Taiwan Today
Date: March 10, 2016
Taiwan’s thriving coffee culture is set to take on an added dimension courtesy
World coffee roasting champion Jacky Lai meticulously monitors temperature and timing en route to producing another mouthwatering batch of his beloved Ethiopian beans. (Courtesy of Jacky Lai)
of the revolutionary approach by world coffee roasting champion Jacky Lai.
Born 1980 in Yilan County, northeastern Taiwan, Lai was introduced to the world of coffee while working part-time at a cafe on the other side of the island in Yunlin County’s Gukeng Township, which boasts the country’s largest coffee plantations like Huashan.
But it was further south in Kaohsiung that Lai started his own business. He said the port city’s entrepreneur-friendly environment proved an irresistible lure.
“I opened my first shop, which combines fresh roasting and barista coffee, in 2011 after a fact-finding trip to the U.S.,” Lai said. “It represented the culmination of years spent working at the coffee coalface, and Kaohsiung’s nascent coffee scene proved a fertile ground for daring tastes and business innovation.”
Surfing the third wave of artisanal coffee, his little shop quickly developed into a popular national chain. Emboldened by such success, Lai’s next step was to conquer the coffee world. [FULL STORY]
