Pu'er Coffee

Pu'er Coffee

Pu'er Coffee is a geographical indication certification trademark.

Pu'er Coffee is a geographical indication product for agricultural produce.

　　Today, coffee is recognized as one of the world’s three major beverages, alongside tea and cocoa. According to the *Annals of Simao Prefecture* and the *Annals of Simao County*, in 1956, the Jiangcheng Hani and Yi Autonomous County established a coffee farm in Manlao Street and introduced the cultivation of small-seed coffee varieties. In 1982, 320 acres of small-seed coffee were successfully planted in Dakaihe, Nanping Commune. In 1987, Simao Prefecture and Nestlé Coffee Company in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, began economic collaboration to introduce capital and technology for coffee production development. The goal was to establish a 100,000-acre commercial coffee production base by the year 2000, with planning and unified development led by the regional and county supply and marketing cooperative systems. In 1988, the county government decided to develop a commercial coffee base, planting 606 acres in Dakaihe Village, Nanping Township. By 1989, a cumulative total of 32,000 acres of high-standard intensive coffee plantations had been developed, with 3,000 acres already in production, yielding 20 tons of coffee beans. The small-seed coffee varieties grown in Simao Prefecture grow quickly, bear fruit early, yield highly, and are of excellent quality. They have been praised as “a beverage with superior quality, mellow aroma, and great taste, comparable to the world’s finest varieties,” earning popularity among consumers both domestically and internationally. Today, the coffee industry in Pu’er City (formerly Simao Prefecture) has entered a phase of standardized operation: unified production techniques, consistent product quality, and the regional brand “Pu’er Coffee” has gained further prestige. Currently, Pu’er City has become China’s largest coffee-producing region and trading hub. Amid steady development, the city focuses on increasing yields per acre and producing high-quality beans, achieving over 150 kilograms per acre and more than 80% premium-grade coffee beans. Coffee output and value have continued to rise, making the coffee industry a key specialty sector that enriches farmers, boosts enterprise efficiency, and increases foreign exchange earnings. In 2011, the Pu’er Municipal People’s Government issued the *“12th Five-Year Plan for Coffee Industry Development”* and the *“Decision on Accelerating the Development of the Coffee Industry in Pu’er City.”* In April 2011, the *DB53/T 154—2006 Simao Small-Seed Coffee Comprehensive Standards* were awarded the Yunnan Provincial Standardization Innovation Contribution Award by the Yunnan Provincial People’s Government, further promoting the industrialization of Pu’er Coffee.

　　Pu’er has over a century of coffee cultivation history, with industrialized and large-scale planting beginning in 1988. Since the launch of the 11th Five-Year Plan, the Pu’er Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have firmly upheld the concept of “ecology-based urban development and green growth.” They have consistently focused on developing distinctive biological industries and cultural tourism wellness sectors as key competitive directions for Pu’er in future global competition. Centered on the strategic goal of becoming the “China Coffee Capital,” they have prioritized the coffee industry as a leading and robust sector. This focus has driven rapid development in the Pu’er coffee industry, elevating its international brand status. Pu’er has now become the country’s largest coffee-growing region by both area and yield, producing the highest quality beans and serving as a major trade and distribution hub for coffee.

　　In 2011, the city’s total coffee planting area reached 439,000 acres, with 190,000 acres in production, yielding 28,000 tons of coffee and generating 850 million yuan in value. In 2012, 270,000 acres were in production, yielding 36,500 tons of coffee and 900 million yuan in value. In the first half of this year, export earnings reached 63.6256 million US dollars. Currently, there are 70 registered coffee enterprises in the city, including 12 with export qualifications, 42 hulling processing plants, 4 deep-processing plants, 62 specialized cooperatives, and over 30,000 households and more than 100,000 people employed in the coffee industry.

