FEATURE: Yilan’s indigenous coffee flavors earn appreciationBy Wang Chun-chi and Esme Yeh / Staff reportersTaiwan’s first indigenous coffee exchange platform has been set up in Yilan County to promote distinctively flavored indigenous coffee, with the goal of making indigenous coffee beans a premium on the global market. The coffee trees cultivated by Hsu have big fruit with small coffee beans, with the beans possessing a unique flavor, he said. The university also launched training programs for coffee farmers in collaboration with the industry to help build an indigenous coffee industrial chain and continue to make indigenous coffee a premium product. He and his wife co-founded Lighten Cafe and visited many indigenous coffee farmers around Taiwan — including among the Paiwan, Bunun, Atayal and Amis people — to help promote and market their indigenous coffee, he said. The visibility of indigenous coffee remains to be seen in the local market, which is dominated by imported coffee beans, Hsia said.

Source: Taipei Times March 07, 2026 17:12 UTC