Présentation détaillée
(Note: On April 18, 2025, Sting passed away. This record is kept as a tribute to him. He was a special person and will be long remembered by many.) His Wuliang Mountain coffee beans continue to be operated by his son Jiahao and are still available for purchase.
Sting was a unique presence in Dali. Although the friends around him were all kinds of extraordinary people, they all respected him. He was a free and self-determined person. My interactions with him were limited to over a decade ago, when I played soccer with the Bird Bar friends and met him a few times. Later, I saw him many times when I went to eat at his salmon restaurant in Sanwenbi. Watching him work, smoke, and observing his decorations, tableware, and ashtrays. Then, reading the article below about his coffee tools, I was quite moved. A person's understanding of things is all in these simple details, striking the heart.
Because my understanding of him is limited, I found these excellent articles to present Sting and his coffee.
His coffee beans are very simple, three categories, 250g package at 55 yuan:
10 (light roast fruity)
20 (medium roast aromatic)
30 (dark roast extra strong)
If you want to try a coffee that a person started growing and roasting before coffee became a trend, please get a pack. To purchase, add his WeChat: Sting-1122
His and his friend's Japanese-style salmon restaurant will also reopen soon, at a new location under Wuwei Temple.
Reprinted from public account: Luye Travel, Author: Qiyue Shang
February 3, 2018
In an Old Courtyard in Dali, Have a Cup of Brown Sugar Ginger Coffee
If coffee beans had a choice,
They would probably wish to become Sting's beans,
To be grown with care, roasted patiently, and brewed freely.
01
On the third day in Dali, the old driver said he would take us to a place where coffee beans are roasted. He said Sting had worked in Japanese cuisine for 20 years in Japan, then came back to grow coffee beans and roast them, a very interesting person. So we twisted and turned to reach an old courtyard that I would never be able to find again on my own.
When we caught Sting, he was still sunbathing in the small garden behind the house. He asked if we wanted coffee. Of course, we were there to freeload coffee.
Sting showed us his beans. Next to them was a map with a place called Wuliang Mountain circled, and he said these beans were grown there. It was like knowing someone's hometown; the beans suddenly felt very familiar.
02
Sting brewed coffee for us, apologetically saying whether we would mind such ordinary utensils.
Well, such rustic coffee tools. Having lived in the city for a long time, I've seen and used many beautiful utensils. Coffee served in beautiful utensils often seems to taste better. But in this courtyard, where vegetables were grown, clothes were drying, and people were repairing shoes and kicking shuttlecocks, these things didn't seem to matter.
We chatted casually. Sting said the first cup was stronger, usually you can add some brown sugar and milk, and the later cups were not as strong, so you don't need to add anything. Then he said you can also put brown sugar and ginger, then pour coffee in; the ginger should be peeled. It's good to drink like this in winter. You can also pair coffee with thinly sliced lemon to taste the contrast between lemon's sourness and coffee. Oh, so coffee can be drunk like this! We chatted unhurriedly, drinking freshly ground small-grain coffee, just like Yunnan's beautiful weather.
Well, we've had many cappuccinos and lattes. But for the first time, in a simple courtyard, using such rustic utensils, listening to a craftsman who had done 20 years of Japanese cuisine and then grown coffee beans for 7 years talk about the collision of different ingredients, it felt like the coffee beans were dancing, with more extensibility and possibilities.
03
Ah, yes, I brought back the skills Sting taught. Now in the Luye Creative Space, we also have Wuliang Mountain coffee, lemon coffee, brown sugar ginger coffee. And more possibilities. I will continue to pester Sting and keep trying curiously.
A Spoonful of Light | Vol. 02 Wuliang Mountain Coffee (Yunnan Small-Grain Coffee)
Address: Dali, Yunnan... in a glowing house
Character: Hippie Chef, Coffee Farmer
Reprinted from public account:
illusion
August 15, 2015
When I first met Sting, I felt he was too cool. First, I was enveloped by his warm hippie big brother aura, then conquered by the various delicacies he cooked himself.
