Pu’er City of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, located in the golden belt for coffee planting near the Tropic of Cancer with a vast hot zone area, abundant precipitation, and suitable ecological environment, is well known as the Chinese coffee capital.
Statistics show that at present, the coffee planting area in the city reaches 679,000 mu(about 45,266 hectares), which makes the city become a main coffee producing area with the the highest yield and the best quality in China, and a main coffee trade distribution center.
In Nandaohe Village, Simao District of the city, Liao Xiugui and his families together run a coffee estate. Large-scale coffee cultivation carries the expectation of farmers for wealth. Through learning advanced cultivation techniques and management, farmers gradually increase the coffee output and roll out more refined and exquisite coffee products, Liao said.
Deng Jialu, general manager of Yunnan Simao Beigui Coffee Co., Ltd., is exploring an innovative mode of deep integration of coffee and tourism in the city.
“Through the construction of the coffee estate, visitors can not only learn about coffee cultivation in the field, but also brew a cup of their own coffee, learning the development of Yunnan coffee,” said Deng.
Driven by market consumption, international standards and supportive policies, a total of eleven coffee enterprises above the designated size have been developed in the city in the recent years. Coffee beans produced in Tianyu Coffee Estate in Menglian County of the city were selected by Starbucks and received good market response.
In September 2020, Pu’er coffee was listed in the first batch of China-EU agreement on geographical indications, realizing mutual recognition of geographical indication products between China and Europe and promoting Pu ‘er coffee to the EU market.
In January 2023, the Standardization Administration of China announced that Pu’er coffee has been approved as the national standard and got approval of its English version, which will comprehensively improve the coffee quality and promote coffee products to the international market.
With the opening of China-Laos Railway and the completion of coffee processing industrial park in the city, Pu’er is likely to become China’s first stop for processing coffee importing from Southeast Asian countries.
