China's coffee market is valued. The public says to grow coffee in China.

Traditionally, China is famous for producing fragrant tea. Today, China is increasingly becoming an important producer of Arabica coffee beans (arabica), a very different drink in Asia.

This kind of coffee bean is famous for its light shape and fragrant fruit aroma. Arabica coffee beans from the southwestern province of Yunnan have become the main blend of Arabica coffee in Europe, according to international commodity traders and roasters.

"the light taste and aroma are very similar to coffee beans from Honduras and Guatemala," said Wouter DeSmet, head of Nestl é 's coffee agricultural services team in China.

Compared with other crops, the higher return of coffee is prompting more and more farmers in Yunnan to switch to coffee. In 2012, farmers earned twice as much from coffee as tea under the same acreage, according to de Mei.

In the late 1980s, Nestl é started operations in Yunnan, providing training services to coffee growers and buying their coffee. Since 2005, the company's number of suppliers has increased from 147to 2000.

The whole Yunnan region is famous for its lush hills. There are 80,000 coffee farmers in the area, many of whom now grow both tea and coffee. At present, coffee produced in Asia is mainly produced in Vietnam and Indonesia, mainly robusta, a lower-quality coffee bean used to produce instant coffee.

Arabica coffee beans, by contrast, are mainly used to make cappuccinos and espresso (espresso). This kind of coffee beans was introduced into Yunnan by a French missionary in the late 1880s. However, it was not until a century later that coffee production increased rapidly with investment from the Chinese government and the United Nations [Weibo] Development Program (UN Development Programme).

Over the past decade, China's coffee exports have been growing steadily, from 137000 bags (60 kg each) in 1998 to 1.1 million bags in 2012. This is equal to Costa Rica's exports and accounts for slightly less than 1 per cent of total global exports.

To buy coffee, international coffee groups and commodity traders are setting up operations in Yunnan province, which borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

The latest company to reach a joint venture agreement on coffee procurement and processing with local companies in Yunnan is the Swiss company Volcafe. The company is a coffee trading company owned by commodities trader ED&F Man. The local Yunnan company with which it reached a joint venture agreement is called Simao Arabica Star Coffee Company (Simao Arabicasm Coffee Company). Before them, Starbucks (76.1, 0.54, 0.71%) (Starbucks) formed a joint venture with Yunnan Aili Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group (Ai Ni Group) in 2012.

While coffee production is growing rapidly, coffee consumption in China is also growing at a rapid rate of about 15% a year. By contrast, global coffee consumption is growing at only about 2 per cent.