From a culinary master to a coffee farmer, Sting has settled in Dali for four years. Initially, he liked drinking coffee, then later, with a group of friends like Jiaju, he drove south to find the most aromatic coffee beans. Through continuous visiting and tasting, he finally found the most satisfying flavor in a village north of Wuliang Mountain.
Wuliang Mountain is located in the transition zone between the mid-subtropical and south-subtropical zones west of Jingdong County, Pu'er City, at an altitude of 3306 meters. With small temperature differences throughout the year, abundant rainfall, complex natural environmental conditions, and a unique vertical climate, it is very suitable for growing Arabica coffee beans. Here, we cooperate with several local farmers who grow at high altitudes with good quality, using no chemical fertilizers or pesticides, only farmyard manure, allowing the coffee trees to grow healthily in the most natural state. Every October, the first batch of coffee cherries begins to ripen, until March of the following year when the last batch ripens. To ensure stable quality and taste, from the moment the coffee cherries are picked, everyone personally handles each process, unlike other coffee brands that directly buy processed beans from growers.
Fresh coffee cherries need to be dried for at least 40 days. Through the sun and wind's repeated warming and drying, the husk can be peeled off to obtain the coffee beans. The green beans then go through several processes including manual sorting, grading, and roasting before they end up in our cups.
Many hands make light work. Sting, Jiaju, and friends created their own brand for Yunnan's local coffee beans. They classified them into 10, 20, and 30 based on roast degree and created a custom blend. They use two types of packaging suitable for stores and homes. The logo and pattern stamp were designed and carved by Xiaomi (Bald). Everyone packs by hand, everything natural and simple, yet quite fly.
Today, Wuliang Mountain coffee beans supply several shops in Dali old town and across Erhai Lake, and have also entered cafes in other cities, loved by many coffee enthusiasts. Throughout this process, there is both the gift of nature's sun, rain, wind, and thunder, and the hard work of farmers and the support of friends. It is surely the sweetest bitterness in the world.
In recent years, Sting gets up every morning to water the vegetable garden, tend to the plants, then starts roasting coffee beans, sorting beans, packaging, and then rides his motorcycle for a spin, delivering coffee beans to friends.
He says that now, compared to cooking, he increasingly loves the life of a farmer because farming is so fun. In his garden, he grows various organic vegetables for salads, cherry tomatoes, fennel, sour papaya, pomegranates, etc., and has started supplying a few small shops in the old town for vegetable salads. Whenever friends visit, Sting and Jiaju first take them to the garden to stroll, eat freshly picked fruits, and see the vibrant crops, chatting about farming, daily life, and nature.
Hardworking people who depend on heaven for food will always be favored by nature.
Thank you to the "hermits."
Photo: Si Si
Text: Meng Qi
Driver: Su Yang
Excerpted from public account: We Are Happy on the Road, Author: Lai Min
February 13, 2021
Happiness on the Road 12
"After that, she (Wang Dan) took me around Dali old town, eating all the snacks, looking at the unique screen walls and courtyards in the villages, and took me to braid special Dali little braids. She also introduced me to another former city dweller who had retired to Dali—Sting, a Hong Kong coffee master, who had been a Japanese cuisine chef for over a decade. The cool Uncle Sting, with long hair and black-rimmed glasses, I saw coffee beans with their skins for the first time at his place. They were grown by them on Wuliang Mountain. Sting is a particularly dashing man. What is most enviable about him is that he is unrestrained, doing whatever he wants. He likes this life, so he lives this way. That is a kind of freedom, and it is this freedom that gives him his effortless dashing temperament. I asked him, 'Can you teach me to make coffee?' He immediately said, 'Sure, I'll teach you to make a particularly delicious coffee.' He taught me step by step how to grind the beans into powder, how to boil water, how to brew. He said simple hand-poured coffee is very good, but the technique is important. I also helped him pack the coffee beans, and couldn't resist stealing a bean during the process. Sting was surprised and asked, 'Don't you think it's bitter?' I said, 'It's okay, I can taste the flavor.' He was so generous that he gave me a big bag of coffee beans. I was overjoyed and kept thanking him. When I left, Uncle Sting said to me, 'The world is so big, you have to go see it, don't care what others say.' I nodded. These words really spoke to my heart. Old Ding and I are going to see how big the world really is."