Hillside cafe wins viral fame as farmer becomes coffee "flame brewer"

KUNMING, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- On a winding hillside road near a suspension bridge in the Nujiang River Gorge in Mangkuan, a small township administered by Baoshan City in southwest China's Yunnan Province, an unassuming cafe draws passersby with its tantalizing aromas.

Behind a counter shaped like a stone mill, apron-clad Li Jinhe ignites a blowtorch beneath a siphon pot, gently stirring coffee grounds as the flame curls around the glass chamber. "I stayed up until the early hours again, grinding coffee," he said with a tired but warm smile.

Li, 53, born and raised in Mangkuan's Tangxi Village in the towering Gaoligong Mountains, has operated this roadside cafe for 14 years. Recently, he has gained newfound attention for his dramatic fire-brewing technique.

Li has been immersed in coffee culture since childhood. "As a kid, I helped adults tend to the coffee trees. Later, when I grew up, we carved flat plots out of the mountain slopes to interplant coffee with walnuts," he told Xinhua.

Despite fluctuating prices, the tradition of coffee cultivation has endured in his hometown for decades.

Though ripe coffee cherries taste sweet, early brewing methods often produced a bitterness that villagers found unpalatable. "No one understood coffee back then," Li recalled. "We simmered the grounds over an alcohol lamp, but the flavor dissipated during the long wait." When he first opened his cafe, Li hauled water by hand and offered free samples to passersby, hoping to cultivate an appreciation for the beverage among locals.

Locals have witnessed Li's unwavering dedication. "We've watched him grind away for years," said Shen Zixiang, a coffee grower with nearly three decades of experience. Now, Shen collaborates Li to sort specialty-grade beans and assist at the cafe, boosting her monthly income by about 3,000 yuan (approximately 424 U.S. dollars).

Baoshan's small-bean coffee has garnered global attention, and the farms dotting the Gaoligong Mountains have shed their status as hidden gems in a nation traditionally celebrated for tea, now caught up in a coffee frenzy.

China has emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing coffee markets, with consumption projected to exceed 1 trillion yuan by 2025 -- and Yunnan Province lies at the epicenter of this expansion.

In 2024, Yunnan cultivated 1.2 million mu (approximately 80,000 hectares) of coffee, yielding 150,000 tonnes, which accounted for over 98 percent of China's total output and cemented its position as the country's primary coffee production base.

As a pivotal hub of China's commercial coffee industry, Baoshan leads the province in both cultivation scale and output. With 150,000 mu under cultivation and an annual production of 24,000 tonnes, Baoshan holds the top spot in Yunnan for coffee production.

Coffee traders and brewers from across China eventually flocked to Baoshan, bringing modern brewing techniques, tasting methodologies, and fresh perspectives to the region. "From boiling grounds to mastering pour-over methods, I've come to understand how technique transforms flavor," Li said. Through meticulous experimentation with grind size and water-to-coffee ratios, he pioneered the use of a blowtorch to enhance extraction efficiency. "Every visitor brings unique insights. Staying curious and selective is key to continuous innovation," he added.

This year, the valley's "flame-brewed coffee" has taken the internet by storm for its originality, turning Li's cafe into a viral sensation.

Visitors queue for photos, while baristas from afar seek his expertise. Among them is Guo Shuai, a cafe owner from Benxi in northeast China's Liaoning Province, who traveled across the country solely to learn from Li. "I saw his method online and wanted to introduce something innovative to my customers back home," Guo said. Though he arrived unannounced, Li welcomed him wholeheartedly and shared his knowledge unreservedly.

Liu Sai, a tourist from Xi'an in northwest China, told Xinhua that the roadside cafe challenges the perception that coffee culture is confined to urban centers, demonstrating how the beverage has become a daily staple even in rural areas.

Li's coffee orchard is nestled deep in the Gaoligong Mountains, where fertile soil, ideal temperatures and abundant sunlight situate it within the global coffee-growing belt. During harvest season, Li still dons a straw hat and rides his three-wheeler into the mountains to handpick fresh beans.

"Mountain-grown coffee cannot build its brand if baristas hoard knowledge. This work requires collective effort," he said.