How long have you been in coffee?
I have been working in coffee since I graduated from college, it's been 10 years from now.
Which countries have you taught in?
I started my training experience by translating coffee courses since 2016, I used to translate for Samuel, Marty, Manuel, etc., mostly in China. I started to teach SCA course in 2017, mainly in China, and also, I taught some course in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia. I have my own lab in Kunming city in Yunnan now, which is the biggest city in Chinese coffee origin.
What's your favorite coffee origin?
I started my coffee career in Pu'er, which is the biggest coffee origin in China. But I also had chance go to some other origins in Asia and South America, such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia. and Panama. But Pu'er is always my favorite origin, I really enjoyed working with local farmers, helping them improve the quality of Chinese coffee, and for sure I also learned a lot from these farmers.
What do you think are the benefits of taking the Q?
For my own career, taking Q course was the moment that I certainly sure that I will work in coffee for a very long time in my life. Q course opened my coffee sense, make me aware of what coffee quality evaluation should be like. For people who work in coffee such as farmers, traders, roasters or QC, the knowledge and skills in Q are more useful. There is a lot of drama going on in today’s coffee industry, people have power or money they are trying to tell customers what coffee is good or bad, but these people are more focused on selling more coffee, they are just a small part of coffee industry, they did not improve farmers life by selling more coffee to customers. So, we need more Q s in this industry to really improve the coffee quality and most of the coffee people’s life, not just a small group.
What languages do you speak?
I was born in China, so I can speak Chinese. And I studied English major in college. Basically, I can teach in both Chinese and English.
What other activities do you do in the coffee industry?
Except training, I have one coffee brand called Pcup Coffee base in Kunming, it's becoming a good specialty coffee brand in Yunnan. Pcup has coffee shops and roastery, we sell coffee beans both online and offline in whole China. And I also will judge some coffee competitions here in China.
