" Amber Coffee Estate" is located in Bihu Village of Meishan Township in Chiayi County. Amber Coffee Estate has a panorama view of Jade Mountain covered with white snow. The owner, Chen Ho-Te, shares a story of the name of "Amber Coffee Estate." Five generations of his family have lived here and grown lots of agricultural products. The most famous products are coffee, tea, camellia oil, and honey. All products have one thing in common; that is all of them are liquid with amber color. He expects all members of Amber Coffee Estate to work together and make the estate more prosperous.
Currently, "Amber Coffee Estate" spend all the efforts to growing coffee. The beginning of growing coffee was quite accidental. A few years ago, Chen’s father was seriously ill. As the eldest son, Chen had to return to his parent’s home and take care of the whole family. At that time, his parent made a living by growing tea. However, the size of the tea plantation couldn't be expanded any further; therefore, he tried to use one empty space which was quite steep to grow coffee. As coffee cultivation became more and more successful, the area for growing coffee also became larger and larger.
According to Chen, both coffee and tea rely on sensory evaluation. However, when evaluating tea, there is no standardized process; on the contrary, there is a standard evaluation method and cupping protocol for coffee. Consequently, when growing coffee, he knows a clear direction to learn more. He interacts with his peers and participates in lectures and takes lessons. Current goal of Amber Coffee Estate is to purify the seedlings. For example, he wants to purify Geisha. He took his coffee cherries to do a genetical test. After they were confirmed as problem-free, he used it to grow good quality Geisha seedlings. Thus, no resources were wasted. He does sensory evaluation to examine coffee flavor on a regular basis. Then he considers and adjusts the content of field management according to the changes in flavor and taste.
According to Chen, Taiwanese coffee cultivation has been improved dramatically in recent years. He believes that one of the characteristics that makes Taiwanese coffee different from the others in the global market is its "tea-like taste." Taiwan is the only origin where tea was prominently cultivated before coffee. This tea-like taste may be unique in the world. The expectation that Chen set for "Amber Coffee Estate" is to participate in the competition and continue to win good awards. This time, he also brings natural coffee to participate in the competition. In the future, he hopes to provide gourmets who love Taiwan specialty coffee with his carefully selected SL-34.
