From Deep Mountains to the World, the Rise of a Cup of Yunnan Coffee

China Net Finance and Economics, March 18 (Reporter Chen Qiong) — In January this year, a dedicated railway train loaded with coffee beans set off from Pu’er, Yunnan, sounding its horn. With 22 carriages and 682 tons of seasonal coffee beans, traveling 2,834 kilometers directly to Xiamen, Fujian — this is China’s first large-scale, branded coffee bean railway train, the “Luckin Express.” What races along the tracks are not just coffee beans, but also the acceleration of Yunnan coffee from production areas to the whole country, transforming from raw materials into a brand.

Two months later, at the open day of the Yunnan delegation during the National Two Sessions, Party Secretary Wang Ning introduced this cup of coffee to domestic and international media in three sentences: “Yunnan coffee is grown early and well, with a historical charm,” “It has quality and branding, with a unique flavor,” “It is an industry that increases income and a sweet career that brings happiness.” These three sentences outline the overall picture of Yunnan coffee’s continuous rise, from history and quality to people’s livelihoods.

A year ago, the important statement that “Yunnan coffee still represents China” injected strong confidence into the entire industry’s development. This expectation is now transforming into concrete industry practices — from provincial strategies to national plans for building a strong agricultural country, the development path of Yunnan coffee is becoming increasingly clear. Meanwhile, market momentum is accelerating: domestic brands like Luckin Coffee, with over 30,000 stores nationwide and more than 450 million cumulative transaction users, are bringing Yunnan coffee from the production area into the cups of hundreds of millions of consumers, becoming an unstoppable force in this leap.

A Century of Accumulation Driving Industry Upgrades

China’s coffee planting history begins in Yunnan. Over 130 years ago, the first coffee seedlings took root in Zhu Kula Village, Binchuan County, Dali. Today, more than 30 ancient trees still bloom and bear fruit. Through continuous domestication, cultivation, and promotion, Yunnan’s coffee planting areas have expanded from Dali to Baoshan, Pu’er, Dehong, Lincang, Xishuangbanna, Nujiang, and other regions.

From the “battle to protect blue skies, clear waters, and pure land,” to “Yunnan coffee still represents China,” a series of important statements have set the direction for Yunnan coffee’s development toward boutique, green, and branded growth. These concerns and expectations resonate deeply with the strategic deployment in the “14th Five-Year Plan” to “accelerate the construction of an agricultural powerhouse” and to “coordinate the development of science and technology agriculture, green agriculture, quality agriculture, and branded agriculture.” The leap of Yunnan coffee is a vivid practice of the agricultural strong country strategy in frontier regions.

Under the guidance of the “3815” strategic development goal, Yunnan is promoting a transition from “raw material export” to “brand export” by focusing on boutique, standardized, and international development.

Data confirms this leap: the province’s coffee planting area is about 1.5 million acres, an increase of approximately 400,000 acres in the past three years, with an annual coffee bean production of about 170,000 tons, accounting for over 95% of the national total. More importantly, quality has improved significantly: the proportion of high-quality coffee in the province increased from 8% in 2021 to 41.7%; deep processing rate rose from 20% five years ago to 85%.

Chinese modernization prioritizes people’s livelihoods. At a press conference, Wang Ning calculated: five years ago, farmers growing coffee in the province earned just over 10,000 yuan per household. Now, that has multiplied several times, with average annual household income exceeding 30,000 yuan, and some households earning tens of thousands. “Yunnan coffee not only tastes good, but also makes people’s lives sweeter and happier.” The simple words of coffee farmers hide the secret to industry revitalization.

Market-Driven Industry Chain Reshaping

Behind the awakening of production areas is the continuous deepening of market forces. Over the past year, more market entities have extended from consumer end to upstream of the industry chain, actively participating in supply chain construction, scientific research cooperation, and more, reshaping Yunnan coffee’s industry ecology.

