Coffee in China

China’s coffee comes from Yunnan. In the mountains of the south-west, on the borders with Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, farmers grow almost all of the country’s coffee, nearly all of it washed Catimor arabica, around Pu’er, Lincang and Baoshan. China is a newcomer: its crop has grown more than fivefold since 2003/04, but its drinkers have grown faster, and it now buys far more coffee than it grows. Here’s how much, where, when and where it goes.

The short version

• About 1.9 million bags a year, USDA says; all arabica.
• Yunnan grows more than 95%; Pu’er has about half of Yunnan’s coffee land.
• Mostly washed Catimor, with Typica, Bourbon and new Yunnan varieties.
• A net importer: China drinks more than three times what it grows.
• Two protected origins: Baoshan arabica and Pu’er coffee.
• Late 19th century introduction; a modern industry since 1988.

How much coffee does China grow?

About 1.9 million bags, USDA estimates, for a coffee year from October to September:

Coffee year	Production	Imports	Consumption
2023/24	1.80 million	5.49 million	5.77 million
2024/25	1.90 million	5.30 million	5.89 million
2025/26 (estimate)	1.90 million	5.75 million	6.42 million
2026/27 (forecast)	1.90 million	6.05 million	6.75 million

Source: USDA, July 2026. 60 kg bags.

That is a long way up from 361,000 bags in 2003/04, the International Coffee Organization found in 2015, when China already grew more than Kenya and Tanzania combined. Chinese figures, in tonnes, run higher than USDA’s and don’t agree with each other:

Measure	Figure	Source
China, 2025/26	1.9 million bags (about 114,000 t, by our calculation)	USDA
Yunnan, 2025	138,900 t of green beans, up 16.9%	China Daily, 2026
Yunnan, 2024	146,000 t, up 13%	Provincial agriculture department, via China Daily
Yunnan, 2024	140,000 t	Science and Technology Daily
Yunnan, 2016	160,000 t	Chinese Academy of Sciences dataset

The 2025 rise of 16.9% implies about 118,800 tonnes in 2024, by our calculation, well below the two 2024 figures above. The ICO warned in 2015 that Chinese coffee statistics “should be treated somewhat carefully”.

Where is coffee grown in China?

In Yunnan, which grows more than 95% of China’s coffee, the ICO says; a 2025 report put it at 98%. The province is mountainous, at an average altitude of about 2,000 metres, and traditionally grows tea. Small amounts of robusta grow on Hainan island and in Fujian. Within Yunnan, by coffee area in 2019:

Prefecture	Coffee area	Share of Yunnan
Pu’er	52,333 ha	50.1%
Lincang	28,167 ha	27.0%
Baoshan	9,067 ha	8.7%
Dehong	7,533 ha	7.2%
Xishuangbanna	6,313 ha	6.0%
Nujiang, Dali, Wenshan	1,040 ha together	1.0%

Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences case dataset, 2021.

Yunnan’s coffee area has grown since: 97,533 hectares in 2025, up 15.4% in a year, China Daily reported in 2026.

The coffee

Most of it is fully washed Catimor, the ICO says, and a Catimor selection, Catimor 7963, covers about 70% of Yunnan’s coffee area, according to a Chinese Academy of Sciences study. Growers have been moving to Typica and Bourbon, which fetch more, and Yunnan’s agricultural academy has bred 22 varieties of its own; one, Yunnan Coffee No. 2, cupped at 86.75, the academy says. Geisha is on trial on high farms in Lincang and Baoshan.

Quality is rising. In 2015 the ICO judged most Chinese coffee short of speciality grade; by 2024 the Coffee Association of Yunnan said 31.6% of Yunnan’s beans were premium grade.

When is coffee harvested in China?

Over the dry season. Pu’er’s harvest runs from November to March, Xinhua reports, and in Baoshan’s Nujiang valley the beans ripen from October to April, after flowering in the dry season and filling in the summer rains.

Who grows Chinese coffee?

Farmers, in large numbers: in Pu’er alone coffee reached more than 250,000 farmers in 2021-22, the city says. Nestlé has bought in Yunnan since the late 1980s, and Starbucks opened a farmer support centre there in 2012. China’s own coffee chains now buy too: Luckin Coffee says it will buy more than 30,000 tonnes of Yunnan beans this season, 36Kr reports.

Where does Chinese coffee go?

Most stays at home, and China buys much more from abroad: USDA expects imports of about 5.75 million bags in 2025/26. Yunnan still exports. In 2024 it shipped 32,500 tonnes of beans, up 358%, to 29 countries led by the Netherlands, Germany, the United States and Vietnam, Kunming Customs said, and in 2025 it sold to 43 countries. In the five years to 2013/14, Germany took about 40% of China’s coffee exports, the ICO found. China also exports soluble coffee: about 750,000 bags in 2025/26, USDA says.

A short history

• 1892: a French missionary, Jean-Antoine Badan, plants coffee seedlings from Vietnam in the village of Zhukula, in Binchuan, 36Kr reports. The ICO dates the introduction only to the late 19th century.
• 1952: large-scale planting begins at Lujiangba, in Baoshan, partly to supply the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
• 1988: the government, the World Bank and the UN Development Programme start a project to revive coffee; Nestlé encourages planting.
• 2010: Baoshan arabica gains protection as a geographical indication.
• 2021: Pu’er coffee gains national GI protection.
• 2020: Baoshan and Pu’er coffee join the China–EU list of 100 protected Chinese names.
• 2025: Yunnan’s coffee area passes 97,000 hectares, and President Xi Jinping, offered a coffee in Lijiang, says that “Yunnan coffee represents China”.

How do Chinese people drink their coffee?

Increasingly, and mostly in cities. In 2015 the ICO found that 99% of retail coffee sales by volume were instant, many of them 3-in-1 sachets, and that the average Chinese drinker used just 83 grams a year. Consumption has since more than tripled, from about 1.9 million bags in 2013/14 to about 6.4 million in 2025/26, by the ICO’s and USDA’s estimates.

Chinese coffee and other origins

• Coffee in Vietnam: the neighbour that supplies much of China’s imported coffee.
• Coffee in India: Asia’s other big arabica grower.
• The atlas: China’s growing area on the map.