About the Coffee
The Red Process - Red Wine Process is a fermentation-driven coffee processing method inspired by the principles of red wine production. Despite the name, no wine or alcohol is added to the coffee. Instead, the process creates a controlled fermentation environment designed to encourage the development of ripe fruit, wine-like and complex fermented flavours.
Only fully ripe, high-sugar coffee cherries are selected. The whole cherries are placed into fermentation tanks, where the process may begin with a short aerobic stage before moving into a sealed, low-oxygen environment. Fermentation is carefully controlled at relatively low temperatures, typically around 15–20°C, and may continue for 72 hours or longer.
After fermentation, the cherries remain intact with their skin and fruit flesh and are slowly dried on raised beds or patios. They are turned regularly to ensure even drying until the moisture content reaches approximately 12%. The dried cherries are then rested for at least one month before hulling, allowing moisture and water activity within the green coffee to stabilise.
When well executed, the Red Process can produce a rich and layered cup profile with notes reminiscent of red wine, ripe berries, dark chocolate and tropical fruit, accompanied by a fuller body, rounded acidity and a long, sweet finish. The fermentation character should remain clean and integrated, enhancing the coffee’s fruit sweetness rather than overpowering its underlying character.
As a result, the Red Process can produce a rich and layered cup profile with notes reminiscent of red wine, ripe berries, dark chocolate and tropical fruit, accompanied by a fuller body, rounded acidity and a long, sweet finish.
About
Tianyu Estate
The road to Tianyu Coffee Estate in Menglian, Yunnan, bends through the southwest until the mountains seem to hold the sky above them. For one visitor, the relationship began years earlier with a cup of Tianyu sun-dried Catimor: papaya-like tropical sweetness, green-citrus fragrance and the warm, elegant feeling of Yunnan itself. Only later did the road lead to the estate, through one bend after another, to the place behind that first impression.
Tianyu did not appear overnight. Public stories describe an estate shaped through more than a decade of persistence, gradually turning a remote origin into a dependable source of specialty coffee. Its production is now organised and standardised, but the sense of discovery has not been lost. The farm still feels connected to the mountain road, the changing weather and the people who know each harvest by sight and smell.
At the centre of Tianyu is Pingjie, a Wa woman whose work has grown into more than a farm. Visitors describe her as sincere, kind, resilient and quietly shy, with a visible brightness whenever coffee enters the conversation. She is remembered not for grand declarations but for an everyday generosity: receiving guests, explaining the lots and staying close to the work. Her belief seems simple—that good coffee is made through care for people, patience with the crop and respect for the place that gives it life.
Tianyu’s development has been a movement from a single memorable lot toward a wider understanding of Menglian. At one recent cupping, 29 lots were presented, including Wa-style fermented Catimor, washed Sarchimor, natural Geisha and honey-processed Yellow Bourbon, alongside other estate selections. Each lot offered another way of listening to the same mountain, showing how variety and process can alter the voice of an origin.
Tianyu now holds two ambitions together: the discipline needed to produce reliably, and the curiosity needed to keep discovering. Its next chapter will be written in new harvests, new processes and the conversations that happen when farmers, roasters and visitors sit down around a table. In Tianyu, scale is a way to let more people meet Menglian through the cup.
