliver reliable, quality coffees to our customers.
We have a strong local partnership with a company that enables our in-country financing, logistics and navigation of Chinese trade.
We also looking at China as a destination market and are working on establishing a position within China selling to domestic roasters.
Yunnan is a beautiful part of the world that offers many opportunities for coffees, both as unique offerings as well as making certain blends—such as washed milds—more robust & dynamic. We welcome anyone to come visit & explore what Yunnan has to offer.