Yunnan Coffee Chronicle: The History You Must Know About Yunnan Coffee and Its Major Brands

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Historical Origins

While the world knows that Yunnan's coffee industry has over 100 years of development history, few realize how many changes and transformations Yunnan's coffee industry has undergone during these 100+ years.

Yunnan Coffee Timeline

1887

After the Sino-French War, France and the Qing government signed a treaty designating Mengzi, Yunnan as a treaty port. This was Yunnan's earliest treaty port, quickly attracting foreign merchants. French, British, American, Japanese, Italian, German, and Greek trading houses successively established operations here, including the then-famous American Standard Oil Company, British-American Tobacco Company, and Paris Department Store.

1892

French missionary Father Tian Deneng came to Zhukula Village in Binchuan, Dali for missionary activities, planting the first coffee seeds that took root in Zhukula. The missionary built a church in local architectural style to adapt to local customs. This church still stands in the center of the village today, serving as a landmark building.

1903

To better exploit the wealth of this red soil, the Qing government was forced to agree to construct a railway from the then-French Vietnamese port of Haiphong to Kunming, Yunnan—the "Yunnan-Vietnam Railway." Large numbers of foreign engineers, technicians, and Western prospectors poured into Yunnan, bringing the popular coffee culture of the West with them.

1905

The French opened Yunnan's first coffee bar in Mengzi—the "Yunnan-Vietnam Railway Bar" (a French-style café, a hybrid of coffee shop and tavern, and the mainstream model for European cafés).

1910

On April 1st, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was completed. Subsequently, between 1912-1915, coffee cultivation began along the railway line, with a small number of coffee trees still surviving today.

1914

Jingpo border people introduced and planted coffee in Nongxian Village, Ruili County, with the initial purpose of courtyard cultivation for ornamental purposes. (However, some scholars believe the earliest coffee introduction to Nongxian Village was in 1893, introduced by missionary Owen Hansen.)

Whether planted for ornamental purposes or to meet the needs of missionaries, coffee seeds quietly grew in Yunnan's soil. Until...

Industrial Cultivation

Yunnan Coffee Development

1952

Technical personnel from the Yunnan Agricultural Experiment Station's Mangshi Branch (now the Tropical and Subtropical Economic Crop Research Institute of Yunnan Agricultural University) brought back over 70 kilograms of fresh cherries from Nongxian Village to trial plant in Lujiangba, Baoshan City. They found good adaptability, abundant fruit production, and excellent quality, leading to continuous development and growth.

Sino-Soviet Friendship Era

During the era of Sino-Soviet friendship, Baoshan's coffee encountered a major development opportunity. From the national economic strategic development goal of specifically supplying coffee to Soviet and Eastern European socialist brother countries, large-scale popularization of coffee cultivation was implemented, with the cultivation area once reaching over 30,000 mu. Thus, Baoshan became the earliest area in Yunnan Province for industrial coffee cultivation.

After 1960

After the 1960s, Sino-Soviet relations declared a breakdown, and Yunnan's 4,000 mu of coffee gardens were gradually abandoned or replanted with other crops.

1980s

International coffee companies, seeking to reduce the impact of South American coffee cultivation bases on coffee prices, turned their attention to Yunnan. Simultaneously, stimulated by multinational corporations, Yunnan's coffee cultivation industry was finally revived.

In the subsequent 20+ years, Yunnan gradually became a coffee raw material supply base for the international market. Multinational companies acquired Yunnan's coffee raw materials at prices below New York coffee futures, controlling the discourse power of Yunnan's coffee raw material exports. Moreover, globally only Yunnan coffee was priced below New York futures, and this continued for 27 years. Calculating based on Yunnan's average annual coffee production of 60,000 tons over 27 years, Yunnan coffee farmers lost at least 3.4 billion yuan or more.

1995

Hougu Coffee Chairman Xiong Xiangren started his business in Dehong with 5 mu of coffee land.

2008

Hougu Coffee first publicly announced the purchase price of coffee cherries, sparking a "raw material battle" to ensure the actual interests of Yunnan coffee farmers. They also introduced advanced technology and equipment from Denmark and Germany, developing and building instant coffee production lines, breaking the pattern of Yunnan's coffee industry only supplying raw material exports, while also opening a new door to guarantee the interests of coffee farmers.

2014

Hougu Coffee's total import and export volume exceeded 200 million US dollars. Products were exported to more than 42 countries and regions including Germany, Britain, Spain, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and the United States. Long-term supply agreements were signed with China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd. and Japan's UCC Group.

2015

Full of hope, the "Dian-Xin-Ou" and "Yu-Xin-Ou" Hougu Coffee international freight trains officially began operation. Yunnan coffee products would reach Europe via international railway transport for the first time. Yunnan's coffee industry began developing from agricultural raw material exports to coffee industrial product exports, filling the gap in the lack of a land transportation corridor between Yunnan and European trade freight methods.

Yunnan Coffee Brand Recommendations

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Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473