Coffee beans grown in the mist-shrouded Gaoligong Mountains of Yunnan province had already been named among the world's best — winning gold at an international competition in Belgium — before Ding Zhi, a coffee shop owner in Sichuan province, ever brewed them.

He just didn't know it yet.

In 2009, Ding spent two days traveling along remote mountain roads, going by train, bus and finally by tractor into the mountains. A customer had casually asked whether China produced coffee, and Ding realized he couldn't answer. So he went to Yunnan to find out.

What he discovered in those misty highlands would upend his life: acres of Typica coffee trees, whose flavorful beans had earned the Eureka Gold Medal at an international expo in Brussels 16 years earlier. Yet that achievement had faded from public memory, buried by the rise of Western coffee culture in China.

"I never would have known if I hadn't seen for myself," Ding said in an interview at his Yunnan estate. "This coffee needed a human story to truly spread."

His discovery launched Ding on a 17-year mission to revive forgotten beans and build what he calls "a cafe with Eastern soul".

His journey began in the aftermath of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, when he spent weeks conducting rescue operations after the magnitude 8.0 disaster struck Sichuan province, killing nearly 70,000 people and leaving another 18,000 unaccounted for. When orphaned children asked when he would return, the question stayed with him. He sold his car and property, moved to Chengdu and opened a tiny coffee stall named "Ding's Coffee" — which means "certainly" — to fulfill his commitment to the children.

After sampling Yunnan beans shared by a friend, Ding found their flavor matched the imported beans he had long been using. He priced his Yunnan coffee higher than foreign beans, betting customers would recognize its quality. But he had never seen the source until his 2009 trip.

In the Baoshan highlands, Ding found not just coffee trees, but a forgotten legacy. The Typica beans had beaten the world's best in Brussels, yet their achievement had been overshadowed by the dominance of Western coffee culture.

Ding is committed to selling only Yunnan coffee and eventually to controlling its quality from source to cup. In 2021, he established his own estate in Baoshan, adopting methods that drew mockery from locals. He left grass growing under the trees to preserve soil health and used clay pottery fermentation tanks instead of industrial methods, developing distinctive flavors through a process others considered impractical.

"They called me crazy," Ding said. "But if you want to revive something forgotten, you have to be willing to look foolish."

Alongside his coffee work, Ding pursued an ambitious philanthropic mission. Realizing that food runs out but books change lives, he has driven his old pickup truck thousands of kilometers through mountains, delivering 400,000 books and building 107 reading rooms across Sichuan, Yunnan and the Xizang autonomous region. The 100th, built in 2024 at a middle school in Baoshan, includes a mini coffee-themed museum, teaching local children about their region's heritage.

In May 2025, Ding embarked on his most unusual project yet: retracing the 2,400-year-old Southern Silk Road that once connected Sichuan with Myanmar and India. For 33 days, he traveled from Sanxingdui in Sichuan to Tengchong in Yunnan — often alone on horseback — brewing Yunnan coffee for villagers along the ancient route. When his horse fell ill, Ding continued on foot through rugged terrain, sharing the story of Yunnan's gold medal beans wherever he went.

His plans for 2026 are even more ambitious. Starting from Tengchong, he hopes to cross northern Myanmar on foot and eventually reach India, carrying beans from his mountains to the world beyond.

Ding's persistence is gaining recognition. His Yunnan coffee was named an official supplier for the FISU World University Games in 2023, providing 200,000 cups during the Chengdu event.

This year, he plans to bring his clay pottery fermentation method back to Brussels — 33 years after Yunnan coffee first won there — completing a circle he never knew existed when he first set out.

"Sichuan cuisine is everywhere in the world now, loved by foreigners. I believe Chinese coffee will be just as welcomed," he said.

Contact the writers at lilei@chinadaily.com.cn