In this year's Starbucks National Reserve Stores, this sun-dried coffee from Yunnan coffee farmer Zhang Qisheng sold out in advance. Two years ago, Zhang Qisheng was also because of the poor quality of coffee beans, and almost had to cut down trees to find another way out.
Yunnan is the largest coffee-growing province in China, but it has never had a voice in the coffee market, the quality is uneven, and the purchase price is subject to the international futures market, which is generally low. In recent years, driven by the specialty coffee market and the efforts of the local industry and the government, domestic cafes have set off a boom in high-quality coffee in Yunnan, and coffee Yunnan is getting attention.
Agronomist guides Yunnan coffee farmer Yeping coffee planting by hand Correspondent/Interviewee Courtesy photo
In nine years, the purchase price of Coffee in Yunnan has risen steadily
Starbucks Yunnan "Star" program has lasted for nine years and has covered every aspect of the entire industry chain from coffee planting and processing to roasting and retailing. In 2012, Starbucks planned to bring China's high-quality coffee to the international market, established the first grower support center in the Asia-Pacific region in Puer, Yunnan, and officially launched the Yunnan "Star" program, providing the earliest local institutions and enterprises to provide free training and support to coffee farmers.
At that time, in the face of this group of local coffee farmers in Yunnan who lacked systematic and scientific planting technology, agronomists drove several hours a day to the home of coffee farmers, tirelessly popularizing why to grow good coffee and how to grow good coffee, providing coffee farmers with training from seedlings, planting, cupbing, processing, etc., and improving the quality of Yunnan coffee beans from the source.
In a coffee plantation in Yunnan, a cup surveyor teaches coffee farmer Zhang Qisheng how to cup coffee quality Correspondent/Interviewee Courtesy photo
Zhang Qisheng, the owner of sun-dried coffee beans at Hongfeng Farm in Yunnan, has encountered great difficulties in exploring the cultivation of specialty coffee. In 2019, the cultivation of coffee beans failed, and Starbucks agronomists noticed that many coffee farmers like Zhang Qisheng had problems in the back-end processing of coffee beans, resulting in the quality of coffee beans has not been able to improve.
During the next year's coffee harvest season, Starbucks agronomists and cup inspectors brought small coffee roasters to the countryside fields to instruct coffee farmers like Zhang Qisheng on how to cup and locate the problems in processing according to the flavor flaws, and propose corrective measures to ensure the quality of coffee beans during large-scale picking.
At the same time, Starbucks also took the lead in proposing the concept of "high quality and good price" in the local area, not only purchasing high-quality coffee beans at a price of 20%-30% higher than the average market price, but also giving additional rewards to specialty coffee beans that meet or even exceed Starbucks procurement standards, which greatly enhances the enthusiasm of coffee farmers for growing specialty coffee.
The data shows that the pass rate at the time of coffee bean acquisition has increased significantly from 20%-30% nine years ago to more than 80% now; Starbucks has launched one or two select Yunnan coffee beans in China every year since 2017, and fully realized the "traceability" of specialty coffee.
Rural revitalization through coffee beans
As part of the Yunnan "Star" program, while focusing on the quality of coffee beans, Starbucks is also committed to the development of coffee growing communities in Yunnan. In Yunnan, Starbucks provides customized assistance for the overall development of local coffee growing communities, so that coffee farmers can not only grow high-quality good coffee, but also live a better life. In 2017, Starbucks pledged to invest about 132 million yuan over the next five years to scale up efforts to promote the development of local communities.
In October 2018, Starbucks and the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation invested RMB 3.5 million in the first phase of the pilot project, benefiting Conggang Village and Zhaokang Village in Baoshan County, Yunnan Province. In April 2020, Starbucks again donated about 8.16 million yuan (US$1.2 million) to start the second phase of the Pu'er project. The two phases of the project will build a total of ten coffee planting demonstration bases in the local area, involving more than 2,200 coffee farmers.
Ye Ping is the head of this year's Starbucks reserve "Tianzuo No he" comprehensive coffee bean in the Tianyu Cooperative. At present, with the support of Starbucks, the Tianyu Coffee Cooperative led by her has led 221 households and 885 people in eight surrounding villager groups, of which female coffee farmers account for 75%, increasing their income by 1 million yuan per year.
Yunnan coffee is popular with chain brands
In the past two years, in the Chinese coffee market, more and more coffee brands, especially chain brands, have developed specialty coffee and launched their own Yunnan coffee products. At present, Starbucks has launched a total of ten Yunnan coffee beans in China, including eight boutique-grade select Yunnan coffees. They not only appear in Starbucks stores, but also at the China International Import Expo. In addition, in some overseas stores of Starbucks, Yunnan coffee beans are also displayed, inviting consumers to taste the experience.
Zhang Tao, an experimenter at the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, previously told the media that the technical side, the talent side and the concept of coffee are all mastered in the consumer market of big cities and in the terminal market. If these needs are used to reverse the development of the industry, it will be a benign development. Thus driving the influence of Yunnan coffee brand to further enhance.
[Reporter] Li Jie
【Author】 Li Jie
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client
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