“The coffee I just drank is called Hogood. I am not exaggerating—this is the best coffee that I have ever tasted as a globetrotter,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to an excited audience at the February 20 event.

Mr. Mina Rizk, third secretary of the political section at the Egyptian embassy in Beijing, came to the Hogood coffee booth immediately after the presentation. He finished a cup of coffee and could not help but give a thumbs-up.

“To tell you the truth, Yunnan coffee is indeed the world’s best,” said Xiong Xiangren, chairman of Dehong Hogood Coffee Co., Ltd in Yunnan. He admitted that Yunnan coffee has not made adequate branding efforts in the past and therefore remains unknown to many people.

Why Yunnan coffee is the world’s best? Not long ago, a test was conducted comparing Hogood coffee with one of the world’s most famous coffee species. Both brands were made with typical coffee beans grown at an altitude of 1,600 metres. Hogood coffee received higher scores, according to Xiong Xiangren.

 “Yunnan has good coffee-growing conditions—namely high altitudes, volcanic soil, and bred using top-quality coffee varieties.  And Yunnan coffee has decisive advantages,” Xiong Xiangren told reporters. Yunnan’s three coffee-growing areas have a daily temperature difference of between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius. This difference is the decisive factor making Yunnan coffee outperform other brands.

Currently, Yunnan has a coffee planting area of 1.77 million mu(about 291,584 acres), and produces 139,000 tons of beans annually. This tally accounts for more than 99 percent of the national total.