Take Luckin Coffee as an example. In January, the “Luckin Express” coffee bean train was launched, connecting Yunnan’s production areas with processing bases along the southeastern coast, creating a new artery for the industry. Luckin plans to make this train operation routine, efficiently transporting high-quality Yunnan coffee beans to Luckin’s roasting factories in Qingdao, Kunshan, and other locations for deep processing, ensuring maximum flavor retention and enhancement. Through Luckin’s over 30,000 stores nationwide, the coffee is radiated to the entire country, achieving seamless integration from source to consumer. In February, Luckin signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences to jointly build an industry-university-research platform, focusing on coffee variety breeding and green cultivation technology R&D. This is a two-way effort between scientific research and market, addressing the industry’s pain point of “heavy raw materials, light branding” from the source, and laying the groundwork for green processing systems.

In fact, Luckin’s connection with Yunnan coffee has a long history. In March 2024, Luckin’s newly built coffee fresh fruit processing plant in Baoshan, Yunnan, officially began operation, with an annual capacity of 5,000 tons of fresh fruit, directly benefiting over 20,000 local coffee farmers.

For coffee farmers, the continuous increase in procurement volume is more direct and tangible income. Stable market demand and expanding orders have truly boosted farmers’ “purses.” In recent years, Luckin’s coffee bean purchases in Yunnan have grown significantly, with the 2026 full-season procurement exceeding 30,000 tons. This not only means that farmers can earn sustainable and substantial income from high-quality coffee cultivation, but also achieves the goal of “rich farmers” in the industry. It is also a vivid practice of Luckin fulfilling its social responsibilities and actively responding to the national rural revitalization strategy.

Leveraging its global store network, Luckin is bringing Yunnan’s high-quality coffee to the world market, doing its best to let consumers worldwide taste Yunnan coffee’s unique flavor. Notably, the “Yunnan Treasure Champion Bean Hand Brew,” which sparked a buying frenzy earlier this year, is a result of Luckin’s deep involvement and support for the 2025 First Yunnan Treasure Coffee Green Bean Competition (CoE).

As Yunnan coffee transforms from bulk raw material to branded product, from “agricultural product” to “consumer good,” this leap is no longer just a saying.

Global Expansion in an Open Framework

In recent years, with quality upgrades and industry maturity, Yunnan coffee’s international influence has been rising year by year. As a new engine for global coffee industry growth, China’s large-scale internationalization of coffee is also gathering momentum. In this process, Yunnan coffee, aided by brands like Luckin, will further realize direct delivery from production areas to global consumers’ cups, showcasing Chinese flavor through boutique coffee, allowing the world to experience its unique charm.

Meanwhile, deep cooperation between production areas and brands will further amplify the advantages of “industry chain international cooperation,” jointly promoting China’s coffee from simple trade to capacity cooperation, technology export, and standard alignment, truly sharing opportunities and developing together with countries around the world.

It is worth noting that as an important measure to implement the “14th Five-Year Plan” to “strengthen rural characteristic industries,” Yunnan is actively promoting the “Baoshan World Coffee Valley Development Plan,” aiming to achieve a coffee comprehensive output value of over 60 billion yuan by 2035, and clarifying the development path from “scale expansion” to “global layout” over the next five years.

Looking back to 2025, the story of Yunnan coffee has a new chapter. Wang Ning summarized: “Looking at the journey of Yunnan coffee, we feel that developing industry and undertaking careers is sometimes like drinking coffee — the first taste may be slightly bitter, but after savoring, it’s rich aroma and sweet aftertaste. That’s the flavor of striving.”

From the dedicated train on the tracks to the rich aroma in the cup, from the deep mountains of Yunnan to daily life around the world — why does Yunnan coffee represent China? The answer lies in every arrival from the origin to the cup: the deep cultivation of local brands, the accumulation of world-class quality, and global market recognition all together write a new chapter of Chinese coffee.