China has recently experienced rapid growth in specialty coffee and has adopted the Q Program with the guidance of key instructors in Yunnan and other international CQI Q Instructors.
CQI joined forces in 2015 with the Yunnan Coffee Exchange and other in-country partners as well as government programs to help improve the quality of coffee and the lives of the people who produce it. CQI has an extensive program with YCE that includes all aspects of specialty coffee. This includes the writing of a new handbook for production and processing of specialty Yunnan coffee and collaboration with many key partners. In addition, CQI worked with World Coffee Research (WCR) to import new genetic materials and start several variety trials. YCE has built an impressive training facility that is also a SCA Campus and an auction center to replicate the success of the Yunnan Flower Exchange, one of the largest in the world.
2017 was an important year for China as both a coffee producing and consuming country. China continued to work hard at both the farm and mill level to elevate its raw material into higher quality. Coffee Corps Volunteer Dr. Osgood introduced leaf tissue analysis to Yunnan farmers as a tool to guide fertilization and be economical with fertilizers. With his efforts and persistence, leaf analysis will possibly become a routine test/service provided to Yunnan farmers in the near future. 2017 was also the year that we started drafting a production and processing manual specifically for the Yunnan region. The goal of the manual is to provide a simple but practical tool to Yunnan growers to produce specialty coffee. This resource is available now to coffee producers in the Yunnan region.
CQI also started a new project collectively with Yunnan Coffee International Exchange (YCE) - Model Farm Program - with the tremendous support from the Ministry of Agriculture. Based on several factors, Dr. Osgood and Luis Delgado, together with Ted Lingle and a YCE consultant, chose ten model farms from the Pu'er, Baoshan and Lincang regions. These farms will eventually become the showpieces of Yunnan farms after a series of trainings and promotional efforts.
According to a USDA report released in December 2018, China is the ninth-largest arabica coffee producer in the world, with 2 million bags (60kg) produced per year.
