Honouring Yunnan Coffee Growers: Starbucks China Opens Its First Coffee-Origin Store in Pu'er

At a Glance (China Coffee Network): Pu'er grows over 80% of China's coffee on 789,000 mu and trades more than 100,000 tonnes a year. Starbucks China opened its first coffee-origin store there on 21 June, six years after setting up its Yunnan Farmer Support Center in 2012; 1,678 local farms are now C.A.F.E. Practices certified.

Starbucks China’s first coffee-origin store opened on the 21st in Pu’er, Yunnan province. Through this platform, the company hopes to keep telling the story of Starbucks working with Chinese coffee farmers in pursuit of quality and growing together with China’s coffee-growing industry.

Pu’er sits in the golden growing belt for Arabica coffee and is known as ‘China’s coffee capital’. Its coffee plantings reach 789,000 mu, annual coffee trade exceeds 100,000 tonnes, and it accounts for more than 80% of China’s total coffee output.

For the first time, it creates an origin coffee experience ‘from one green bean to one cup of coffee’.

Another sincere tribute after six years of deep engagement in Yunnan, honouring the province’s coffee growers.

(Pu’er, 21 June) Starbucks China’s first coffee-origin store opened today in Pu’er, Yunnan. It marks the first time Starbucks has brought together and carried forward the ‘first ten feet’ and ‘last ten feet’ of the coffee journey in a Chinese coffee-growing region, and is another milestone six years after the Starbucks Yunnan Farmer Support Center took root in Pu’er. Nearly 100 guests, including coffee growers and representatives of the Farmer Support Center, attended the opening and witnessed the historic moment.

Guests pour coffee grounds around a coffee tree to mark the official opening of Starbucks China’s first coffee-origin store

From left: Tong Yalun, head of Starbucks’ Yunnan project; Tan Huanyi, general manager of Central and Western China, Starbucks China; Shen Can, operations director for Western China, Starbucks China; and Sun Zhe, store manager of the Starbucks Pu’er Chuangji Shangcheng store

‘This store is a sincere tribute to Yunnan’s coffee growers and reflects Starbucks’ determination and ability to develop China’s whole coffee industry chain,’ said Wang Jingying, CEO of Starbucks China. ‘In 19 years in China, Starbucks has held fast to its mission to inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time, controlling coffee quality strictly from the source. Forty-seven years of relentless pursuit of high-quality coffee and industry leadership are woven into every step of the journey from one green bean to one cup of coffee.’

Where the First and Last Ten Feet Meet: Coffee Leadership Throughout

From a coffee seed to a cup of coffee is a long journey.

Starbucks’ relentless pursuit of coffee quality shows not only in its professional coffee quality management team, who travel the world’s coffee-growing belts with total devotion in search of high-quality Arabica beans, but still more in its Farmer Support Center teams, who start at origin with cultivation, picking, drying and evaluation to control and lift quality precisely. From its growth in the ‘first ten feet’ to becoming an aromatic cup in a customer’s hand in the ‘last ten feet’, a bean passes on average through 34 pairs of hands before completing its Starbucks journey.

To honour Yunnan’s coffee growers, the Pu’er Chuangji Shangcheng store weaves local culture into its design: the flowing curves of the facade echo Yunnan’s mountains and winding terraces, set off by the vivid colours of the region’s ethnic traditions inside. A creative coffee-tree landscape outside the main entrance, clay jars throughout the store and displays of local folk character all express its origin identity, complemented by the coffee aroma that always hangs in the air.

The store reflects its coffee origin in every detail

Inside, the most striking feature is two large watercolour works depicting the close bond and rich results of Starbucks’ years in Yunnan; every scene is a precious memory of Starbucks in the province. Notably, the paper for both works was hand-assembled from 5,600 coffee filters and painted in the flat, heavy-colour style of the Yunnan school — using the material of the ‘last ten feet’ to carry the story of the ‘first ten feet’, a deft expression of the store’s theme of convergence. Every customer can follow the story in the images, taste the journey behind the coffee in hand, and sense Starbucks’ commitment to the sustainable development of Yunnan’s coffee industry.

Two large watercolour works inside the store

The store serves premium Arabica beans from around the world year-round, including the Fengwu Xiangyun blend — part of it made with beans carefully grown by Yunnan farmers and expertly blended by Starbucks roast masters. Starbucks’ first Chinese single-origin bean, Starbucks(R) Yunnan Coffee Beans, which sold out quickly on both launches, is also specially available here. From now on, coffee lovers from around the world can taste high-quality coffees from every origin in this store — including locally grown Yunnan coffee.

At the store’s core, the main coffee bar is equipped with a range of professional brewing methods — a Black Eagle semi-automatic espresso machine, classic pour-over, refined pour-over and siphon among them — each giving customers a distinct coffee experience. As a further tribute to the origin, the store has created an innovative drink based on the Fengwu Xiangyun blend, the Lemon Sparkling Iced Fengwu Xiangyun, a flavour exclusive to the Starbucks Pu’er Chuangji Shangcheng store.

