Emerald Lemons Bring Sparkle to Summer Orchards

Chen Xiu­luan, a harvest worker, crouches under a lemon tree, reaching for a thorny branch to pick the fruit and place them in her basket. She is perspiring heavily, the sweat dripping slowly from her face. She’s been working in the orchard for three hours since 7 a.m. Soon, drawn by the heat, the essential oils of lemon will scent the air. Lying open to the sun, the orchard will become too hot for anyone to stay for any length of time.

Second-generation lemon farmer Chen Yi­zhang, now 27, returned to his hometown five years ago. He is helping his father, Chen Gao­wen, load boxes of lemons onto a truck to transport them to the Ping­tung Lemon Marketing Cooperative (PLMC), winding up today’s harvest. The 330-square-meter PLMC warehouse is full of noise from machines: lemons on a conveyer system are being cleaned and processed, then automatically graded. After processing, workers pack the fruit in cartons which are then ready for shipping.

In past years, from July to October lemons had to be stored in the PLMC warehouse, as nobody wanted them. This year, however, the situation has changed markedly, with record sales. Freshly picked lemons from this year’s crop are already on their way to catering industry outlets across Taiwan.

Fruit is being processed at the Pingtung Lemon Marketing Cooperative. After a brush and a wash, the lemons are automatically graded, packed, and transported to outlets across Taiwan.

Although currently lemon prices are looking good, Lin ­Zhengyi, a farmer who has cultivated lemons in Ping­tung for over two decades, is concerned about his orchard. He’s examining lemon trees which have blight, a common disease of citrus trees.

Lin began growing lemons in the late 1980s. ­Every year at this time, he examines his trees carefully. Lemon trees bloom in March, he says, with fruit appearing six months later. But this of course is heavily dependent on the weather. Apart from this critical factor, blight is their biggest concern throughout the year.

Holding an emaciated, brown-spotted lemon in his hand, Lin says despairingly, “There are so many things you need to worry about—either too much or too little rain, and the danger of pests. Pesticides are not always effective, and using too much is bad and could result in a fine.”

Compared to other fruits like wax apples, lemons are more resistant to heat and cold, but there’s a hidden risk in lemon orchards during harvest, especially on summer afternoons. Lin says that because of a range of improved varieties available in recent years, the height of lemon trees has been reduced, which makes harvesting much easier. But they still need a special tool to harvest the fruit from the higher branches, and the tool can easily act as a lightning rod and attract lightning strikes.

To obviate any danger, most farmers avoid harvesting during afternoon thunderstorms. But if it rains constantly over a period of days, there is a danger that branches heavy with fruit will fall, damaging the lemons.

Farmers in Kao­hsiung and Ping­tung produce over 10,000 tons of lemons annually, mainly the Eureka variety which is more elongated and has quite a rough skin.

Currently, Taiwan has 1700-odd hectares of lemon orchards, with nearly 80% of this area in Ping­tung. ­Jiuru Township in particular, located on the border with Kao­hsiung City, has over 200 hectares of lemon orchards, and is one of the most important regions supplying lemons to Taiwan.

Established six years ago, King Tea has a new product: emerald lemon tea. The beverage has sparked a fresh wave of enthusiasm for lemon flavor in this summer’s tea drinks market. The photo shows King Tea owner Wang Bingxuan.

Zhang Chun­fei, founder of the PLMC, has been involved in lemon cultivation for more than four decades, and was one of Ping­tung’s first lemon growers. In 1998, ­Zhang invited farmers from 13 townships in Ping­tung and Kao­hsiung to organize a lemon marketing cooperative, integrating the industry chain. At its peak, grower numbers reached the 200 mark, and as a result of his efforts in promoting lemon growing, he was nicknamed “Lemon Fei.”

Unfortunately, the PLMC was faced with a major crisis only four years after its founding: too many lemons and not enough buyers. In 1999, farmers were able to get NT$25–33 per kilogram for their lemons, but less than two years later, prices had fallen to less than a dollar per kilo. Many farmers suffered heavy losses, and sadly had to dump their lemons. The county government even once asked the farmers to cease lemon cultivation altogether.

In 2005, under the guidance of the Council of Agriculture, the PLMC tried using excess lemons for bottled lemon juice, a desperate attempt to save the industry. Happily, the trial was a success. But not only did it save the lemon growing industry, it also unexpectedly opened up another: a market for fresh lemon juice as a drink.

