Yunnan Coffee tastes like sherry wine*
(For the title reference, see: http://www.doctorjazz.freeserve.co.uk/page17.html and see the paragraph right after the picture of Jelly Roll Morton).
One of my discoveries this trip is Yunnan Coffee, packaged by the Yunnan Coffee company (http://www.sinohost.com/yncoffee/) and sold in the large supermarkets in Beijing that sell exotic foreign goods like paper towels. They sell vacuum-packed bags of ground coffee; I’ve only gotten the espresso roast and made it in a French press coffee-maker, but it’s really good. To my taste, it’s better than the coffee beans you can buy from Starbucks (probably because it’s fresher), and about half the cost. I’ll have to get a picture of one of the bags, which are very attractive as well.
I was hoping to travel back to Yunnan province in June. Since I can’t do that, this will have to serve as vicarious tourism.