Sun, Mar 08, 2026 page3

• FEATURE: Yilan’s indigenous coffee flavors earn appreciation

  • By Wang Chun-chi and Esme Yeh / Staff reporters
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  Taiwan’s first indigenous coffee exchange platform has been set up in Yilan County to promote distinctively flavored indigenous coffee, with the goal of making indigenous coffee beans a premium on the global market.

  About 150 coffee trees were planted in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period.

  Cultivated in the unique environment of Taiwan over the past century, the most widely planted arabica coffee trees have already produced variant varieties, such as typica.

  

  The entrance to the Yilan Style is pictured in an undated photograph

  Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times

  Although the planting areas of coffee beans in the county only totaled about 10 hectares, locally grown green coffee beans won accolades at an evaluation held by the platform last year.

  The platform was set up last year by the Yilan Style (蘭陽原創館) in collaboration with Lighten Cafe (光覺咖啡), with a coffee bean evaluation held in May last year. Nine indigenous coffee brands from across Taiwan were invited to compete in the event.

  The Yilan-based Cloud Red Soil Coffee Estate (雲端紅土咖啡莊園) and Myasa Coffee Estate (迷雅薩咖啡莊園) earned a total of three awards, making Yilan the area with most awards, while the top awards went to Pingtung County’s Taiwu Coffee Production Cooperative (泰武咖啡生產合作社) and Chiayi County’s Gu Bua Kak Estate (牛磨角庄園).

  

  Lighten Cafe co-founder Hsia Lien-kuang is pictured in an undated photograph.

  Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times

  The planting areas of coffee beans amount to more than 1,000 hectares nationwide, with Pingtung, Chiayi and Nantou counties being the main production areas, yielding an annual output value of about NT$1 billion (US$31.5 million) every year.

  Coffee plantations in Yilan County are mainly located in Tatung (大同) and Nanao (南澳) areas, totaling about 10 hectares in the area and producing an annual coffee bean production of more than 5 tonnes.

  Coffee grown in the region has a mild texture and a lingering aftertaste, as a grass-cover cultivation technique was adopted and the hillside environment has good drainage with significant daily temperature swings.

  Cloud Red Soil Coffee Estate coffee farmer Hsu A-jung (許阿榮) grows a 1-hectare farm with about 600 Typica coffee trees in Tatung District’s Kalan Dalah indigenous village and has earned a reputation with 16 years of experience in grass-cover cultivation.

  Local climates in Yilan gave slightly varying flavors to his coffee every year and could cause unstable production, Hsu said, adding that the production was good in 2024, but plunged last year.

  The coffee trees cultivated by Hsu have big fruit with small coffee beans, with the beans possessing a unique flavor, he said.

  The National Ilan University’s Indigenous Student Resource Center director Wang Chin-fa (王進發) said there are more than 10 indigenous coffee varieties in Taiwan since coffee was introduced under Japanese rule.

  Although Yilan has relatively low altitudes, its humidity, temperature and drainage conditions are all ideal for coffee and could give locally grown coffee layered aftertastes, he said.

  About 50 percent of coffee’s delicious taste is decided by cultivation techniques, 30 percent by roast level, and 20 percent by the brewing process, Wang said.

  Yilan Style executive director Wang Chia-hsun (王嘉勳) said the platform was established to engage with more indigenous coffee farmers and to demonstrate various flavors of coffee grown in the hills and mountains of Taiwan.

  That helps promote indigenous coffee to the public and bring it further into international markets, he said.

  The university also launched training programs for coffee farmers in collaboration with the industry to help build an indigenous coffee industrial chain and continue to make indigenous coffee a premium product.

  Lighten Cafe co-founder Hsia Lien-kuang (夏連光), a Truku born in Hualien who moved to Yilan with his wife seven years ago, is an enthusiast for pour-over coffee and devotes himself to promoting premium indigenous coffee.

  He and his wife co-founded Lighten Cafe and visited many indigenous coffee farmers around Taiwan — including among the Paiwan, Bunun, Atayal and Amis people — to help promote and market their indigenous coffee, he said.

  The visibility of indigenous coffee remains to be seen in the local market, which is dominated by imported coffee beans, Hsia said.

  A hand-brewing exchange area has been set up at the Yilan Style where Hsia runs workshops on “Store Manager’s Day” that he said “allows visitors to experience the joy of hand brewing, while enjoying the sights and scents, as well as the happiness of being surrounded by the aroma of coffee.”
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