I've already mentioned it a few times before, 2011 is proving to be a very wet year. And whether it rains or not, we still go on our field trips, defying land slides and trying to not to get too wet.
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The expansion of coffee cultivation in the region is mainly going at the expense of other crops, like tea and sugar cane. Often farmers who want to start growing coffee turn to us with a request for training on how to cultivate this crop. Once the old crops have been removed, the farmer starts with bare land, with neat rows of small coffee plants. A few years onwards however, the landscape has changed dramatically, and it is always a pleasure to see when the farmers have followed our advice, turning a once bare land into a more balanced environment.
Cultivating coffee, obtaining good quality green beans and making a nice cup of coffee, they are all an art in itself. But 38-year old Karen Eland has taken it to a higher level. This American artist uses coffee to paint. Often her work is based on existing paintings, with the drink not only being her paint, she also regularly adds a cup of coffee in each painting. Some might think it's a waste of good coffee, but the results are well worth a view. According to official figures, the area planted with coffee now reaches 41,000 ha in Yunnan. A tremendous increase compared to a couple of years ago. This change also showed during my field trip last June. Farmers everywhere were preparing their fields and transferring seedlings into their fields. Unlike other parts in China, rains in this region are abundant, which is beneficial not only for these newly planted seedlings, but also for plantations in general where coffee trees are developing well and fast. The saying goes: time flies when you're having fun. And this sure is true when it comes to my home leave. Having spent over a week in hospital, the rest of the time flew by and before properly realising how and when, we find ourselves back in China and the first week at work has already past. And given this blog has been neglected a bit the past few months for several reasons, it's about time to pick up where we left off and hopefully post a bit more regularly again.
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AuthorI wouldn't be surprised to find out I was born with a passion for coffee. For the life of me, I can't remember not loving coffee. And by that, I don't just mean drinking it, but everything involved from its cultivation over the processing to the final product that is my loyal companion throughout the day. Archives
February 2014
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