From quantity to quality

Baoshan is not just exporting beans — it's exporting a story of transformation. Since 2022, the city has prioritized premiumization in the coffee industry, shifting from volume-based growth to quality-driven development, from producing cheap instant coffee to small-batch, single-origin, hand-roasted beans.

Specialty coffee — defined by the Specialty Coffee Association as scoring 80 or above on a 100-point scale — is now at the heart of Baoshan's strategy. Li said the rate of specialty-grade beans jumped from 40 percent in 2022 to 70 percent last year in Baoshan.

Farmers like Duan Huizhi, whose coffee farm sits at 1,100 meters above sea level, have embraced the shift. "We're no longer just growers," Duan said, loading freshly roasted beans into an express delivery box. "We're curators of quality."

In his village, couriers stop by daily to collect packages. "Before, sending coffee meant walking over mountains to reach the town. Now, the courier station is just a few hundred meters away," Duan said. His beans reach Shanghai customers within 48 hours.

Another farmer, Yang Guang, began cultivating coffee in 1994. Today, he manages over 20 varieties of coffee seedlings and runs a small-scale processing facility. "Specialty coffee demands freshness and speed. Logistics is critical," he said. Just days earlier, he shipped a few rare seedlings to a buyer in Shanghai using SF Express. They arrived within three days.