Coffee cultivation in Taiwan
Is Taiwan a good place to grow coffee? Yi-tan Denise Fang, director of the Chiayi branch of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), tells us that the world’s “coffee belt” spans the Tropics from 23.5 degrees north of the equator to 23.5 degrees south. She goes on to say that coffee and tea grow well under similar conditions, and that a British company first imported a small number of Arabica coffee plants to Taiwan in 1884.
Chang Shu-fen, an associate horticulturist and coffee expert at TARI’s Chiayi branch, says that the Japanese government’s cultivation of coffee in 1902 at what is now the Hengchun Tropical Botanical Garden revealed that Arabica coffee varieties were well suited to Taiwan. The Japanese went on to cultivate coffee seedlings on Mt. Hebao in Gukeng Township, Yunlin County, and later on Mt. Hua and at other locations. However, after World War II there was no market for Taiwanese coffee, and most of the island’s coffee fields were left to run wild.
When international coffee prices heated up in the 1950s, coffee fever again swept Taiwan. The government imported rust-resistant coffee varieties and growing techniques from Hawaii, but when the government later stopped actively promoting coffee cultivation, Taiwanese coffee farming went quiet once again.
Strangely, 1999’s Jiji Earthquake provided local coffee with another opportunity to take root. The government’s promotion during its rebuilding efforts of the One Town, One Product policy, which encouraged every township to promote at least one specialty product or attraction, turned Gukeng, previously a coffee producer, into a development hub. When the Yunlin County Government later went on to organize the first Taiwan Coffee Festival, it firmly established Gukeng as “Taiwan’s coffee capital.”
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Taiwan currently has 1,178 hectares in coffee cultivation. Located primarily in Pingtung, Nantou, Taichung and Chiayi, these fields produce more than 1,000 metric tons of coffee beans per year.
Taiwan and ACE organized Taiwan’s first Private Collection Auction in 2021, attracting industry participants from 14 nations including the US’s Blue Bottle, the so-called “Apple of the coffee world.” The results of 2023’s Cup of Excellence competition show that international buyers have come to recognize the quality of Taiwanese coffee.
Our island has succeeded in producing high-quality coffee in just 20 years largely through the efforts of farmers themselves, although the central and local governments have also fostered steady improvements by organizing many competitions and reviews of beans.
In one example of farmers helping themselves, Alishan’s growers formed the Chiayi County Coffee Industry Development Association (CCIDA) as a vehicle for sharing information. Hsu Ting-yeh, a member of the CCIDA’s supervisory board and owner of Zhuo Wu Mountain Coffee Farm, argues that the group’s cooperative ethos has improved the county’s coffee quality. When Fang Cheng-lun, owner of the Zou Zhou Yuan coffee estate, was the CCIDA’s chair, the association also arranged coffee matchmaking events and ensured that competition coffees were able to participate in auctions even if they didn’t win any awards. “Hard work leads to opportunities,” says Fang.
Washed, sun-dried, honey-processed… the various ways of removing the coffee fruit from its seeds (“beans”) bring out different flavors in the finished product.
By working together to advance coffee cultivation and processing techniques, Alishan’s coffee estates have made the region a hub for premium Taiwanese coffees.