Right now, Yunnan is embracing its busiest and sweetest season of the year—the coffee harvest. Together with leading coffee brands like Luckin Coffee, which has been deeply rooted in local producing areas, these events and expo like SIAL in China are bringing the rich, mountain-grown aroma of Yunnan coffee to the world stage.

The convergence of harvest and exhibition seasons is no coincidence, but a natural evolution of Yunnan’s coffee industry forged through years of refinement. In recent years, driven by quality upgrades and industrial maturation, Yunnan coffee’s international influence has risen steadily, transforming it from a mere raw material supplier into a leading global industry hub with a strong voice on the international stage.

Once dismissed as a source of low-cost raw beans, Yunnan coffee is now accelerating its global expansion. According to data from Kunming Customs, Yunnan exported 32,500 tons of coffee in 2024, marking a staggering year-on-year increase of 358%. Its products are shipped to 29 countries and regions, including the Netherlands, Germany, the United States and Vietnam.

Behind these impressive figures lies the genuine rise of a producing region’s influence. Yunnan, which represents the pinnacle of China’s coffee-growing industry, and Luckin Coffee, a symbol of China’s brand power, are poised to jointly elevate Chinese coffee to a new era. A distinct “dual-card” era for Chinese coffee—defined by world-class producing regions and globally recognized brands—is now clearly within sight.

Building a Solid Industrial Foundation: From Terroir Advantages to Quality Leadership

Blessed with favorable climatic conditions and diverse terrain, coupled with continuously advancing cultivation techniques, Yunnan’s arabica coffee has developed a unique flavor profile characterized by plump beans, rich aroma and mellow taste. As quality has soared, the specialty coffee rate of Yunnan beans has jumped from less than 8% in 2021 to 31.6% in 2024, cementing its growing reputation for excellence.

This quality leap has earned national recognition. Baoshan Arabica Coffee from Yunnan has been included in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ diplomatic gift collection, serving as a representative of Chinese flavors on the global stage and vividly affirming the authoritative statement that “Yunnan coffee is the face of Chinese coffee.”

Quality translates directly to industry influence. In May 2025, the Cup of Excellence (CoE), hailed as the “Olympics of Coffee,” made its historic debut in China, hosted in Baoshan, Yunnan. This milestone signifies that Yunnan’s coffee origins have officially been integrated into the world’s most authoritative coffee evaluation system. As a strategic partner of the event, Luckin Coffee played an active role, demonstrating its long-term commitment to supporting Yunnan’s coffee industry while advancing its own global expansion goals.

Today, as a new growth engine for the global coffee industry, large-scale internationalization of Chinese coffee is imminent. Historically, China’s coffee industry focused its global outreach on supply chain development. Take Luckin Coffee as an example: Over the past few years, the brand has deepened its presence in core producing regions worldwide, establishing a global supply chain network spanning Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Yunnan, China. Notably, Brazil—the world’s largest coffee bean producer—supplies 60% of its coffee exports to China through Luckin’s procurement channels.

Of course, industrial and brand globalization cannot succeed without telling compelling stories—a principle that Yunnan and Luckin have embraced wholeheartedly. From Luckin’s establishment of production facilities in Baoshan and its support for the CoE pilot competition, to the Specialty Coffee Development Conference and International Coffee Expo, Yunnan’s model of “using competitions to boost production” and “hosting festivals to drive tourism” has not only promoted the integrated development of the “coffee + cultural tourism” sector, but also garnered greater global attention and vitality for Yunnan coffee.

Empowering Brands: Joint Global Expansion to Forge China’s Dual Coffee Cards

The rise of Yunnan coffee follows a path of synergistic development, combining the hard power of producing regions with the soft power of brand building. On this journey, Luckin Coffee has leveraged extensive market experience and brand-building expertise to collaborate with Yunnan, jointly shaping the international identity of “Chinese coffee” and working to elevate it into a globally recognized brand.

Luckin has already accumulated valuable experience in driving industrial and brand synergy, primarily in two key areas:

1. Promoting coffee cultural exchange and mutual learning: For instance, it has successfully hosted two Brazil Coffee Culture Festivals, built one Brazil Coffee Museum and opened four Brazil-themed coffee shops, all of which serve as vital platforms for China-Brazil cultural exchange.
2. Exporting industrial technology: In core producing regions like Brazil, Luckin has set up offices and farmer support centers to provide local coffee growers with professional cultivation training and technical guidance.

Building on this foundation, the Chinese coffee industry—represented by Yunnan and Luckin—now faces a greater challenge: brand globalization. This challenge encompasses fierce competition in mature markets, low brand awareness and significant cultural differences. When discussing Luckin’s two pilot stores in New York earlier this year, Guo Jinyi, Co-founder and CEO of Luckin Coffee, stated pragmatically that the brand is still in the early stages of exploration and must adopt a steady, step-by-step approach.

It is undeniable that replicating domestic business models in overseas markets—where cultural and competitive landscapes differ drastically—may not yield results. Is there a way to overcome these obstacles and achieve a breakthrough? The answer lies in the deepening collaboration between Luckin and Yunnan.

Through localized cultivation, value alignment and global coordination, these two “Chinese coffee cards”—representing the two ends of the industrial chain—are well-positioned to lead China’s coffee industry from “individual brand expansion” to “integrated industrial chain collaboration” on the global stage, thereby maximizing the advantages of a coordinated global supply chain. For example, Luckin’s innovative capabilities, exemplified by blockbuster products like Coconut Latte, combined with the rising specialty coffee rate of Yunnan beans, will create a powerful synergy of distinctive flavors, premium quality and originality—becoming a formidable competitive edge for Chinese coffee in the international market.

The Future of Chinese Coffee

Chinese coffee is rising with unstoppable momentum—a path that many other Chinese industries have traversed before, from new energy vehicles and shipbuilding to rare earths, home appliances and smartphones. These industries evolved from imitation and following to innovation and leadership, transitioning from struggling to survive in the domestic market to achieving global success. This transformation is an inevitable outcome of China’s economic vitality, innovative capacity and comprehensive, robust industrial chain capabilities.

Chinese coffee is now on this very path. The combination of Luckin’s supply chain expertise and innovative strength, along with the Yunnan local government’s supportive industrial policies and unwavering commitment to development, has created a powerful synergy across the entire industrial chain—this is the greatest source of confidence behind the rise of Chinese coffee. Looking ahead, driven by its “dual cards,” Chinese coffee will not only solidify its position in the domestic market, but also play an increasingly important role in the global coffee landscape. The curtain has already risen on the era of Chinese coffee.