Rinaldo's Coffee: China, Banka, Yunnan Coffee Traders, Natural

Banka farm and washing station is based in Menglian Dai, Lahu and Va Autonomous County, Yunnan and is named after the two nearby villages (Banka Yi and Banka Er) where the coffee cherry for these lots is grown and harvested. Cherry processed at Banka washing station is also grown at the nearby village of Aqi Badu as well as within the farm itself.

Banka farm and washing station was originally developed by Mr. Hu, a native of Yunnan, who has been producing coffee in Menglian for almost 20 years. He was one of the first farmers to engage in large scale coffee production in the county, working in partnership with the local government. Mr. Hu is held in high esteem within the local area, employing hundreds of harvesters from various ethnic groups across his farms each year.

In 2018, Yunnan Coffee Traders (YCT) took over the management of the Banka wet mill and a portion of the Banka farm, some 100 hectares of land, installing one of the region’s first optical sorters, experimenting with processing methods such as yeast fermentation and growing new varieties such as Pacamara and Yellow Bourbon. Banka farm produces both the company’s volume washed specialty lots, much of which is sold to Australia, as well as natural and honey process micro lots.

For this particular coffee, the cherries are run through an optical colour sorter, and then fermented for two days. During the drying process, the cherries are put inside of a solar dryer on raised beds for roughly 20 days. Once the cherries are dried, they are bagged and taken to the dry milled in Pu’er city for hulling at a high-end mill.