What is the story behind Grandpa's coffee beans?

Reporting/Writing: Chen Chia-hsun.Photography/Editing: Chen Chih-chang

Editor's note: This article is the transcript of the Public Television Service program "Our Island" segment [Grandpa's Coffee], and the video will premiere on 01/06 (Mon) at 22:00, with a rerun on 01/11 (Sat) at 11:00. Please remember to watch.

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An alcohol lamp burns beneath a siphon coffee maker. The water in the lower chamber is heated and, under pressure, rises into the upper glass tube. Chen Hsien-hsiu, in his seventies, watches the clock, pours coffee grounds into the hot water in the upper chamber, and gently presses and stirs the grounds with a stirring rod. One minute is up! He moves the alcohol lamp away, picks up a cloth to wrap around the lower glass chamber to cool it down, and the coffee in the upper chamber slowly flows back down. Sitting on a chair and leisurely savoring his coffee, Chen Hsien-hsiu still wears farming arm sleeves on his arms. The image of "an old farmer and coffee" feels a little incongruous, yet it also seems perfectly natural, because Grandpa Hsiu is a pineapple farmer and also a coffee farmer.

Chen Hsien-hsiu lives in Sanxing Village in Minxiong, Chiayi, right next to National Chung Cheng University. The Shuntai grocery store, passed down through three generations, is now run by his daughter-in-law. The grocery store not only sells everyday household goods for residents, but also dried bamboo shoots consigned by neighbors, pineapples grown by the family, and Grandpa's coffee beans.

Asked why Grandpa Hsiu grows coffee, he gave a simple answer: "I love drinking coffee, and I feel safer drinking coffee I grow myself." Who would grow coffee just to drink coffee? Especially a grandpa in his seventies.

Grandpa Hsiu, Who Loves Coffee

Our Island [Grandpa's Coffee]
01/06 (Mon) 22:00 Premiere
01/11 (Sat) 11:00 Rerun
For more program content, please see
Our Island official websitehttp://ourisland.pts.org.tw
Our Island video centerhttp://www.youtube.com/user/ourislandTAIWAN
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