Heritage Series x Matriarch Series - Yunnan, Yirong Farm
ORIGINALLY RELEASED
June 2022
HIGHLIGHTS
Heritage Series x Matriarch Series: This special hybrid series spotlights coffee with Chinese origins and is produced by women
Origin: China - Yunnan, Yirong Farm
Certified Organic
Available Roast(s): Medium
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
I’m roasting this coffee to the lighter end of medium. With this roast profile, I’m getting notes of dark brown sugar and butterscotch, with a subtle fruitiness and sweetness of oolong tea. What I love about this coffee is that it’s fun and aromatic, but NOT “too” fruity or sour. No matter what, you can expect a smooth, balanced, and tasty cup. Dress it up with milk if you’d like or keep it simple and black. It’s something that fans of light roasts AND medium roasts should find some common ground with (common “ground” — get it, coffee grounds? :P).
ORIGIN STORY
Our Heritage Series honors my own roots as a first-generation Chinese American and shines a light on specialty coffee with Chinese and Taiwanese origins, while our Matriarch Series showcases female producers. This is a particularly special release as it’s a Heritage Series x Matriarch Series hybrid!
This coffee comes from Yunnan in southwestern China. Yunnan’s picturesque and fertile highlands have long been known as the birthplace of Pu-erh tea – a delicate, flavorful, and complex black tea, whose origins can be traced back to the Yunnan Province during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220CE). Today, tea farmers in Yunnan are applying centuries’ worth of learnings in tea cultivation to grow specialty coffee, and the results have been spectacular. So much so, that much of coffee stays in China for local specialty buyers, and only a small percentage is exported out to other countries.
We were lucky to get this coffee from Yirong Farm – the farm is now in its second generation of operation with mother-daughter duo Jane & Jean Luo at the helm. In 1987, Jane began growing coffee on the farm with her husband. At the time, they were one of the first farmers to plant coffee in Menglian, Yunnan. Fast forward to today – Jane’s daughter Jean is helping take the business into its next phase of evolution – exports and expansion. Jane’s partner, Song, helps manage Agronomy and Farm Operations. This is a small family operation doing big things for specialty coffee with Chinese origins.
The Luos prioritize quality and consistency in everything they do. From a farming perspective, compost is used to fertilize coffee trees – thus eliminating the need for chemical pesticides and granting this coffee its organic classification. The farm is watered year-round by a mountain spring. Once ready, coffee cherries are selectively handpicked, then pulped using a mechanical aqua pulper. Coffee is fermented in tile-lined concrete tanks for 24-30 hours, and then washed before being laid to dry on raised beds for 30-38 days.
Yirong Farm has become an inspiration and focal point of the community. Through coffee production, Jane & Jean Luo have created jobs and economic opportunities for locals in the area. The farm has helped families secure new means of transportation and the financial security to build their own homes. This is truly a special coffee with an incredible story, and I think you’ll love it!
