Say yes to Yunnan

There’s a telling line in the 2015 International Coffee Organisation (ICO) report on China that says: “It is estimated that China now produces more coffee than Kenya and Tanzania combined, and consumes more than Australia.”

While it may seem that Chinese coffee has suddenly burst into the market, it is actually been brewing for over a century. It’s a story that began in 1892 with a French missionary planting a young coffee seedling in the Yunnan province. The plant thrived with small amounts of coffee grown in the region until 1988 when a joint venture between Nestlé and the Chinese government kick-started commercial production.

The entry of Starbucks into the