Yalan Li is called the "Iron Coffee Lady" for her courage and perseverance. For her, coffee is a family business. She runs the farm with her younger sister and daughter. Yalan started the business in 1992, while still working in a coffee company.
In 1999, severe frosts destroyed her first farm. However, Yalan did not give up. She moved her family to her native village and opened the YuLan coffee farm there, which she still manages today. Together with her daughter Huelian Yalan opened the company DiFan in 2019, which her daughter still manages. Huelian adds value to YuLan Farm cherries through wet and dry grinding.
Cherries are picked by hand, and the ripest ones are then processed in a YuLan wet mill. Cherries are fermented for 15 days. Next, the cherries are dried on the beds. They are often raked for uniform drying. After five days on the beds, the cherries are moved to mechanical dryers until they reach the appropriate moisture level. Cherries are stored at the DiFan dry mill in Puera for about 1 month.
