An international coffee exhibition was held in Pu’er, Yunnan province, on January 5 – 7. Pu’er is the central town in Yunnan’s coffee production region, that is good for 95% of China’s coffee production; the remainder being produced in Hainan. In 2022, Yunnan’s total coffee bean output was 113,600 mt That year, Yunnan exported 8,700 mt of beans.

International

In that respect, Pu’er is the natural venue for an international coffee fair in China. However, the town is not the easiest place to reach for international exhibitors or buyers. That was probably the reason that, although it was an international fair, the number of foreign stands was limited. Only the stands of Mexico and Uganda had foreign persons on the stand. The other non-Chinese stands were manned by local people. As for visitors, I only spotted one other foreign visitor apart from myself.

Exhibitors

As Eurasia Consult specialises in food and beverage, I will not allot space in this post on machinery or services. However, the number of exhibitors was remarkably high. It seems that we can divide Chinese suppliers of coffee in two types: coffee companies comparable to the big international suppliers and a large number of small companies. The former purchase beans from farmers and process it into a number of standardised products. The latter are farms that have started processing their own beans into specialty products, and/or have added tourist facilities like a visitor centre or even a hotel, so tourists can stay at the farm for a complete coffee experience.

Coffee

A visit to a coffee fair inevitably leads to a high caffein intake. At a certain moment, it becomes hard to savour the flavour of another cup offered to you however hospitably. Still, the average quality was good. The range of flavours was impressive. Chinese coffee processors have reached the level of maturity in which various houses have developed a distinct flavour that you can like or dislike as a consumer. Most people offering coffee at the stands were familiar with expressions like ‘dark roast’ vs ‘medium roast’. Also, most coffee offered was prepared freshly in a percolator, to extract maximum flavour.

Innovative products

Coffee (beans, grinds, instant) was not the only product exhibited at this fair. A number of exhibitors was offering a broad range of derived products:

• tea from offal of coffee production;
• a combination of (Pu’er) tea and coffee;
• coffee flavoured biscuits;
• coffee enriched with white bean extract for burning fat;
• fertiliser specially formulated for coffee trees.

Peter Peverelli is active in and with China since 1975 and regularly travels to the remotest corners of that vast nation. He is a co-author of a major book introducing the cultural drivers behind China’s economic success