　　Coffee has high requirements for natural conditions. Thanks to Pu’er City’s unique geography, climate, and ecological environment, the small-seed (Arabica) coffee grown here boasts superior quality and unique flavor. Since 2004, the Pu’er Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision has annually sampled coffee products from across the city and sent them to the National Ministry of Agriculture’s Food Quality Supervision and Testing Center for inspection. On all occasions, residues such as BHC (hexachlorocyclohexane) and DDT have not been detected, and hygiene indicators have exceeded green food standards. Since 2006, Nestlé (Dongguan) Ltd. has annually sampled coffee purchased from Pu’er and sent it to the Yunnan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau for testing, with no detection of agricultural chemicals prohibited or restricted under Japan’s Positive List System. The outstanding intrinsic quality of Pu’er Coffee has been certified as a Class I product by the International Coffee Organization (ICO), and Nestlé…

　　…has used Pu’er Coffee as the raw material for its Limited Edition specialty coffee. In 2006, the Specialty Coffee Association of America published the results of three consecutive years of cupping comparisons between Pu’er Coffee and Colombian Coffee, showing Pu’er Coffee scored an average of 88.75 points, compared to 85.88 points for Colombian Coffee. In January 2012, Starbucks’ chief cupper, Jeremy Wakeford, gave Pu’er Coffee a high score of 81.5. This superior quality gives Pu’er Coffee products a unique competitive edge, both in the domestic and international markets.

　　During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, our city will continue to plan the development of the coffee industry with a modern agricultural philosophy, adhering to a path of specialization, scale, standardization, industrialization, branding, and internationalization. We aim to grow, strengthen, and refine the coffee industry, establishing Pu’er as a global source of high-quality coffee bean raw materials, China’s largest base for coffee deep processing, and a logistics and trading center. Pu’er will be developed into the “China Coffee Capital” and a national demonstration zone for the quality and safety of exported agricultural products (coffee). The goal is to expand the city’s coffee planting area to 1 million acres by 2016, with 700,000 acres in production, producing 100,000 tons of coffee beans annually, and achieving a total coffee output value exceeding 10 billion yuan.

　　Small-seed Coffee has approximately 150 years of cultivation history in Pu’er City, initially introduced by missionaries and grown sporadically in counties such as Lancang, Jiangcheng, Jingdong, Jinggu, and Menglian. The industrialized development of Pu’er’s coffee industry began in 1988. Because the region continued using the name “Simao” after large-scale coffee planting began—and the Yunnan provincial standard DB53/T154.1-10-2006 *Simao Small-Seed Coffee Comprehensive Standards* also uses the name “Simao”—Pu’er Coffee still uses the raw material brand “Simao Small-Seed Coffee.” For over 20 years, the Pu’er Municipal Party Committee and government have consistently treated coffee development as a key industry for adjusting the industrial structure and increasing farmers’ incomes. They adopted an agricultural industrialization model of “company + base + farmer + standard” and established strong trade partnerships with Nestlé Coffee Company, enabling significant growth in the coffee industry.

　　Due to its geographic location and unique climatic environment, Pu’er Coffee has long been recognized worldwide as high-quality, favored by renowned global coffee companies. Since 2004, the Pu’er Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision has sampled mixed products from over 30 local coffee companies and sent them to the National Ministry of Agriculture’s Food Quality Supervision and Testing Center (Chengdu) for testing. No residues of BHC (hexachlorocyclohexane) or DDT have ever been detected, and hygiene indicators have consistently surpassed green food standards. Since 2006, Nestlé has sampled coffee purchased from Pu’er and sent it to the Yunnan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau for testing, with no detection of agricultural chemicals banned or restricted under Japan’s Positive List System. The outstanding intrinsic quality of Simao Small-Seed Coffee has been classified as a Class I product by the International Coffee Organization (ICO). Nestlé’s newly launched Limited Edition coffee uses high-quality Simao Small-Seed Coffee from Pu’er as its raw beans. Meanwhile, Japan’s Daikinomu Comprehensive Investment Co., Ltd. (Beijing Ji Yi Ou Coffee Co., Ltd.) has also registered Simao Small-Seed Coffee in Japan.