The main bar is equipped with a range of professional brewing equipment

Six Years Rooted in Yunnan, Honouring Coffee Growers

Pu’er, on China’s southwestern frontier, is Yunnan’s famous coffee-growing region and the largest coffee-producing area in China.

A map on the wall of the Pu’er Chuangji Shangcheng store showing Starbucks’ nine Farmer Support Centers worldwide records the company’s sustained commitment to supporting coffee growing. One of them, the Starbucks Yunnan Farmer Support Center, has worked since its founding in 2012 to grow alongside Yunnan’s coffee industry and bring quality Yunnan coffee to China and global markets. Over six years, 1,678 Yunnan coffee farms have gained C.A.F.E. Practices certification, covering more than 16,000 hectares, with nearly 17,000 farmer training attendances. Starbucks has also forged close cooperation with the Pu’er municipal government to build the city into a leading global origin for high-quality coffee.

The journey ‘from one green bean to one cup of coffee’ also embodies the effort and passion of countless Starbucks partners. Among the staff at the Pu’er Chuangji Shangcheng store are several ‘black apron’ Coffee Masters who applied from across the country and came through several rounds of selection. Their love of coffee drove them to this unprecedented origin store, to immerse themselves in the place where the coffee dream begins and to salute the farmers who work hard to grow high-quality beans.

Among them is one special ‘black apron’ partner, Panda. A Pu’er native and a coffee grower’s daughter — a ‘second-generation coffee family’ member — she spoke warmly of why she applied to the Pu’er store: ‘To bring the coffee passion and skills I developed at Starbucks back to coffee lovers in my hometown is a dream come true. Here, where the first ten feet is created, my parents and family can drink coffee I brew for them with my own hands, filling the last ten feet in my hands with a sense of purpose and happiness.’

‘I hope this store becomes a platform where coffee growers, Farmer Support Center partners and Starbucks Coffee Masters can exchange and share, and that more coffee passion and inspiration are born here, injecting new vitality into Yunnan coffee,’ said Tong Yalun, head of Starbucks’ Yunnan project.

Starbucks in Yunnan

The Starbucks Yunnan Coffee Project is important evidence of Starbucks’ long-standing commitment to the Chinese market, to giving back to the communities where it operates, and to sincere cooperation and shared growth with China’s coffee-growing industry. Filled with our sincere respect for that industry, it is the result of sustained effort to refine Starbucks’ contribution in China — from coffee cultivation to delivering an authentic Starbucks experience in store.

The Starbucks Yunnan Coffee Project comprises two independent, mutually reinforcing bodies: the Starbucks Yunnan Farmer Support Center and Starbucks Aini Coffee (Yunnan) Co., Ltd.

In December 2012, the Starbucks Yunnan Farmer Support Center was established in Pu’er, Yunnan, as Starbucks’ first Farmer Support Center in Asia. It provides farmers with free training and technical support in coffee cultivation and processing — frost protection, extending the productive life of coffee trees, and prevention and control of leaf rust and pests among them — thereby improving coffee quality. It also advances training and certification under Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, helping farmers improve quality while promoting long-term sustainable coffee growing and raising social, economic and environmental standards.

Starbucks Aini Coffee (Yunnan) Co., Ltd. is Starbucks’ platform for local coffee purchasing and primary processing. It pioneered and upholds the principle of ‘higher price for higher quality’, paying above the industry market average for quality coffee and encouraging farmers to grow better coffee guided by C.A.F.E. Practices. In primary processing it introduced kanban management, so selected Yunnan beans receive the careful handling they deserve through more standardised, precise and professional methods; the readily recognisable flavours of Yunnan coffee are thus expressed consistently in beans processed at scale, presenting outstanding Yunnan coffee to China and the world.

Honouring Yunnan Coffee Growers: Starbucks China Opens Its First Coffee-Origin Store in Pu'er — Image source: Specialty Coffee Network (Source: Specialty Coffee Network)

Reprint Notice & Disclaimer

This article has been edited and compiled by China Coffee Network and reprinted from Specialty Coffee Network, “致敬云南咖啡种植者星巴克中国首家咖啡原产地门店落户普洱.” The copyright of the original text belongs to Specialty Coffee Network and the original author. This reprint is intended solely for information sharing within the coffee industry and does not represent the views of this website; all data and opinions are subject to the original article. Our thanks to the original author for creating and sharing it.
Read the original: Specialty Coffee Network, “致敬云南咖啡种植者星巴克中国首家咖啡原产地门店落户普洱”
For matters concerning content licensing, attribution, copyright or otherwise, please contact us promptly and we will verify and cooperate in handling them as soon as possible. We also welcome coffee origins, brands and industry media to exchange ideas and contribute articles.
Contact China Coffee Network: Tel 400-0000-641 (+86-18288016826) | Email 405854472@qq.com