http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEcGmePjXL4&feature=channel
Tainan’s 175 Coffee Road opens. Local specialty coffee along with the local green tangerines.
…we got surfin’ too…
…cue up some Randy Newman
Its nice to see this…however…the combination of those bitter green “oranges” and fresh brewed coffee is an assault on ones taste buds.
Now you tell me as I sit down to breakfast. 
Tommy, what do you mean opens? It’s been open for a long time. Lovely road for cycling or just an afternoon drive. Start or end at Guanziling for hot springs.
MM -
Taste is so subjective.
I was just commenting on the ‘bitter’ flavor I find in most, not all, of the green oranges here.
Now the sweet juicy flavor of the ‘regular’ oranges is quite nice with a cup of rich coffee (and why drink any other kind!)
Enjoy yr breakfast and the day.
Now you tell me as I sit down to breakfast.
Tommy, what do you mean opens? It’s been open for a long time. Lovely road for cycling or just an afternoon drive. Start or end at Guanziling for hot springs.[/quote]
I donno , I think the clip says the season is open or something? I donno. haa, should i go back and listen to the clip again?
“Green” oranges are ‘in season’ now.
Started showing up in quantity about the last 2 weeks. Prices have dropped.
Maybe thats the message.
Yeah thats it, plus that they got that new roadmap they unveiled. So how is the coffee over there? Are there nice cafes there and good coffee to be had? Is it Taiwans only coffee growing region? Coffee is a new thing to the rock far as i know , as far as being grown locally.
I donno , I think the clip says the season is open or something?[/quote]
Opening of this year’s Dongshan Coffee Festival.
And the green oranges are a variety of mandarin orange called the “poongan” (Citrus reticulata var. poonensis).
I can only speak for the Tainan area, but in the last 5 years coffee “appreciation” seems to have greatly increased.
There are several, maybe 5 or 6, gourmet coffee shops here. Selling green and roast beans as well as ground coffee from all over the world.
Quality, at this point, is high - prices very reasonable.
So far, its the kind of thing where those doing it are aficionados themselves. So that, IMO, is keeping it a real deal.
Appliances and implements are easily available for all levels of use,i.e. home, office and commercial.
Overall…Coffee is happening here!
I have no knowledge of Taiwan grown coffee. Maybe someone else who knows can offer some info.
Personally, I love the tangerines. But Taiwan coffee is dodgy, I am told. Aparently, it’s almost always blended with beans from elsewhere.
Some say that there was coffee grown when the Dutch were here but mostly it began under the Japanese. Didn’t seem to go anywhere and the industry was only revived after the 921 Earthquake. Gukeng was the first and still the most famous coffee growing area. They lucked out, as they started growing coffee just when the craze hit and today the area is one of the most prosperous rural communities.
I’ve been down the coffee road a few times. There should be some nice places but they would be off the main road. I wouldn’t go this time of year as the promotion will mean this quiet scenic country road is now a mess of traffic.
Gukeng has a lot of very lovely cafes up in the hills. Old houses that have been restored and places with big wood decks and killer views.
I was down in that area last CNY and stopped for a cup of coffee just to get out of the rain.
It cost me 200nt and was quite possibly the worst cup of coffee I have ever had in my life. It tasted like horse manure (or at least what I imagine horse manure to taste like)
I did go to this place in Miaoli (http://www.santend.com/) a few months after that and had some great coffee, though. I saw them roasting the coffee beans on-site, but I have no idea if I was drinking the same stuff.
Maybe not that far off. Horse are easier to work with than civets.
[quote=“Mugatu”]I was down in that area last CNY and stopped for a cup of coffee just to get out of the rain.
It cost me 200nt and was quite possibly the worst cup of coffee I have ever had in my life. It tasted like horse manure (or at least what I imagine horse manure to taste like)
I did go to this place in Miaoli (http://www.santend.com/) a few months after that and had some great coffee, though. I saw them roasting the coffee beans on-site, but I have no idea if I was drinking the same stuff.[/quote]
Did it make you feel bloated and flatulent? 
If the local beans produce unpalatable coffee to the general public, this industry should die or they should plant another varietal. I wouldnt be able to understand paying big money for lousy coffee.
Paying anything over 100nt for a cup of joe , it had better be real good.
One of my very fav coffee shop/restaurants (now closed) was on ChongShan N.Rd. called Ueshima. It had absolutely fine coffee at reasonable prices and the food was very manageable and inexpensive. Plus I could park my car right up on the curb there. There were 3 spaces right in front of the restaurant where you could do this if you were in the know and a regular.
The fact that it was right next door to the infamous “doctor wu” (house of bj) had no bearings on the choice of restaurant !
p.s. i returned to the rock last year for a very short visit and stopped by in tamshui’s old street and there was this very tiny hole in the wall cafe. I think it may have been called “95 cafe” (a take to the chain 85 cafe of course). Two cute girls (sisters I think) spent some time to describe some types of coffee to me, as the menu was indecipherable to one such as myself (it was in chinese) and took the time to grind up some beans and make it the old fashion way with a siphon. The coffee was delish but? 150nt ? Gads , back in the day circa 1999 these cups of coffee were about 65nt ish ! But it was good. The cute girls, the huge golden retriever blocking the entrance, the place, it all added up to a pleasant brief respite from walking around tamshui. Anyone of ya tried it?
I had a coffee recently flavored with Magau that wild lemony pepper spice. It tasted like Pinesol. Didn’t have the heart to tell the Taiya gentleman who sold me it.
That said, Magau makes for a wonderful lemony-spicy sauce for chicken breast.
hey maybe we can expand this thread a bit to include our coffee dives. Places we go that has coffee to our taste and we often frequent?
I took a short road trip a week ago and went along the coffee road quite by accident. As it was early in the day I stopped to try the beans at a few places. It was a little strange to be served a cup with a little thing of milk and sugar. Isn’t quality coffee supposed to be black? And the coffee really wasn’t bad at all, though it wasn’t jump-out-of-my-seat amazing either. I wouldn’t go out of my way to check it out but it wasn’t bad at all. The road itself is quite a beautiful ride in good weather too 