　　Coffee is a key industry in Pu’er. The Municipal Party Committee and government place great emphasis on its development and have issued the *“Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Coffee Industry.”* Over the years, Pu’er has carried out projects such as building biodiversity ecological coffee farms, conducting drip irrigation trials that increased yields by 30%, organic coffee experiments, variety comparison tests, and providing supporting processes for fresh coffee fruit processing. These efforts achieved an average commercial coffee yield of 125 kilograms per acre, with a peak yield of 2,638 kilograms of fresh fruit per acre (translating to 400 kilograms of commercial beans). Coffee experts and merchants from over 10 countries have visited Pu’er for observation, exchange, and learning, totaling thousands of visits. A set of 10,000 copies of the *“High-Yield, High-Quality Cultivation Guide for Simao Small-Seed Coffee”* was produced. In 2003, Pu’er took the lead nationally in establishing a Coffee Industry Federation, dedicated to “serving members, safeguarding their common interests, and maximizing the overall benefits of the coffee industry.” Upholding integrity and self-discipline, the federation standardizes production techniques, product standards, and marketing practices within the coffee sector.  Unripe Coffee Beans

　　Currently, Pu’er’s coffee industry has largely entered an era of standardized management and production: unified production techniques, consistent product quality, and the regional brand “Simao Small-Seed Coffee” has gained further prestige. The city has 153 fresh coffee fruit peeling processing plants, 42 hulling processing plants, 3 deep-processing plants, and 9 coffee bean brands: Nestlé, Sanglait, Beigui, Lancang River, Arabica, Laifushan, Man 1 (Hande), Sena, and Qianrun (Kunming Heavy Industry). There are also 3 deep-processing product brands (Manya, Beigui, Shoupin), 31 coffee shops (cafés), 9 coffee export enterprises, and over 100,000 people employed in the coffee industry, involving more than 20,000 farming households. Among these, the Sanglait Coffee Hulling and Selection Processing Plant owns China’s largest coffee primary processing equipment, capable of processing 12,000 tons of coffee husk beans annually (10 tons per hour), and can simultaneously produce 8 grades of coffee beans. Its standardized hulling production line completes all processes—including dehulling, particle grading, gravity grading, polishing, color sorting, automatic weighing, and packaging—in one streamlined operation, achieving a first-grade coffee bean rate of over 80%. This marks China’s primary coffee processing reaching global standards in one step.

　　Geographic Scope

　　Pu’er Coffee is produced within Pu’er City, Yunnan Province, covering 1 district and 9 counties: Simao District, Ning’er County, Mojiang County, Jinggu County, Jingdong County, Zhenyuan County, Jiangcheng County, Lancang County, Menglian County, and Ximeng County, encompassing a total of 84 townships. The geographic coordinates are between 22°02′N to 24°50′N latitude and 99°09′E to 102°19′E longitude. The region spans 208.5 kilometers from north to south and 55 kilometers in the central-northern part and 299 kilometers in the southern part from east to west. The total planting area is 67,000 hectares, with an annual output of 150,000 tons of coffee beans.

　　Product Quality Characteristics

　　1. External Sensory Characteristics: The stem grows upright with visible nodes; each node bears a pair of green leaves. Flowers are white, bisexual, typically blooming from March to April. Mature fresh fruits are round red (or yellow) berries, usually containing two beans after de-pulping, and generally ripen from October to February of the following year. Commercial coffee beans are light blue or light green. 2. Internal Quality Indicators: Pu’er Coffee features excellent color and quality, characterized by a “rich, long-lasting aroma with a slight fruity acidity.” It has good acidity and body, along with a strong coffee flavor. Specific indicators include: moisture ≤12.5%, ash ≤4.2%, water extract ≥20.0%, caffeine ≤1.2%, total sugar ≥8.5%, protein ≥11.0%, crude fat ≥5.0%, crude fiber ≤35.0%, total acid ≥0.5%. 3. Quality and Safety Regulations: During production and processing, the use and management of fertilizers and agricultural inputs follow the *Technical Specifications for Full Process Control of Quality and Safety in Crop Production* and the Yunnan Provincial Standard *Simao Small-Seed Coffee Comprehensive Standards* DB53/T154.1～10-2006.