As early as more than 70 years ago, Hainanese people achieved "coffee freedom"?

People who come to Hainan, in addition to enjoying the sunshine, beaches, sea, and the various conveniences brought by the free trade port, must have heard of or experienced the coffee here. The earliest and most famous Hainan coffee is "Xinglong Coffee". Xinglong Coffee has long been famous at home and abroad for its unique overseas Chinese complex, leadership sentiment, and rich aroma.

1. Coffee Overview

Coffee belongs to the Rubiaceae family, an evergreen shrub plant of the genus Coffea. It originates from tropical to subtropical regions in Africa and is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions such as Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. The world's coffee planting area is about 200 million mu, with an annual output of about 8.5 million tons. The main producing countries are Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, India, Peru, Honduras, Ethiopia, Mexico, Guatemala, etc.; the world's annual consumption is about 8.95 million tons, and the main consuming countries are the United States, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, Indonesia, Russia, Canada, Spain, the Philippines, the Republic of Congo, Mexico, Ethiopia, Algeria, India, Poland, South Korea, Switzerland, Australia, etc.

2. The role of coffee

Modern medical research points out that coffee beans contain carbohydrates, proteins, fats, nicotinic acid, potassium, crude fiber, water and other nutrients. Coffee has the effects of anti-oxidation, anti-aging, accelerating metabolism, aiding digestion, refreshing, and improving attention. It can improve alertness, promote metabolic function, activate digestive organs, and diuresis. In addition, coffee also has the effects of weight loss and hangover relief. Studies have shown that drinking coffee has the following benefits:

(1) Drinking 2-3 cups of coffee a day can reduce the overall mortality rate. An article shows that people who drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day have a lower overall mortality rate due to various causes than those who do not drink coffee, which is about 10%-15% lower.

(2) Drinking coffee has an antioxidant effect. Coffee beans are rich in antioxidant polyphenols, which can inhibit inflammation in the human body and improve blood vessel function, and have a certain effect on preventing cardiovascular disease and cancer.

(3) Coffee can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. The increase in obesity and lack of exercise have greatly increased the incidence of diabetes. Studies have shown that drinking coffee can reduce the risk of diabetes.

(4) Drinking coffee can help people stay awake and invigorate their spirits. Many white-collar workers drink a cup of coffee before work, which can relieve fatigue, improve work efficiency, and enhance concentration. This is because caffeine has a central nervous system stimulating effect.

(5) Another function of coffee is to sober you up. People tend to get a headache after drinking because their bodies contain acetaldehyde. To do this, it is necessary to reduce the acetaldehyde content in the blood. Caffeine can not only improve blood circulation, but also has a diuretic effect, which can excrete the acetaldehyde that causes hangovers through urine.

(6) Caffeine has the function of strengthening the human nervous system. Drinking coffee can enhance a person’s motor function and reduce the risk of diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

3. Development history of Xinglong coffee industry

In 1884, British merchants introduced coffee from the Philippines and planted China's first coffee tree in Taiwan. 14 years later, in 1898, Kuang Shilian, a Chinese from Malaya, took a sailing ship and brought back a small bag of coffee seeds. He planted the first coffee tree in Hainan (large-grain coffee) in his yard in Shirenpo Village, Wencheng Town, Wenchang City, opening the history of coffee cultivation in Hainan. In 1904 (the 30th year of Emperor Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty), French missionaries introduced small-grain coffee in Zhukula Village, Pingchuan Town, Binchuan County, Yunnan Province, opening the history of coffee cultivation in Yunnan.

In 1935, Chen Xianzhang, a Chinese from Taishan, Guangdong, introduced the robusta coffee from Java and cultivated it near Fushan, Chengmai, which started the history of growing robusta coffee on Hainan Island.

In the early 1950s, a group of refugees returning from Southeast Asia were settled in Xinglong Overseas Chinese Farm. In 1952, in order to meet the daily coffee drinking habits they had developed abroad, the returned overseas Chinese began to plant medium-grain coffee on a large scale in Xinglong Overseas Chinese Farm. In 1953, Xinglong Overseas Chinese Farm (Sun River) Coffee Factory was established to produce Xinglong coffee, completing the complete industrial chain of Xinglong coffee from planting to processing and production. This enabled the people here to enjoy the infinite fun that coffee brings to people's lives very early.

