Sherry Gao is pouring coffee made from Yunnan beans, hoping that her coffee shop in the city of Pasadena, California introduces you to your new favorite coffee and turns your opinions about Chinese coffee beans upside down.
☆ But Gao hopes that throwing light on Yunnan-sourced coffee could expose customers to the coffee-producing region and help to break down prejudice (偏见) against the beans, which for tens of years were mostly used for instant products.
"We wanted to highlight Chinese coffee because a lot of people never had Chinese coffee before, " Gao said. "Some have the prejudice that it's bad or cheap, but that's not the case anymore. It's been changing so much over the last decade. " Recent producing process, such as the addition of fruit, is leading Yunnan's coffee to better results. "Every time a new product comes in, it tastes better than the last one, " Gao said.
Farmers in China have grown tea for more than 3, 000 years, but coffee has been grown there for only about a century in fewer areas. There was an uptick in the 1980s with government's efforts. And the turn of the century and the 2010s saw a sharp growth with international companies investing (投资) in the coffee planting. But in the last 10 to 15 years, tastes and need for special and high-grade coffees appeared, especially from local growers and shops. The domestic (国内的) demand for China-grown coffee has risen so rapidly that Gao says it's now much more expensive.
To further connect with the community, Gao hopes to hold classes for Yunnan coffee introduction. After all, she says, the Yunnan coffee tastes excellent when made in one's own kitchen with a pour-over system. She hopes it's only a matter of time before Yunnan coffee becomes popular among the homemade coffee lovers.
