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CHIAYI Alishan Zhuo-wu Mountain Cafe

Alishan series: Birthplace of Taiwan champion coffee beans

  • Half Pounds (hLB.)1900
  • Drip Coffee Bag100
Taiwan Coffee Regions
  • Growing Region:Alishan Zhuo-wu
  • Altitude:1,200M
  • Variety: Catimor
  • Soil Type:Gold red clay
  • Process:Washed Process
  • Harvest:man-made gather
  • Since:2011年
  • Planting area:5HA
  • Avg. Temp/Rainfall:11℃/3,000mm
36 Aromas in coffee

Rose、Lemon Citrus、Honey、Caramel、Almonds、Butter

Although Taiwan has a small land area, as a coffee-producing region it has various types of topography and environmental conditions, resulting in the rare and versatile flavours characterising the region. Besides being a well-known region producing tea, in a village in the extreme southern part of Alishan, there is also a place producing coffee at an altitude of 1.2km. The owner of Zhuowu Mountain Coffee Farm, Xu Jun Rong, has earned a name for himself growing coffee in the high mountains and winning first runner-up in the 2011 Taiwan Coffee Competition with coffee that he produces, processes, and sells on his own. In the 2012 Taiwan Coffee Competition he even won the top prize, carving out a name for Alishan coffee, and also bringing fame to Zhuowu Mountain coffee.

By chance, Xu Jun Rong was introduced to Professor Wang Yu Wen via mutual friends, the latter having the title of “Taiwan Coffee Godfather”. Upon invitation by Xu Jun Rong, Wang Yu Wen has visited Zhuowu Mountain numerous times, and imparted all his expertise on coffee planting and farm managing to Xu Jun Rong. Xu Jun Rong has also followed Professor Wang in his journey across Taiwan, both to learn and to build up the branding of “Zhuowu Mountain Coffee Farm”. In 2011, due to saturation in the Alishan tea market, Xu Jun Rong decidedly stopped selling his well-known “Zhuowu Gaoshan Mountain tea”, leaving only a small part of land to plant and manufacture honey black tea and gaoshan tea”. The remaining 2.5 hectares of farmland with trees of over 20 years old was bulldozed to convert the land into a coffee farm.

In order to ensure the quality and reputation of “Specialty Coffee”, Xu Jun Rong personally attended to every matter from farm managing, to harvesting of beans,frying of beans and marketing of coffee, insisting on producing and selling the beans on his own. He also set up the “Chiayi County Coffee Industry Development Association” with other coffee farmers with similar interests.

To have strict control over the quality of the coffee beans, Zhuowu coffee farm only employs the growing methods mentioned above, and on top of that, only harvests beans from the top circular part of dwarved coffee trees where coffee cherries have formed on the branches. The remaining beans located below are eliminated.Therefore the beans harvested are all rather large in size.

The coffee is organically farmed; no pesticide is used in every step from farming to manufacturing. The roast levels are customised based on customers’ preferences,ranging from dark, medium, to light. In recent years, it has come up with “wild creek washed processing method”.

Washed processing is done by putting fermented beans into water, making use of the friction between beans and the force from flowing water to wash the beans.

Xu Jun Rong placed the beans in the wild creek of the high mountain, using cool (~10°C) and clean running water to perform washed processing, giving Zhuowu mountain coffee a mellow and smooth taste.