Chinese Coffee Brand Rankings: China Coffee Bean Brand Development Trends and Reasons for Low-priced Domestic Coffee Beans

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China's Coffee Production Analysis

Puer's domestic coffee bean production reached its peak in 2016, with 900,000 bags. Puer has a short history of coffee cultivation, only becoming popular in the 1980s. Most varieties should be Catimor. Baoshan ranks second, followed by Lincang in third place, Dehong in fourth, and Banna in fifth. Honghe, Wenshan, Dali, and Nujiang also have small production volumes. Puer has the largest planting area, reaching 40,000 hectares, followed by Lincang, then Banna, Baoshan, Dali, Dehong, Nujiang, Honghe, and Wenshan.

From 2008 to 2015, China's coffee planting area showed steady growth. However, the 2015/16 production season saw a decline in planting area, mainly because China's coffee cherry and green bean prices remained low, significantly below the NYSE futures prices. Consequently, farmers could not sustain their livelihoods by growing coffee and cut down large numbers of coffee trees, especially the so-called "old varieties" that were low-yield and disease-prone—actually Typica and Bourbon varieties—leaving behind high-yield Catimor trees. Since 2008, China's total domestic coffee bean production has shown a steady growth trend. The main reason is not due to domestic consumption power.

Since 2005, China's total coffee exports have shown a steady growth trend. In 2015, exports suddenly dropped from 1.75 million bags in 2014 to 1.1 million bags. In 2016, they jumped back to 1.82 million bags, only to fall back to 1.19 million bags in 2017. This ECG-like pattern of dramatic fluctuations precisely illustrates that China's coffee cultivation industry has been facing a severe "on-year/off-year" crisis since 2014. The causes of this "on-year/off-year" phenomenon may be climate change due to environmental pollution, or carelessness in coffee cultivation and harvesting processes. As for political and economic aspects, I will not comment further. The future of China's coffee export industry needs to educate coffee farmers to cultivate high-quality coffee with dedication, and more importantly, to increase cherry and green bean prices, thereby boosting farmers' confidence in coffee cultivation. Most importantly, they need peace of mind when growing coffee, which requires attention from relevant departments across the entire coffee industry chain and from society as a whole.

The distribution of coffee exports through various customs offices is extremely imbalanced. Nearly three-quarters of coffee beans are exported through Guangzhou's Huangpu Customs, followed by Shenzhen. This means that almost all coffee produced in China is exported to foreign countries through Guangdong. Why? Yunnan coffee accounts for 99% of national production, so why isn't Yunnan the major export hub? The answer is simple: most of China's coffee exports are not green beans but processed coffee products, such as roasted beans, instant coffee, or 3-in-1 coffee mixes. This severely impacts farmers' incomes, as more middlemen mean lower prices paid to farmers for green beans, because roasters or processors need to reduce costs by squeezing farmers' vital interests. Looking at the global coffee landscape, major coffee-producing countries primarily export green beans. Only China exports coffee derivatives, which is unhealthy. In the long run, this will harm China's entire coffee economy. To put it more seriously, China's coffee economy will gradually decline toward extinction. Therefore, relevant departments and all of society need to promote domestic green bean exports, increase farmers' incomes, ensure the livelihoods of people in production regions, and boost domestic coffee consumption capacity. I believe our country can achieve this.

Although specialty coffee has created quite a stir domestically in recent years, most specialty coffee practitioners hold a series of brainwashing, pyramid-like certificates issued by NGOs serving European and American interests, using them to deceive people domestically. Some green bean suppliers collude with them, importing aged beans and selling them at high prices domestically, creating a vicious cycle that is detrimental to the healthy development of China's coffee industry. The bar chart above clearly shows that since 2012, coffee imports from abroad have shown the same on-year/off-year trend as our domestic coffee production—this is the so-called ripple effect. The relationship between domestic coffee production and imports from other countries is very close. The third wave of specialty coffee emphasizes tasting single-origin coffees from different regions, estates, and tree varieties. As Chinese coffee professionals, we certainly welcome coffees from different regions to satisfy our domestic consumers' spiritual and taste buds, but our premise—and our cry—is: We want fresh coffee green beans! In 2017, imported bean quantities decreased. If 2018's import volume is similar or declines, it will be springtime for our domestic coffee. Chinese coffee is truly delicious—please don't use Western flavor systems to negate our own country's coffee!

China's coffee consumption has shown steady growth since 2013, which is good news! We only hope this steady growth continues in the future, rather than dramatic ups and downs. Additionally, Chinese consumers need a cup of coffee that is healthy, delicious, and made from fresh ingredients.

Data Analysis from China Customs

The following data is provided by China Customs.

Among the three years from 2015 to 2017, the export volume of coffee-based beverages (including 3-in-1) and coffee green beans was highest in 2016, with some decline in 2017. The export volume of instant coffee and roasted beans has increased year by year.

Among the three years from 2015 to 2017, green bean imports declined slightly, roasted bean imports increased, coffee-based beverage imports rose in 2016 but fell in 2017, and instant coffee imports showed an upward trend.

Comparison of China's coffee export volumes from 2015 to 2017. Green beans had the highest exports, while instant coffee had the lowest. Have you noticed an interesting phenomenon? Which side should we believe?

Comparison of China's coffee import volumes from 2015 to 2017. More green bean imports? Really? One can imagine the audience's quite puzzled expressions during Lucy's presentation. I really want to know what Lucy was trying to express.

Domestic Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted domestic coffee beans—Yunnan Small Bean Typica Coffee—offer excellent guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they provide exceptional value for money. Each 227-gram bag costs only about 69 RMB. Calculating at 15 grams of coffee beans per cup, one bag can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 5 RMB. Compared to cafés selling coffee for dozens of RMB per cup, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small storefront but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online store services at https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473