To facilitate this transformation, Pu'er introduced a three-year action plan in October 2022, which aims to enhance the city's capabilities of value-added processing by means such as investment attraction, expanding production lines and technology upgrades.

Yunnan Jinkelong Coffee Industry Co, a company focused on the processing of coffee beans, was brought to Pu'er in 2022 and has become the first firm capable of producing freeze-dried coffee in the city. By the end of last year, the company had completed the construction of two production lines, with an expected annual capacity of processing about 4,000 tons of coffee beans, accounting for 10 percent of the total bean output in Pu'er.

"The strategic location and favorable policies of Pu'er persuaded us to expand our operations into the city," said Jinkelong's production manager Zhao Qingyi. Pu'er is an important node in the "China-Laos-Thailand coffee economic circle" and is located in close proximity to Vietnam, the world's second-largest coffee exporter after Brazil. Moreover, the China-Laos Railway, which was completed in 2021 and passes through Pu'er, has further facilitated logistics for the coffee trade, Zhao noted.

Although the value-added processing rate of Pu'er coffee has soared from less than 8 percent to 33.4 percent within three years, Zhang Xiong said, given the city's exceptional natural advantages, there's still room for further improvement.

In line with this objective, Zhang Xiong said in addition to attracting large-scale enterprises to develop in Pu'er, the city is exploring collaborations with online retail firms in a bid to boost the sales and recognition of Pu'er coffee.

Capitalizing on the logistical advantages brought by its three national-level ports, the city is also considering introducing foreign-grown coffee beans for processing through supportive policies such as tax incentives.

Pu'er is ramping up its efforts to integrate the coffee industry with tourism as another way to maximize the value of its coffee resources.

The city had a coffee plantation area of 45,267 hectares last year, yielding 51,300 tons of coffee beans and an output value of 6.3 billion yuan. "Pu'er cannot compete with industry leaders such as Brazil and Vietnam in terms of quantity. The path to success lies in differentiation," said Xia Bing, head of a Yunnan coffee industry expert group.