Another day, another cup of coffee. And now, I am having the Yunnan coffee.

Zhao Yulin / Coffee Shop Owner

I'm a local, born and raised in Dali of Yunnan. We want to promote the small-bean coffee from Baoshan here in Yunnan. I love my hometown and the life here. So I opened a coffee shop in my hometown.  

Zhao Yulin, a post-90s local, calls herself a ‘hometown lover’. She has a deep emotional connection to her hometown of Dali. Tired of spending most of her time on work life, Yulin opened this coffee shop in Dali to provide a quiet corner for those who are striving for better life every day, and share her warmest regards with them through a cup of good coffee.

Zhao Yulin:

It seems I would only see my peers or schoolmates during reunion gatherings. They all work in big cities busily. I constantly miss them and think of ways to keep them in our hometown, to keep them by my side.  

Host:  

So coffee would draw them over?

Zhao Yulin :

Yes, because everyone in Dali love drinking coffee from morning till night.  

Western and southern Yunnan lie within the golden belt for coffee cultivation, producing high-quality coffee beans. Baoshan, one of Yunnan's four major coffee production areas, includes Xinzai Village, has a coffee planting history of over 70 years. But who would have thought that Yunnan's coffee also has a difficult past?  

A dozen years ago, due to low purchase prices for coffee beans, villagers' incomes plummeted. They once considered cutting down coffee trees to grow crops with higher economic value.  

To protect the coffee fields, Wang Jiawei, who had worked in other cities for many years, returned to his hometown because of his love for coffee and vision for the coffee industry. He trained villagers in welding and cooking. Villagers grew coffee during the busy farming season and worked in the village during the off-season. He combined coffee cultivation with cultural tourism. As coffee bean prices recovered, the coffee industry revived. Now, Xinzai Village is known as ‘China's No.1 Coffee Village.’

Wang Jiawei /Party Branch Secretary of Xinzai Village

Wang Jiawei:

Currently, we employ 32 coffee farmers. Their average salary is over 4,000 RMB which is pretty good in Yunnan. Staying in the hometown, they can also take care of their parents and children after work.  

Duan Shaohua's family has grown coffee since his grandfather's time. For him, the bright red, sweet coffee cherries were childhood snacks and the family's income source.

Duan Shaohua/ Coffee Farmer in Xinzai Village

Duan Shaohua:

I've been growing coffee since I was 13 years old, probably over 30 years now.  

My family grew coffee since I was small. That's why I have a special emotional connection with coffee and always want to keep it. Now, the harvest is good, so we are really gratified. Now, I sell the coffee I grow, process it myself, and market it myself. I think income is at least ten times higher than before at the very least ten times.

Liu Minghui, another coffee lover, was born in Puer of Yunnan. He says coffee trees are everywhere in his hometown, but few people grew coffee for a living in the past.  

Coincidentally, Liu Minghui studied coffee and cocoa processing in college and obtained an opportunity to study abroad. His overseas education and business experience help him understand more about Yunnan's coffee and recognized its top quality. Yunnan coffee has a taste comparable to the world's finest coffees. He could see the limitless potential in Yunnan’s coffee industry.

Liu Minghui /Chairman of Aini Coffee  

Liu Minghui:

I might have been destined to make coffee since my birth.  

Liu Minghui returned to his hometown to establish his own coffee brand, promoting scientific coffee planting methods, utilizing advanced equipment, and delving into coffee processing techniques. Now, his rainforest coffee planting model, the first of its kind in China, has received Rainforest Alliance Certification and China Organic Certification.  

Liu Minghui:

My relationship with coffee?  I can conclude it in a saying: Even as time changes, I still love you. Even in a thousand years, or twenty, thirty years after I'm gone, I may reincarnate, repeatedly, and each time, I'll still love coffee.  

After years of dedicated research and hard work by generations of Yunnan people, Yunnan is now China's largest coffee-growing region, producing 146,000 tons of green coffee beans. Yunnan's coffee planting area and production account for more than 98% of the national total. Liu Minghui says Yunnan has great coffee, and he has introduced many advanced equipment to enhance modernization and productivity. But he has one big wish.  

Liu Minghui:

We still sell our Yunnan coffee beans as raw material. Raw material can only be sold at low prices, without added value. So we are facing a problem now: we have good coffee, but people don't know Yunnan's coffee is good. Leveraging new technology and high quality, I wish we would introduce Yunnan coffee to the world, and bring it to every coffee lovers around the world.  

During this journey, I have met many new friends who love coffee, or even have a strong passion in promoting Yunnan coffee I have heard many touching stories behind the wonderful Yunnan coffee. From traditional planting methods to modernized production and quality testing, Yunnan coffee has been continually evolving and progressing. But for Yunnan coffee to reach new heights, it has to make headway in becoming an internationally recognized Chinese brand. I can feel the blazing passion from the eyes of these coffee lovers. With concerted efforts from all of them, I look forward to seeing Yunnan coffee soaring to new heights.