Introduction to Xinzhai - China's Premier Coffee Village_Baoshan Yunnan Xinzhai Coffee Brand Story

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Newzhai Coffee: A Distinctive Chinese Coffee

Newzhai Village is located in Lijiang Town, Longyang District, Baoshan City, Yunnan Province. Its geographical location, altitude, water sources, and historical background contribute to the unique characteristics of its coffee.

With all 800 acres of farmland dedicated to coffee cultivation, the plantation is quite visible on Google Maps, though the exact location of the village itself remains uncertain. This is not uncommon for rural areas like Newzhai. The nearest location provided by Google Maps is an administrative division: Lujiangba Township.

Newzhai Village and its surrounding communities are situated between the Salween River and the Gaoligong Mountains. The Salween River, known as the Nu River in China, originates from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, flows through a small portion of Yunnan, and then enters Myanmar, forming the largest watershed in Southeast Asia. The Gaoligong Mountains constitute a national nature reserve in China with unique biodiversity.

In 2003, UNESCO recognized it as part of a World Heritage site known as the "Three Parallel Rivers" protected area in Yunnan. This region's distinctive features create its exceptional environmental value, including three major parallel rivers—the Yangtze, Mekong, and Salween—separated by mountain ranges reaching altitudes of up to 7,000 meters, sometimes only 30 kilometers apart. If you were to traverse the Gaoligong Mountains from Newzhai, within 200 kilometers, you would reach the Myanmar border and another major Asian river, the Irrawaddy. Each mountain range and valley harbors animals and plants not found elsewhere. These geographical features make Yunnan one of China's most biologically and ethnically diverse regions.

China does not have a long history of cultivating or drinking coffee. For Newzhai, several century-old coffee trees in backyards serve as proud reminders of the village's unusual history, but how their grandparents obtained coffee (possibly through their Tea Horse Road trading lifestyle) is not easily confirmed.

Yunnan and Hainan provinces are China's two coffee-producing regions, both containing subtropical areas within their borders. Newzhai's climate is not subtropical but rather a terrace valley frontier, with dry and hot monsoon winds blowing from the Nu River valley. This makes Newzhai, at latitude 25 degrees, China's northernmost coffee-growing village. With sloped land at altitudes of 900-1,200 meters, Newzhai is also one of the highest coffee-growing areas in China and even the world. The high altitude causes coffee to grow more slowly but also prevents destructive coffee rust disease. Newzhai cultivates Arabica coffee beans.

For years, Newzhai Village has been selling Yunnan small-bean coffee directly to consumers. Unlike neighboring villages that supply large brands like "Starbucks" and "Nestlé" individually, Newzhai aims to maintain its own brand, aspiring to grow the finest coffee in China and even the world.

This confidence stems from Newzhai's proximity to the Gaoligong Mountains. The north-south mountain range, reaching 5,000 meters in height and stretching 600 kilometers, provides essential ecological services for the coffee plantations. An 11-kilometer-long canal supplies high-quality, sustainable water for irrigation. Although droughts are frequent in this region of China, the people of Newzhai have never seen the mountain water dry up.

Coffee cultivation has been steadily changing the village economy. Mr. Xie Xianwen of Newzhai, later the founder of the Newzhai Village Coffee Cooperative, traveled to Kunming and drank a cup of coffee in a café for 35 yuan. At that time, this amount could buy a meal for a family of five. Xie returned to his village and suggested to his mother to convert her land to coffee cultivation. Today, most of Newzhai's 500 families grow coffee. The cooperative has signed cooperation agreements with travel groups, hoping to promote the coffee industry through professional tourism, where customers can visit the village and experience coffee culture firsthand.

FrontStreet Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee is a roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse selection of beans, offering both famous and lesser-known varieties. They also provide online services at https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473