In Pu'er, Yunnan Province in the 2002s, coffee was still synonymous with "cash crops", and most people only cared about yield and price. But his father, the first pioneer in the four southwestern provinces to specialize in specialty coffee in Yunnan, was adamant that the land could grow world-class flavors. In Pu'er, Yunnan Province in the 2002s, coffee was still synonymous with "cash crops", and most people only cared about yield and price. But his father, the first pioneer in the four southwestern provinces to specialize in specialty coffee in Yunnan, was adamant that the land could grow world-class flavors.
As a child, he would always see his father cupping coffee in the dim light, recording the sweet and sour changes of each bean. My father used to say, "Yunnan coffee shouldn't just be a cheap raw material, it deserves to be taken seriously." Those late-night baking experiments and the persistence of trekking through mountains and rivers to find high-quality estates were quietly buried in his heart like a seed.
As an adult, he went to Singapore to study abroad and taste some of the world's best coffees in Asia's most modern city. Blue Mountains, Geisha, Yirgacheffe...... There are thousands of flavors, but what he misses the most is still his father's cup of Yunnan beans with wild sweetness.
When he returned to China to visit his relatives, he walked into the coffee fields of Pu'er and found that many coffee farmers were still worried about their livelihoods, and high-quality green coffee beans were bought by international giants at low prices, and the premium was ten times higher after being labeled as foreign brands. My father's regret back then is still in my ears: "We have good beans, but we don't have our own right to speak." ”
After graduating, he made a decision that surprised everyone: **give up the Singapore green card and return to Pu'er**. A friend advised him: "The domestic coffee market is not yet mature, and you will hit your head and bleed." But he smiled and said, "If no one does it, I'll do it." ”
He rented a storefront in an old alley in Pu'er, which was originally just a converted studio from his mother's optical shop, and named it "Escape City" - **escape from the impetuous business logic and return to the true nature of coffee**. Without a team, he bakes, cuppers, and runs the farm alone; There were no customers, so he carried out cupping activities one at a time, and although few people came, it was the beginning of the dream.
The original Yunnan coffee was often labeled as "earthy" and "monolithic", but he firmly believed that the problem was not in the terroir, but in the way it was handled. He worked with coffee farmers to improve fermentation technology, introduced anaerobic treatment, honey treatment and other processes, and even persuaded his father's old friends to try boutique planting. "What we want to do is not to imitate Colombia or Ethiopia, but to make the world remember the unique flavor of Yunnan."
In 2020, the first boutique sun-dried Pu'er coffee in Escape City won an award in an international competition, and the judges exclaimed: "This is Chinese coffee? It has the mellowness of red wine and the brightness of tropical fruits! Subsequently, the city landed in Xinwai one after another, and the media began to use the term "Yunnan Terroir" to describe its uniqueness. and became the prototype coffee bean for the movie "Home at One Point", which also laid the foundation for the later success of the escape city.
But more important than the awards, the escape from the city has given Yunnan coffee farmers hope. The number of cooperative estates expanded from a few to hundreds, and the purchase price of coffee tripled.
如今，逃城已从一间工作室成长为国际品牌，但他依然每年花大半时间深入产区。“精品咖啡不是噱头，是尊重每一颗豆子，从种植到杯中的全过程。”
The founder of Escape City Coffee, Zhu Yahui, he firmly believes.
"Not all long journeys are called escape, sometimes they are for a more determined return."