4. Processing of Xinglong Coffee

4.1 Processing of fresh coffee fruit

Xinglong coffee belongs to the medium-grain coffee variety. The processing of its fresh berries is generally simple, and most of the time it is done by direct drying. However, in order to ensure the quality, the fresh berries must be picked when they are completely red, so the labor intensity of fresh berries picking is relatively high.

4.2 Roasting of Xinglong Coffee

Green coffee - cleaning and screening - roasting - stir-frying - adding auxiliary materials (sugar and butter, etc.) or not - stir-frying - cooling - grinding - packaging - inspection

The key technology of Xinglong coffee roasting is to add sugar, butter and other auxiliary materials during the roasting process, that is, when the roasting temperature of peeled coffee beans reaches about 180-200 degrees, after most of the coffee beans burst, add the auxiliary materials and stir-fry quickly, so that the auxiliary materials melt and soak into the cracked coffee beans, and produce a series of thermal reactions with them, and produce various unique aroma substances. Then it is quickly cooled, and the cracked coffee beans close to seal the auxiliary materials into the beans. After 24 hours, it is ground and brewed.

5. Drinking Xinglong Coffee

5.1 Chemical reactions during coffee roasting

Green coffee beans have no aroma, but they can emit a fragrant smell after roasting. Under high temperature, the compounds in coffee beans undergo chemical changes, degradation and synthesis occur simultaneously, and the pyrolysis products include: caramelized sugar, carbohydrates, acetic acid and its homologues, aldehydes, ketones, furfural, esters, fatty acids, amines, carbon dioxide, sulfates, etc. All of these ingredients contribute to the formation of coffee flavor. At present, more than 800 volatile components of coffee have been confirmed, most of which are oxygen-containing, nitrogen-containing or sulfur-containing heterocyclic compounds, such as furans, thiophenes, pyrazines, pyrroles and pyridines, as well as some terpenes, carbonyl and phenolic compounds.

5.2 Characteristics of medium-grain coffee: Medium-grain coffee generally has a bitter taste due to its high soluble solids and caffeine content and few volatile flavor substances. During the roasting process, auxiliary materials such as sugar and butter must be added after the coffee beans are cracked. Under high temperature conditions, the auxiliary materials caramelize and react with the coffee beans (Maillard reaction) to produce rich flavor substances. Therefore, its taste is mainly caramel flavor. This caramel flavor becomes purer as the storage time increases. Since this caramel flavor is mainly soluble, it can be well presented when the temperature is high when it is just brewed.

5.3 Drinking Xinglong Coffee

The main characteristic of drinking Xinglong coffee is to taste its caramelized aroma. Due to its strong bitterness, the coffee grounds should be filtered out as soon as possible after brewing, and it is better to drink it while it is hot. You can drink original coffee (without any additives), add sugar, add milk (preferably caramelized condensed milk), or add condensed milk and then add 2-3 drops of foreign liquor (preferably brandy) to experience the unique flavor of fine wine + coffee.

6. Current status of Xinglong Coffee

After the production of Xinglong coffee, it was highly praised by the old generation of national leaders who had studied in France, such as Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, etc. According to incomplete statistics, more than 60 party and state leaders such as Xi Jinping, Ye Jianying, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, etc. have visited Xinglong for inspection and guidance, and affirmed that Xinglong coffee serves people's needs for a better life.

Although Xinglong is only a small place in Hainan, with a permanent population of about 50,000, coffee shops are the most common on the streets of Xinglong Town. It can be said that wherever there are people, there must be a coffee shop and coffee to drink. As early as more than 70 years ago, people here regarded drinking a cup of fragrant and delicious coffee every day as an indispensable part of their daily lives. According to incomplete statistics, there are now dozens of coffee shops in Xinglong Town. Men, women, young and old here regard coffee shops as a good place to entertain relatives and friends and make friends for leisure. The most common phrase people say is "I'll treat you to coffee."

Driven by Xinglong coffee, Hainan's coffee planting area reached 250,000 acres in the 1980s and 1990s. After 2000, driven by Hainan's tourism industry, Xinglong coffee sales industry developed rapidly, creating brands such as Xingke Coffee, Xinglong Coffee (a geographical indication product recognized by China and Europe), Fushan Coffee, Chunguang Coffee, and Nanguo Coffee.

After entering the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port, Xinglong's coffee industry has developed rapidly. At present, dozens of domestic coffee companies of all sizes have settled in Xinglong. The most famous one is Charoen Pokphand Group, which has settled in Xinglong and built a brand new Xinglong Coffee Industrial Park facing the world based on Xinglong's old brand coffee - Sun River Coffee.