Pu'er coffee embarks on global journey at Shanghai Intl Coffee Festival

The 2025 Shanghai International Coffee Culture Festival kicked off at Hongkou Riverside on Wednesday, with the concurrent launch of the Pu'er coffee meets Shanghai city promotion campaign, marking a new chapter for Yunnan's premium coffee to gain international recognition.

The three-day event showcases Yunnan's premium coffee through themed exhibitions, e-commerce live streams, cultural workshops, and tourism promotions.

As China's largest coffee-growing region, Pu'er produces 58,500 metric tons annually — nearly half of the country's total output. The premium bean rate surged from less than 10 percent in 2021 to 36.3 percent in 2024, while deep processing capacity rose from 8 percent to 50.2 percent over the same period.

Feng Feng, deputy mayor of Pu'er city, outlined that the century-old history of coffee cultivation has shaped Pu'er coffee culture, intertwining with tea culture in local life.

"We aim to use coffee as a catalyst to promote the integration of Yunnan and Shanghai's cultural industries, driving China's coffee industry towards a leap from scale to brand value," Feng said.

At the coffee culture festival's opening ceremony, the 2025 China urban coffee development report was unveiled.

The report highlights China's coffee industry reached 313.3 billion yuan ($43.12 billion) in 2024, up 18.1 percent year-on-year, with annual per capita consumption rising to 22.24 cups. Yunnan coffee sales on Taobao and Tmall hit 417 million yuan in 2024, a 17.3 percent increase from 2023, and are projected to exceed 500 million yuan in 2025.

Spanning 2.3 kilometers of waterfront and 24,000 square meters of riverside space, the festival hub features a 300-square-meter beach-themed zone, along with more than 350 booths showcasing diverse offerings such as live performances, sports events, cultural exhibitions, and open-air cinema.