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International coffee giant Starbucks and Yunnan coffee enterprises

Published: 2026-06-08 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/06/08, Yunnan local coffee company Aixing Group and international coffee giant Starbucks formally signed a cooperation agreement in Yunnan to set up a joint venture company in Yunnan. Why Yunnan Aiyi Group is admired by international coffee giants? The mystery was unveiled at a media meeting held a few days ago.

On November 13, 2010, Howard Schultz, Chairman, President and CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company, visited Yunnan Aini Group, which has cooperated with Starbucks Coffee Company for many years. Since then, good news came from Salt Lake City, USA on the other side of the ocean: Yunnan Aini Group signed a memorandum of cooperation with Starbucks Coffee Company to jointly form a joint venture company. February 6, 2012, Aini Group and Starbucks formally signed a cooperation agreement in Kunming, China.

In fact, the cooperation between the two companies is closely related to Pu 'er City. Along with Starbucks, Aini Group will also expand its coffee business. During the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period, the Group will invest RMB 1 billion to implement the intensive processing of Pu 'er coffee and the construction of coffee supporting equipment, thus thoroughly changing the situation of short coffee industry chain and low benefit in Pu' er City. The project is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2015, and will achieve an annual production scale of 3000 tons of stir-fried coffee beans, 5000 tons of stir-fried coffee powder and 20,000 tons of canned coffee drinks. It is estimated that the output value will reach more than 5 billion yuan.

Hu Lu, deputy secretary-general of Yunnan Province Coffee Industry Association, said: "The comprehensive national strength of a country is sometimes reflected in the coffee consumption level of the country. Coffee consumption may become a weather vane of a country's comprehensive national strength!" The new joint venture between Yunnan Aini Group and Starbucks will integrate Starbucks 'professional coffee production experience and Aini's existing coffee planting model, and strive to build Yunnan into a globally recognized high-quality coffee planting area to promote the development of Pu' er, Yunnan and even the national coffee industry.

At the meeting, Jeremy Wakeford, Starbucks 'chief coffee taster with 45 years of coffee tasting experience, scored 81.5 for a coffee in the Pu' er coffee growing area and praised: "If you put Manzhongtian coffee into oak barrels, no one can distinguish it from Blue Mountain coffee!" It's one of the few gourmet coffees I've tasted in my life."

Jeremy Wakeford praises this Manzhongtian coffee, which is a manor coffee created by Yunnan Aini Group. It is located in Pu 'er, Yunnan Province, with an average altitude of 1500 meters. Coffee at high altitudes has a long growth cycle and accumulates rich nutrients. Liu Minghui, Chairman of Aini Group, said: "Manzhongtian Coffee Manor is located in the shady side of the mountain. There is no sunshine after one or two o'clock at noon, which creates the best growth environment for plants like coffee." Here, we are exploring the cultivation technology of 'Rainforest Coffee' and effectively using Aini's 30,000 mu of evergreen Manzhongtian pasture to deliver organic fertilizer to Manzhongtian Manor Coffee." Liu Minghui believes that the growth of world-class coffee beans here is "inevitable in chance, inevitable in chance".

The appearance of Manzhongtian "Rainforest Coffee" strengthens the high quality of Yunnan coffee. In recent years, Yunnan coffee has achieved leapfrog development both in quantity and quality. In terms of planting area alone, it has rapidly increased from more than 300,000 mu to 860,000 mu within 4 years.

Li Xiaoping, deputy secretary of Pu 'er Municipal Party Committee and mayor, said that in the next 5-10 years, Pu' er Municipal Government will expand the coffee planting area to 1 million mu and build Pu 'er into "China's coffee capital", becoming the first place for planting, the first place for output and sales, and the place where coffee culture gathers.

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