How Gukeng came back
A coffee belt that collapsed twice, and the families who planted a third time.
Two collapses
The first came with the end of colonial demand; the second with a price crash in the 1980s that pushed most families into betel palm.
What survived was knowledge and a few hundred trees kept for home use, which turned out to be the seed stock for the revival.
A festival can put a name on a map. Only sorting keeps it there.
What changed in the 2000s
Two things: a county-level marketing push that put the name on a festival, and a generation that came back from Taipei with a different idea of quality.
The festival brought visitors. The sorting brought prices. Only one of those lasted.
Disclosure: this article contains no affiliate links. Prices and dates checked in October 2026. Our methodology.