VILE DIVINITY, China

Cimizhu Estate rises from the hills of Lisuo Township in Ximeng County, a place where the earth bears both hardship and muted promise. Its steward, Po Zha, abandoned the security of the banking world in 2007 and returned home with a clear intent to reshape the fate of his village. By 2009 he had chosen his ground, set his first plantings, and raised what would become Cimizhu Estate.

In those early days, belief was scarce. Coffee held no meaning for the villagers, and the call to cultivate it was met with doubt. Yet Po Zha endured. With patience he walked the fields, taught what he knew, and held fast to the conviction that coffee could deliver change. One by one, families entered the harvest. He honoured their labour, paying them according to the quality of the fruit they gathered, rewarding those who excelled, setting the foundations of a craft that would carry the village forward.

Growth followed discipline. By 2014 the estate spanned 719 acres and yielded 580 tonnes of fresh cherries. Its ascent toward specialty quality drew recognition across Yunnan, culminating in a Second Place result in the 2022 Best of Yunnan Green Coffee Competition in the unwashed category.

Today, the estate stands as more than soil and rows. It is a place of instruction. Villagers continue to learn the disciplines of pruning, cultivation and harvest, while varietals are refined and improved without pause. At its core rests a singular intent: to raise both coffee and community, to turn quality into prosperity, and to guide the village toward a life shaped not by scarcity, but by steadiness and worth.

Cimizhu Estate remains a quiet vow made manifest, a testament to the belief that coffee can lift those who tend it.