Development Status of Xinzhai Coffee in Baoshan Lujiang - Yunnan Arabica Coffee Brands - How is Lujiang Dam Coffee

Yunnan's Premium Coffee: From Export Leader to Brand Builder

Superior natural geography and climate have made Yunnan small-grain coffee highly prized by foreign buyers for its quality. Its export volume accounts for more than 50% of China's total coffee exports, ranking first nationwide. Yet 90% of what is exported has always been lower-priced raw green bean, with no nationally recognized brands attached. In early April, when a reporter from 21st Century Economic Herald visited Lujiangba in Baoshan City, Yunnan Province, an official from the Gaoligong Mountain Tourist Resort Management Committee explained that as the main production area of Yunnan small-grain coffee, Lujiangba is now focused on developing premium specialty coffee, cultivating leading enterprises and building national brands.

Xinzhai Village: China's Premier Coffee-Growing Community

On April 2nd, temperatures in Lujiangba rose above 20 degrees after rain, and this year's harvest had just finished. In Xinzhai Village, the nation's largest coffee-growing village, coffee cultivation has expanded to over 12,000 mu since the 1980s, accounting for 95% of the village's total arable land. According to the Gaoligong Mountain Tourist Resort Management Committee, the village now has over 9,000 mu of coffee in production, with annual green bean output of 1,800 tons and an annual output value of 25.2 million yuan. The main varieties planted are 7963, Catimor and Typica. Across the resort, the small-grain coffee industry remains concentrated on planting and primary processing, and 59 coffee professional cooperatives have been established, including 21 for primary processing and 3 for fine processing. Primary processed products are exported mainly to Europe, the Middle East, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, as well as to domestic markets such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hainan.

Baoshan: The Heart of Yunnan's Coffee Industry

Baoshan City, home to the Lujiangba area in the Nujiang River Canyon, has long been famous for small-grain coffee. Through the careful work of local farmers and technicians, Lujiangba has developed the know-how to produce high-quality, high-yield small-grain coffee, and its output accounts for about 70% of Yunnan Province's total. After 1980, the "descendants" of Lujiangba small-grain coffee spread across the country, and Lujiangba became one of China's largest coffee seed bases. After 30 years of development, Yunnan's coffee industry has largely settled into its dominant production areas, with industrial concentration improving markedly. In 2015, the province's coffee planting area reached 1.77 million mu with output of 130,000 tons, gradually revealing the advantages of scale and an unshakable position as China's number one in both area and output.

Challenges and Market Volatility

Because the raw beans are exported as primary processed products that have undergone only depulping and degumming, and because there are no influential brands behind them, Baoshan Lujiangba small-grain coffee cannot secure pricing power. From the United Nations Development Programme's assistance to Yunnan projects to the entry of professional coffee production groups such as Nestlé and Maxwell House, coffee prices once heated up, with green beans reaching 30 yuan per kilogram at their peak. Then, affected by international oversupply, prices fell to a low point, with green beans dropping to 7 yuan per kilogram. Baoshan small-grain coffee, one of the earliest products to connect with the international market, has ridden a roller coaster of market conditions.

Strategic Transformation Toward Premium Coffee

"Lujiangba coffee needs to adjust its structure and vigorously develop premium specialty small-grain coffee," an official from the Gaoligong Mountain Tourist Resort Management Committee told the 21st Century Economic Herald reporter on April 2nd. Lujiangba has already developed a rich range of specialty products such as civet coffee, peaberry coffee and drip bag coffee, raising the level of primary processing and gaining greater market and profit space. Baoshan City has produced eight provincial-level leading enterprises — Yunlu, Heimei, Gaolaozhuang, Yatong, Xinzhai, Baihushan, Xincheng and Bilton — involving 13 coffee companies engaged in foreign trade export. Sales models for deep-processed products have also diversified continuously, spanning online, offline, physical stores and orders.

Future Development Goals

At the end of last year, at the opening ceremony of the 2nd Yunnan Coffee Cup China Brewing Competition Finals and the Baoshan Coffee Culture Festival, Huang Xiao, a member of the Baoshan Municipal Party Committee and Vice Mayor, said that during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period Baoshan would firmly seize the major opportunity that "China's coffee consumption will usher in an explosive era." Guided by "agricultural scale," the city will make full use of Baoshan small-grain coffee's germplasm resource advantages and quality competitive advantages, focusing on consolidating and improving existing areas in the most suitable zones of the Gaoligong Mountain Tourist Resort Management Committee, Longyang District and Longling County. By 2020, the city's total high-quality coffee garden planting area will reach 300,000 mu, with total output reaching 50,000 tons, of which specialty coffee will account for about 40% of total output. Output value will double compared to the end of the "12th Five-Year Plan," reaching 2 billion yuan, comprehensively enhancing Baoshan small-grain coffee's international competitiveness and market share.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

FrontStreet Yunnan Small-Grain Coffee — This is the coffee that introduces most people to Yunnan. Sourced from the Baoshan region, it is washed and given a medium roast. In the cup it shows soft nutty and chocolate sweetness with a light plum acidity, and an approachable price makes it an easy first step into Yunnan coffee.

FrontStreet 2013 Sun-Dried Typica — In 2013 FrontStreet established its own estate and planted a block of Typica, partly because Typica is one of the oldest varieties, carrying pure Arabica genetics and a naturally elegant, clean flavor, and partly because the very first coffee trees planted in Yunnan were also Typica, brought in by French missionaries. If the Yunnan small-grain lot is the entry point, this 2013 Typica is the step up. Only fully ripe red cherries are used and processed as a natural, then given a medium roast to keep the cup balanced with a more vivid sweet-sour structure. It carries dark berry notes along with caramel sweetness, chocolate and a hint of dried apricot, finishing with a black tea aftertaste.

FrontStreet Black Cocoa Blend — To taste Yunnan in an espresso, try this blend of Yunnan small-grain coffee and Brazil Cerrado, a combination many baristas recommend. The Brazilian component supplies mixed-nut aroma and a balanced body, while the Yunnan small-grain plays the role of chocolate and citrus. As an americano it balances sour, bitter and sweet with nutty, brown-sugar sweetness; as a latte it turns smooth and creamy with an almond note — a very forgiving choice for beginners.