As the "A Letter from Kunming" international communication series continues to invite the world to Kunming, 11 leading coffee judges from the United States, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Italy, Indonesia and Honduras have arrived in Kunming, drawn by the aroma of coffee. They are here for the International Jury Week of the 2nd Gems of Yunnan 2026 (Cup of Excellence Pilot Competition in Yunnan).

The international jury poses for a group photo by Dianchi Lake. Photo by Li Tao

From June 22 to 25, the competition is in its International Jury Week. Beyond the cupping room, the jury are also visiting Xunjin Street, the Green Lake Coffee Culture Center, Haiyan Village and the Yunnan Coffee Factory during breaks, exploring Kunming's coffee consumption landscape and industry standards. Among these stops, the ancient fishing village of Haiyan on the eastern shore of Dianchi Lake stands out as a unique window into Kunming's coffee lifestyle.

With a history of over 600 years, Haiyan is a well-preserved ancient village on the eastern bank of Dianchi Lake. Along its bluestone paths, 16 coffee shops have opened in renovated traditional homes: some housed in Qing Dynasty "yikeyin" (one-seal) courtyard houses, others hidden in flower-filled courtyards. The jury strolled along the stone paths, stepped into cafés one after another, talked with owners about beans and brewing methods, and heard how a cup of Yunnan coffee is being turned into a form of "village café" culture. At dusk, they held their coffee cups at the ancient dock of Dianchi Lake, waiting for the sunset.

Kristopher Schackman, co-founder of Five Elephant in Germany. Photo by Li Tao

"Haiyan Village is beautiful. There are many coffee shops here, and they blend so well with the surrounding environment," said Kristopher Schackman, co-founder of Germany's Five Elephant, after the visit. In his view, coffee in Haiyan Village is not simply inserted into a tourist setting; it grows naturally out of the village's lanes, courtyards, lake breezes, and daily life. For a coffee professional who has visited producing regions worldwide, the experience revealed a warmer side of Yunnan coffee: it is found not only in origins, estates, and cupping scores, but also in the lifestyle of a city.

Inside the cupping room, international standards guide the careful assessment of a coffee bean's flavor, acidity and body. Outside the cupping room unfolds a vivid example of how coffee can become part of a city's lanes, lakeside spaces and everyday rhythms. From the ancient-house cafés of Haiyan Village to the blind cupping evaluations in professional cupping rooms, two sides of Kunming's coffee scene emerge: one of relaxation and everyday warmth in the streets, the other of professionalism and rigor under international standards.

The international jury conducts blind cupping evaluations of the competing coffee samples. Photo provided by the organizer

As one of the most influential green bean competitions in the global specialty coffee sector, CoE is hailed as the "Oscars of the coffee world." This year, Kunming hosts its International Jury Week: cuppers from around the world will conduct final evaluations of the advancing coffee beans in the cupping room. Subtle differences in flavor, acidity, and body will be carefully discerned through rounds of blind cupping, elevating Yunnan coffee onto a higher platform for international dialogue.

This top-tier competition did not land in Kunming by chance. Yunnan is China's largest coffee-producing and coffee-exporting province. As the provincial capital, Kunming is not only home to the province's most concentrated coffee consumer base, but has also cultivated a diverse coffee consumption ecosystem—from Cuihu Lake to Wenlin Street and from Xunjin Street to the shores of Dianchi Lake. The Kunming Economic and Technological Development Zone has attracted 87 coffee enterprises covering the full industrial chain. With international logistics channels such as the China-Europe Railway Express, Yunnan coffee is reaching overseas markets faster than ever.

A corner of a coffee courtyard in Haiyan Village. Photo by Li Tao

But Kunming's coffee story goes far beyond industry figures.

The city's connection with coffee dates back to the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republican period. In 1910, after the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway opened, coffee reached Kunming along the meter-gauge line. In the early 1930s, a Vietnamese woman named Ruan Minxuan opened the "Nanlaisheng" Western Restaurant on Jinbi Road, where freshly ground coffee became a signature and helped coffee take root in Kunming. Faculty and students from National Southwestern Associated University, along with overseas Chinese merchants from Southeast Asia, once sipped its bitter aroma beneath the sunlight filtering through plane trees. In 1992, the Yunnan Coffee Factory, China's first modern coffee processing plant, was established in Kunming. From a freshly ground cup on Jinbi Road to China's first modern coffee factory, Kunming's coffee memories span more than a century.

A century later, those memories have long merged into the city's daily life. Morning joggers around Cuihu Lake carry cups of coffee. More than 60 cafés are tucked into the 800-meter stretch of Wenlin Street. Kafka Coffee, which has been in business for 15 years, has built its own coffee plantation in Pu'er. Coffee stalls pop up downstairs in old neighborhoods, and shoppers carry coffee through Zhuanxin Farmers' Market. In 2024, the Cuihu Lake area recorded more than 1.8 million coffee visits and over 35 million yuan in consumption. During the 2025 Dianchi International Coffee Carnival, 650,000 visits were recorded on the greenway in nine days, generating nearly 100 million yuan in consumption.

A corner of a coffee courtyard in Haiyan Village. Photo by Li Tao

In Kunming, coffee is not a passing imported trend. It has become a flavor of everyday street life, as familiar as drinking tea.

From a hand-brewed cup in an ancient house to a round of blind cupping under international standards; from village cafés by Dianchi Lake to professional judging in the cupping rooms, these coffee professionals who have traveled through producing regions around the world found another expression of Yunnan coffee in Kunming: one that carries both industrial strength and the warmth of daily life.

Where lakes and mountains meet, the Spring City extends an invitation. With flowers as its greeting and coffee aroma as its guide, Kunming sincerely invites coffee lovers worldwide. Here lies an industrial foundation forged by a century of coffee history, a rhythm of life nurtured by the pleasant 21°C climate, and the warm aroma of coffee rising from streets, lakesides and ancient villages. More visitors are welcome to answer the call of "A Letter from Kunming" and come to Kunming—holding a cup of Yunnan coffee in the cafés of the ancient fishing village, in the morning light by Cuihu Lake or under the sunset by Dianchi Lake, to encounter their own Spring City story.

Click here to view the Chinese report

(Editors: Flynn, Diana)