The real turning point for the lemon industry, however, occurred in 2011 when a food scandal hit Taiwan. A number of companies had used the plasticizer DEHP to replace palm oil as a clouding agent in food and drinks. The incident seriously damaged Taiwan’s reputation for food safety. ­Zhuang Rui­zhen, the manager of PLMC, recalls that consumer awareness of health issues peaked after the incident, and that the lemon price rose 30% in that year. The farmers were overjoyed.

In order to expand distribution channels, the PLMC recently launched a new brand—Lemon Prince—for its products, and is working with catering companies like Wow­prime, TTFB, CoCo, and Share­tea to expand their market share. Currently, some 40% of PLMC’s products are sold to the tea drink industry.

 

King Tea, founded six years ago, has this summer launched a new product called “emerald lemon tea.” The new product has created something of a sensation in the already saturated tea-drink market, and has pushed up the price of lemons even further.

Wang Bing­xuan, 38, who graduated from a vocational high school, is King Tea’s general manager. He had previously worked in various industries including real estate, building materials, catering, and security before he set up King Tea. In 2006, with the help and encouragement of a friend, he borrowed NT$1 million from the bank and set up King Tea, renting a ground-floor shopfront on Dadun Road in Taichung City.

Wang had experience working in Tan­suo Café, New Oasis Tea House, and Chun Shui Tang Cultural Tea House in Tai­chung City, but creating his own business was something new altogether. King Tea sold only four cups on their first day, and less than 100 cups per day afterwards. Wang and his wife decided to close the shop for two months to try to come up with some new world-beating flavors.

Thinking of lemon as a natural accompaniment to tea, Wang tried using concentrated lemon juice as an ingredient, but after a lot of experimentation, he felt that it lacked the fragrance of a freshly squeezed lemon. So he went to Tai­chung’s wholesale fruit and vegetable market and bought some fresh lemons to try. And with inspiration from his customers, he finally developed emerald lemon tea drink. The blend uses tea as a base, which is mixed with natural cane sugar and fresh lemon juice.

King Tea, which nearly went bankrupt more than once, overcame their teething problems to attain good results the following year. Since King Tea insists on using freshly squeezed lemon juice in their products, they appeal to the health conscious as well.

 

Wang points out that King Tea’s idea to use fresh fruit in their drinks implies a sense of empathy for the farming community. In early August, King Tea’s headquarters in Tai­chung were conducting training for franchisees. A film was shown telling the story of a young woman, Shen Hsin-ling, who set up an online platform to help farmers in Yun­lin County sell their oranges.

Wang points to the film and says with a smile: “This girl gave Yun­lin farmers a lot of help, and we want to be like her.” Born in Yunlin’s Gukeng Township, Wang witnessed a disaster when his grandfather couldn’t sell his oranges because of an oversupply. He hopes that with King Tea’s rapid expansion, they can drive up lemon sales indefinitely.

In its initial phase, King Tea did not offer franchises. But in 2012, King Tea picked up the pace. After opening its first franchise in northern Taiwan, the number of outlets has expanded rapidly from just over 60 to 160, a sign of the great popularity of their product.

After such rapid growth in the number of outlets, Wang went to Ping­tung to ensure a stable supply of lemons for the company. Two years ago, a friend helped him to lease a piece of land in Ping­tung where he is growing lemons with the help of local farmers. And in July this year, he began a contract to work with ­Yanpu Farmers’ Association, one of the major lemon-growing cooperatives. In the future, King Tea will purchase lemons at the current market price, and will also prepare to supply the Southeast Asian market, a project that will be launched next year.

The lemon was once a humble fruit, but it has now become one of the most sought-after agricultural products in Taiwan. Because of the impact of King Tea’s popular products, many tea shops now display fresh lemons in front of their stores. And the growth has allowed lemon orchards in the Kao­hsiung and Ping­tung areas, which were ravaged by Typhoon Morakot in 2009, to gradually recover to pre-disaster levels.

This year, unlike the past when prices gradually fell at the end of the production season, the price of lemons is staying high. Because so many businesses are competing to purchase lemons, the price rises almost every day. For the farmers, the taste of lemon seems sweeter with every passing year.

Fruit is being processed at the Pingtung Lemon Marketing Cooperative. After a brush and a wash, the lemons are automatically graded, packed, and transported to outlets across Taiwan.