Observing the cloud platform – Are coffee beans also ‘rolling in’? In Lincang, watch how “Golden Beans” were born

Original Title: Observing the Cloud Platform | Are Coffee Beans Also 'Rolling Inside'? In Lincang, watch how "Golden Beans" were born

In 2025, Qiupo Manor will be located in Lincang, Yunnan. A washed coffee bean emerged from 144 competing beans and won the championship of the first Yunnan Treasure Coffee Raw Bean Competition.

This is their fifth time standing on the highest podium in the country since 2021.

Winning a championship once may be luck; Winning the championship five times, there must be real skills behind it.

The person behind this' golden bean 'is named Saimin.

In 2012, Saimin was still engaged in foreign trade in state-owned enterprises. When she first came into contact with Yunnan coffee, she was fascinated by this small red fruit. Without hesitation, she quit her stable job and ventured into the coffee export industry.

The cold winter of the industry came unexpectedly. In the following years, international coffee futures prices continued to decline, and even fell below the cost line in 2019. At that time, many coffee farmers tearfully chopped down trees and switched to planting other crops, "Sai Min remembered clearly.

Everyone else is retreating, but Saimin insists on charging forward. The less people are optimistic, the better time to lay out high-quality products. "Sai Min has a obsession: Yunnan coffee cannot always rely on low prices to increase volume. Only by pursuing the path of "boutique, estate, and branding" can Yunnan coffee truly break through.

So, Qiupo Manor was established in the valley.

Lincang is located in the "coffee planting golden belt" at 23 ° N latitude, on the same latitude line as globally renowned coffee producing areas such as Colombia and Jamaica. It has both tropical and subtropical climate characteristics and is a good place for producing good coffee. But a good terroir is just a 'ticket', to grow beans that can win championships, one must also 'be stronger than the mountains'.

Saimin collaborated with Dehong Tropical Agricultural Science Research Institute in Yunnan Province to establish a thousand acre contiguous coffee planting base in Tiankeng, Bangkao Village, Nuoliang Township. They tested 34 coffee varieties and repeatedly screened, tested, and optimized them like building a "coffee gene bank".

Good coffee is not only selected, but also tried over and over again. In the end, varieties such as Batian, Sachim, and Dere132 were retained. They not only withstand pests and diseases, but also produce beans with a special floral and fruity aroma, becoming the "exclusive treasure" of Qiupo Manor.

When planting beans, Saimin keeps "precision" at home.

Using thick plastic film in the field can effectively suppress grass and retain water;

Regularly conduct soil testing on each plot, supplement what is lacking, and apply 'formula fertilization'

Strictly control the maturity of picking, only pick whole red fruits;

The water treatment process precisely controls the fermentation time to ensure the cleanliness of the flavor.

We start controlling quality from the planting end, not waiting until processing to pay attention, "said Saimin.

In her opinion, making coffee is urgent. Valuing the soil, focusing on varieties, persevering in details, and trusting time, she did not choose the path of making quick money, but instead chose the most difficult but practical one. Coffee is a 'slow agriculture', without three to five years of patience, one cannot taste the true sweetness

It is precisely this persistence that has made the beans of Qiupo Manor become "award-winning professionals".

Since winning the championship for the first time in 2021, Qiupo has almost won all the heavyweight awards in domestic green bean competitions: champion of the washing group in the 2021 Yunnan Coffee Green Bean Competition, overall champion of the 2022 competition, and fifth place in the "China's Choice" Global Green Bean Competition in 2024, setting a record for the best performance in the history of Chinese plantations.

This coffee bean from Lincang has accumulated a solid good reputation in the coffee industry due to its unique flavor of "thick but not bitter, sour but not strong, with its own floral and fruity aroma, and thick five flavors".

The rise of Lincang coffee is not just about autumn coffee.

In recent years, Lincang has leveraged its natural advantages and made full use of its resources.

The government takes the lead in promoting ecological planting and often organizes technical training, inviting experts to the fields to teach coffee farmers how to grow coffee step by step; Build a production and sales docking platform to help everyone sell good beans to farther places. With such assistance, Lincang Coffee is gradually moving towards refinement, standardization, and branding.

Kangdeong women in the town pick coffee. Kangdeong women in the town pick coffee

In June 2025, Lincang signed a contract with Kudi Coffee to invest 500 million yuan to jointly build a coffee industry park, connecting the entire coffee industry chain from coffee bean pretreatment to deep processing, research and development, and supply chain.

Yunnan coffee still represents China. And Lincang is becoming an undeniable local area. Every 'golden bean' here is telling the world with its rich flavor that Lincang coffee is worthy of being loved.

Reporter: Ye Chuanzeng

Production: Kong Linqing, Xiong Zhili, Xu Qihao, Li Xing, Pu Yuanchun

Thanks: Lincang Municipal Committee Propaganda Department Lincang Integrated Media Center

Overall Planning: Zhu Sixiong

Produced by: Yunnan Branch of People's Daily

Yunnan Channel of People's Daily Client