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An outsider who, within five years of entering the industry, has integrated the online and offline coffee supply chain, creating a diversified professional coffee enterprise that encompasses cultivation, fresh fruit processing, primary processing, finished products, and export. He is known as the "dark horse" of the coffee industry.

Yunnan coffee has a long history, with its small-grain coffee being rich yet not bitter, fragrant yet not greasy, with a slight fruity acidity that has earned high praise from the industry. Statistics show that Yunnan's coffee cultivation area currently spans over 1.5 million acres, accounting for 99% of the nation's coffee cultivation area and production, mainly distributed in Pu'er, Dehong, Lincang, and Baoshan. Yunnan coffee has attracted multinational giants such as Nestlé and Starbucks, and has also become fertile ground for entrepreneurs.

This "dark horse" is Xu Zhengxiong from the main coffee-producing area of Lujiangba in Baoshan City and his Hemei Coffee Company. In 2007, Xu Zhengxiong, who was in the medical device business in Shenzhen, returned to his hometown and invested over 3 million yuan to start a distillery, but the business was lukewarm.

"My family has always had five or six acres of coffee, but I never really paid attention to coffee until a classmate approached me in 2010 to do coffee business," said Xu Zhengxiong. Later, they found Dehong Hougu Group and decided to start by purchasing coffee beans, borrowing 300,000 yuan from relatives to establish the Shuanghong Agricultural Products Planting Professional Cooperative.

In 2010, coffee prices rose steadily, reaching over 40 yuan per kilogram at their peak. During the coffee production season from 2010 to 2011, Xu Zhengxiong earned a net profit of over 3 million yuan in just three months.

For Xu Zhengxiong, who "came to this career halfway," entering agriculture was an unknown variable. With only enthusiasm, it was easy to become "cannon fodder." From cultivation, harvesting, processing, to sales, every aspect was unfamiliar, technically demanding, and the risks of traditional agriculture were unavoidable.

Looking back now, the high prices at the time masked Xu Zhengxiong's lack of experience. "Taking a pinch and smelling it" is a quality inspection action when purchasing coffee cherries, but Xu Zhengxiong admits that at the time, he was just "copying others."

"I had no experience in collecting beans, just imitating others by biting, rubbing, and pretending. Actually, everyone was scrambling for beans at the time, with no time for other considerations. Fortunately, prices were high, so all the beans I purchased could be sold," said Xu Zhengxiong.

In January 2012, Xu Zhengxiong established Hemei Coffee Company. Compared to traditional farmers, the internet opened a window for entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector. In conventional approaches, coffee companies typically create products first before selling them through e-commerce and other channels. However, Xu Zhengxiong used e-commerce strategy to drive enterprise development.

In 2012, Xu Zhengxiong received the "Provincial Governor's Entrepreneurship Award." Subsequently, Xu Zhengxiong met three partners who were passionate about e-commerce, and the four decided to join forces to enter e-commerce, establishing Sizhi Cat Coffee Company specifically responsible for e-commerce operations.

Driven by the e-commerce plan, he immediately began establishing a coffee deep-processing factory in Baoshan. By March 2014, a fresh fruit processing factory with a processing capacity of 50,000 tons was completed. At the same time, a coffee bean roasting factory with an annual processing capacity of 1,000 tons and a 2,000-ton three-in-one instant powder factory were also built. In May of that year, three-in-one instant powder products began production, and by August of that year, sales exceeded 10,000 transactions, a remarkable speed.

To achieve seamless integration of sales and production, Xu Zhengxiong also built a coffee instant powder factory in Kunming, with the e-commerce team moving in directly, achieving a "front store, back factory" model. As soon as coffee instant products were produced, they could be directly packaged and shipped via logistics to consumers.

"Agricultural production cycles are long; what matters is execution capability. Meanwhile, internet thinking must align with the psychology and needs of target consumers. In our e-commerce company, the average age is 27. Because our coffee buyers are young people, we mostly require employees born in the 1990s, whose thinking is closer to that of consumers," said Xu Zhengxiong.

"From seed to cup," cultivation management determines the quality of coffee. After achieving breakthroughs in e-commerce, Xu Zhengxiong expanded toward both cultivation bases and offline experiences.

Currently, Hemei Coffee owns a 5,000-acre high-altitude coffee cultivation base in Liuku Town, Lushui County, and controls 20,000 acres of quality coffee base in Mangkuan Township through the Shuanghong Cooperative. Both bases have now obtained "International 4C Coffee Certification," and the entire company has also passed ISO 9001 International Quality System Certification.

The O2O model has also been gradually tested. In Lijiang City, Xu Zhengxiong has already opened 3 experience stores with an experiential sales model of making coffee drinks and roasting coffee beans on-site. In Baoshan, Xu Zhengxiong created a unique coffee shop decorated primarily with wine bottles, opening the first "wine bottle" coffee shop in Baoshan.

Xu Zhengxiong believes that in entrepreneurship, government support is only an auxiliary factor and cannot replace one's own efforts. "From establishment to now, Hemei's total investment is about 50 million yuan, of which government support amounts to about 3 million yuan. The blacksmith's work depends on one's own skill. If relying solely on government support, you definitely won't grow tall or go far," said Xu Zhengxiong. However, the government should strengthen public services for the industry, organize enterprises to go out, and enable brands and products to take root.

At the same time, enterprises should achieve win-win outcomes with farmers and avoid competing with them for profits. "For example, when enterprises purchase products from farmers, implementing high prices for high quality not only motivates farmers but also improves the quality of purchased coffee beans, creating a virtuous cycle and promoting process. Otherwise, malicious price suppression would form a vicious cycle," said Xu Zhengxiong.

The lack of talent is one of the problems troubling Xu Zhengxiong and many entrepreneurs. "Currently, the problem with Yunnan's agricultural product e-commerce lies in the relative scarcity of talent. I hope the government can invite external experts to train local e-commerce talent," said Xu Zhengxiong.

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