Farm information

Ou Yang farm is named after the owner himself, Mr Ou, and is located in Jiangcheng Hani and Yi Autonomous County of Southern Yunnan, right by China’s border with Vietnam and Laos. Ou Yang farm is spread over 78 hectares – of a size to provide meaningful employment to the diverse ethnic groups within the local area. Mr Ou is passionate about coffee and the communities engaged in its cultivation and processing. He sees coffee farming and the prices he can access by producing high-quality beans as a way for him to help lift the members of the local hill tribes he works with out of poverty.

By working on pruning techniques, fertiliser schedules and processing techniques at an agricultural level, as well as technical improvements and market access strategies on the management side, Ou Yang has a vision and commitment to create a sustainable coffee industry for his community.

Processing information

Mr Ou has successfully developed his own processing techniques, experimenting with fermentation, drying stages and timings. Cherries are hand-picked and then bagged for 2-3 days accelerating the chemical reactions that help breakdown the mucilage, before being spread out to dry in the sun. At 40 % moisture the coffees are then bagged again for another 4-5 days.

After the second fermentation, the coffee is spread out onto raised drying beds in a parabolic dryer for another 28 days. This technique is known as a ‘double-fermentation’ and requires very careful monitoring given the high risks of over fermentation and mould.