擒数网 （随信APP) | 在中国，星巴克的7300多家门店均供应云南咖啡。我在普洱亲眼见证了中国咖啡12年走向世界。

When it comes to Yunnan Pu'er, a small town on the southwestern border of China, it has been famous for being a world tea region for many years. This is where tea was first planted, processed, consumed, and sold in the world.

But today, many people's connection with Pu'er starts with a cup of coffee.

Recently, Starbucks announced at a coffee farmer summit in Pu'er that coffee beans produced in Yunnan will be incorporated into the classic espresso at over 7,300 mainland China stores, and Yunnan single origin coffee beans will also be sold in the stores.

The history of coffee planting in Yunnan can be traced back to 1904, when French missionary Father Delabecan planted the first coffee tree on the Chinese mainland during his missionary period in Zhukula, Dali, Yunnan.

However, in the past hundred years, Yunnan coffee has grown wildly, with rough planting, processing, and roasting techniques, and has not developed into a mature industry chain like tea.

During the period of the Southwest United University, coffee houses also became social places for intellectuals in Kunming. Shen Congwen once served Hu Shi with Yunnan-grown Arabica coffee beans. However, Yunnan coffee was considered a low-priced, low-quality product in the world, with purchase prices being among the lowest globally.

However, over the past decade, changes have accelerated rapidly, and Yunnan coffee has become the largest coffee producing area in China, ranking first in both planting area and production. It has become an important player in China in the third wave of coffee movement.

According to statistics, Starbucks has purchased over 65,000 tons of high-quality coffee from Yunnan over the past 12 years. We also visited the coffee planting area in Pu'er and chatted with the people behind each coffee bean to see how they have gradually changed Yunnan coffee.

Cai Qingkai: From Truck Driver to Starbucks Reserve

Starting from Nalancun, which is 80 kilometers away from Yunnan Pu'er, the car bumps along the winding mountain road.

The vast green mountains rise and fall, the green hills extend to the end of the line of sight, and the white cloud sea rolls like cotton candy in the mountains. We arrived at Qingkai Farm on the high mountain at an altitude of 1200 meters.

Upon arrival, we saw a dark-skinned coffee farmer hand brewing coffee for the visiting guests. He is the owner of the farm, Cai Qingkai.

This was my first visit to the birthplace of Pu'er coffee, but not my first taste of Cai Qingkai's coffee. As early as 2019, Starbucks Reserve launched the Qingkai Farm coffee beans, which was the first coffee bean named after a coffee farmer.

It might be hard to imagine that Cai Qingkai, who has been selected multiple times for Starbucks Reserve, was a long-distance truck driver over a decade ago, often driving hundreds of kilometers a day. He would often brew instant coffee to stay awake during long drives, which was the start of his connection with coffee.

Later, tired of driving trucks everywhere, Cai Qingkai's desire to plant coffee sprouted in his heart when he saw his uncle's coffee plantation. He quickly decided to sell his house, bought one hectare of land in Pu'er, and planted coffee.

Planting coffee was not as easy as he imagined. It takes three years for coffee to mature from planting to harvest. For Cai Qingkai, it was 100 times more bitter than a strong Italian espresso, even living in the back of a truck with his wife in the mountains.

In 2012, he learned that Starbucks had established a "Coffee Farmer Support Center" in Yunnan, which provided free planting knowledge to coffee farmers, guidance in the coffee fields, and offered higher purchase prices for quality coffee beans. This motivated Cai Qingkai to grow high-quality coffee.

Cai Qingkai told Your Interest that he hardly uses pesticides on his coffee beans. He plants economic crops like pineapples above the coffee trees to block excess sunlight.

To address the impact of continuous rainy weather on the flavor of coffee, Cai Qingkai created the "Jinpao Processing Method" after two years of continuous testing. He then taught this innovative coffee processing technique to more local coffee farmers.

This method was initially attempted to cope with the limitations of the origin conditions, and it was unexpectedly discovered that it could bring about unique flavor characteristics.

Cai Qingkai has established a coffee cooperative for about two to three hundred farmers in the area. In addition to coffee cultivation, he plans to upgrade the industry by incorporating various formats such as tourism.

He told us that his biggest wish now is not only to grow and sell his coffee at a better price but also to let Yunnan coffee go out into the world and be recognized together with many other coffee farmers.

Ma Xiaojin: Cultivating Specialty Coffee on Ailao Mountain

Since National Day, the so-called "Death Forest" of Ailao Mountain has suddenly become popular, attracting many tourists seeking adventure.

The Ailao Mountain Range is located at the junction of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Hengduan Mountains, and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, stretching about 500 kilometers and spanning Pu'er.

If you manage to climb Ailao Mountain to an altitude of 2000 meters, you may see coffee beans covering the mountains. Ma Xiaojin is a coffee farmer on Ailao Mountain in Yunnan.

Although the Ailao Mountain Range, with its temperate climate and abundant rainfall due to its location between the Yungui Plateau and the Hengduan Mountains, is very suitable for coffee cultivation, planting coffee in Ailao Mountain is challenging. The high-altitude area experiences erratic weather, large temperature differences between day and night, and must overcome the risk of frost at high altitudes to ensure the coffee trees can survive the winter.

Many people initially advised Ma Xiaojin not to take this risk, but he always had a dream of planting high-quality coffee.

I didn't believe that, so I insisted on planting more than a dozen varieties. In the end, there was indeed one new variety that could withstand the cold.

When Ma Xiaojin talks about it, he can't help but show a proud expression. His coffee beans have not only been selected for Starbucks Reserve coffee beans but have also received high scores in international professional coffee cupping evaluations. They have even been compared to Blue Mountain coffee.

I think this is my dream. I have always loved coffee and hope to grow the best coffee, so I must continue to try.

The New Generation of Coffee Farmers

From the exchange with the older generation of coffee farmers, we can feel the hardships of coffee cultivation. Even with the introduction of more advanced planting techniques, it is never easy. In the past, most coffee farmers were unwilling to let the next generation continue in this industry, but things are changing now.

Liu Xiaorong, a graduate of Yunnan Arts Institute, decided to return to the coffee industry after working for a period of time after graduation. At first, it was not easy to adapt. A young girl in her twenties faced with coffee in the hot sun in the farm is not an easy transition.

After Liu Xiaorong and her husband Wen Jun took over the coffee business from the previous generation, they brought new changes. Now they cover the entire coffee farming, processing, and sales chain, managing over 600 acres of coffee plantation. They have gradually established production and quality standards for coffee beans through collaboration with Starbucks.

Liu Xiaorong and Wen Jun's coffee beans have also passed Starbucks' "Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices" certification. Their coffee bean supply to Starbucks has increased from tens of thousands of kilograms five years ago to 120,000 kilograms now, while also supplying to Nestle and bulk trade procurement companies in Kunming.

Similarly, the third generation of coffee farming family, Fan Qizuo, also has successors.

This "Coffee Family," which started planting coffee in 1982, witnessed a transformation from the older generation never drinking their own coffee to producing Starbucks Reserve coffee beans. This achievement has also inspired Fan Qizuo's son, Fan Wenhao.