Chance meeting reshapes life for a lucky barista
Print Edition
Dong Laicheng’s encounter with Martin Pollack, an American coffee enthusiast, has completely altered the trajectory of Dong’s life.
“This cup of coffee made from honey processed beans is called ‘honeydew beauty.’ It contains flavors of avalanche rose, honeydew and ginseng fruit,” said Dong, a coffee grower from southwest China, introducing the specialty to customers at Pollack’s cafe.
Pollack came to China in 2008 and has since been engaged in the coffee industry. The American expat is married to a Chinese woman and can speak fluent Chinese. He set up the Torch Coffee Company in 2015 in the city of Pu’er in southwest China’s Yunnan Province — ironically, best known for its black tea.
Yunnan is the largest coffee plantation region in China.
Its yield accounts for more than 98 percent of the country’s total.
According to the Yunnan provincial department of agriculture and rural affairs, 131,000 tons of coffee beans were produced in the province last year.
Pollack’s company mainly deals in coffee bean sales and offers training related to the coffee industry. He and his coworkers have forged cooperation with local coffee planters in Yunnan and are committed to helping them promote quality coffee beans.
“The quantity of coffee beans I sold to Torch Coffee has increased from less than two tonnes last year to more than 10 tonnes this year,” said Dong, adding that the price of fresh coffee cherries he bought from neighboring coffee farmers has also seen an increase from over 2 yuan (US$0.31) per kilogram last year to 4 yuan this year.
The Xiaowazi Coffee Manor sees close collaboration with Torch Coffee. The estate was founded in 1997 by Liao Xiugui, an experienced coffee grower from Pu’er. Today, the 20-hectare estate offers a slew of coffee-related activities such as educational tours, sightseeing trips and coffee tasting events.
Torch Coffee also rents the manor premises for conducting training sessions and purchases raw beans from the estate as raw materials for training classes, while the manor sends workers and farmers to Torch Coffee in a bid to share coffee production skills.
“The chemical herbicide glyphosate has never been used in our estate in the past 24 years, and we always stick to manual deinsectization. The quality of our common commercial beans is very close to that of the specialty beans,” said Liao Hongwen, son of Xiaowazi Coffee Manor’s founder.
According to the Specialty Coffee Association, coffee that scores 80 points or above on a 100-point scale is graded as “specialty.”
“Coffee cupping certificates are crucial for most starters who have a consistent goal in the industry,” said Pollack.
“In cupping, coffees are scored for aspects such as cleanness, sweetness, acidity, mouthfeel and aftertaste.”
Torch Coffee has been providing training to those who aspire to become a “CQI (Coffee Quality Institute) Q-Arabica grader.”
That it refers to an individual who is accredited by the CQI to grade and score coffees utilizing standards developed by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.
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