Refreshing Yunnan Green Coffee Bean Prices: Why Is the 2026 CoE Cup of Excellence Competition in Yunnan Worth Attention?

June 9, 2026

June 15, 2026, Kunming, Yunnan

The 2nd Yunnan Treasure Green Coffee Bean Competition (Yunnan Cup of Excellence Pilot Competition) will officially begin here.

This is the second consecutive year that Yunnan has hosted the pilot competition of Cup of Excellence (CoE), one of the most prestigious green coffee competitions in the global specialty coffee industry.

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CoE Cup of Excellence:

The Globally Recognized “Olympics of Green Coffee Beans”

For ordinary coffee enthusiasts, “CoE” may be a relatively unfamiliar abbreviation. However, in the upstream coffee industry, it is a “qualification certificate” that determines whether a coffee-producing region can enter the world-class specialty coffee landscape.

Cup of Excellence (CoE), an international top-level green coffee competition founded in Brazil in 1999, is known as the “Olympics of Green Coffee Beans.”

The reason is not simply because of its auction prices, but because of its irreplaceable rigorous process and industry credibility.

At CoE competitions, every winning coffee bean must undergo two independent rounds of blind cupping evaluations conducted by domestic and international judging panels.

The eight evaluation criteria on the cupping score sheet — cleanliness, sweetness, acidity, mouthfeel, flavor, aftertaste, balance, and overall evaluation — each have clearly defined scoring standards.

Only coffees scoring 87 points or above and ranking among the top 30 can be recognized as CoE Award-Winning Coffees.

The entire process does not rely on any commercial sponsorship endorsements.

The domestic judging panel is selected by ACE through on-site cupping assessments and data analysis, while the international judging panel consists of professional cuppers and buyers from around the world.

This mechanism ensures the value and credibility of every award-winning coffee bean, making CoE a “quality certification” pursued by global coffee buyers.

Over the past 26 years, CoE has used a rigorous “competition + auction” model to bring countless unknown coffee farmers onto the global stage, allowing coffee treasures from different corners of the world to be discovered by coffee buyers worldwide.

Today, from Brazil to Colombia, from Ethiopia to Taiwan, China, CoE has expanded to cover 17 coffee-producing regions around the world.

In 2025, CoE arrived in Yunnan, China for the first time under the name “Yunnan Treasure,” beginning a quality revolution for Yunnan coffee.

The First CoE Pilot Competition:

Yunnan Coffee’s Journey Toward International Recognition

In May 2025, the first Yunnan Treasure Green Coffee Bean Competition (Yunnan CoE Pilot Competition) was successfully held in Baoshan, delivering impressive results.

A total of 144 coffee samples from seven major production regions — Pu’er, Baoshan, Lincang, Xishuangbanna, Dehong, Nujiang, and Chuxiong — participated in the competition.

After multiple rounds of blind cupping evaluations by domestic and international judging panels, 19 coffees finally received awards.

The champion coffee, a washed Batian variety from Qiupo Estate in Lincang, achieved an outstanding score of 89.96 points and won first place.

In the following live auction, it was sold at RMB 13,150 per kilogram, setting a new record for domestic coffee prices.

The significance of this figure goes far beyond the auction price itself. It delivered a clear message to thousands of coffee farmers in Yunnan:

Carefully cultivated and professionally processed high-quality coffee beans deserve to be seen by the world and deserve reasonable premium pricing.

From Pilot Competition to Advancement:

Accelerating the International Development of Yunnan Coffee

The success of the first pilot competition allowed Yunnan coffee to appear on the radar of the global specialty coffee community for the first time as a “competition-origin region.”

The launch of the second competition in 2026 marks the regular operation of this world-class event in Yunnan — moving from “exploration” to “deep cultivation.”

The competition continues to adopt CoE’s rigorous blind cupping mechanism and dual judging panel system, ensuring that every awarded coffee bean can withstand international standards of evaluation.

The core execution team is jointly formed by experienced domestic coffee professionals and members of the Yunnan Specialty Coffee Association.

Following international competition standards, they provide every coffee farmer with a fair and professional platform to compete.

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Complete 2026 Competition Schedule

February 25 – March 31

Domestic judge registration and qualification review

April 2

On-site cupping assessment for domestic judges

February 25 – March 31

Registration for participating coffee farmers

May 1 – May 17

Qualification preliminary review and final review for participating coffee farmers

May 18 – June 8

Coffee sample submission and storage

June 15 – June 19

Domestic judging week

June 22 – June 26

International judging week + award ceremony

From qualification review of participants, coffee sample submission, multiple rounds of blind cupping evaluations, to the on-site auction, the entire process follows international competition standards.

This competition will not only continue to identify quality benchmarks for Yunnan coffee but will also accumulate valuable experience for officially introducing the CoE competition and auction system into Yunnan.

Through this process, the dedication of coffee farmers who cultivate their crops deep in Yunnan’s mountains will be seen and recognized by the world.

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Good Green Coffee Beans:

Need Great Roasting to Fully Present Their Quality

The regional characteristics and complex flavor layers contained in top-quality green coffee beans are extremely delicate.

Roasting consistency, stability, and repeatability directly influence the judging panel’s evaluation of the beans’ true quality.

For this reason, CoE competitions have extremely strict requirements for roasting equipment and roasting standards.

Based on different processing methods and coffee varieties, roasting curves must be adjusted accordingly to maximize the unique flavor characteristics of each green coffee bean.

At the same time, every batch must maintain a high level of consistency.

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During the first Yunnan Treasure Coffee Green Bean Competition last year, the world coffee roasting championship team personally operated PEAK-P1 to complete the roasting of all sample coffees.

The competition process was highly rigorous.

A total of 144 Yunnan green coffee samples participated in the competition.

Under strict process control and professional guidance, all samples were roasted with the highest standards.

Every stage demonstrated the highest level of requirements for roasting quality and equipment performance.

Being invited to participate in this event also represents recognition of HB Coffee Roaster’s stable and consistent roasting performance, as well as the continuous production capability of its fully automatic intelligent roasting system.

PEAK-P1:

Supporting International Competition Standards with Outstanding Performance

The PEAK-P1 Fully Automatic Coffee Roaster is equipped with a precise airflow control system and roasting curve replication technology, enabling each batch to maintain a high level of consistency during continuous roasting.

For international competitions that require processing hundreds of competition coffee samples at the same time, this ability to maintain “consistent performance batch after batch” serves as the technical foundation for ensuring fairness and accuracy throughout the competition.

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01 Fully Automatic Curve Tracking, Maximizing Roasting Standardization

The equipment features HB’s independently developed intelligent operating system, which can accurately replicate roasting curves.

The entire roasting process runs automatically, reducing operational errors caused by manual intervention and ensuring that the roasting conditions of hundreds of competition samples remain highly consistent.

02 Multi-Dimensional Precise Temperature Monitoring, Restoring Authentic Terroir Characteristics

Unlike conventional coffee roasters, the PEAK-P1 is equipped with a four-channel independent temperature monitoring system, including:

• Bean temperature
• Exhaust temperature
• Inlet air temperature
• Drum environment temperature

This system captures changes in the roasting environment from multiple dimensions.

It not only enables precise control of critical roasting stages such as the first crack and second crack, but also accurately restores the actual heat transfer conditions experienced by coffee beans inside the drum.

This helps maximize the preservation of the unique regional characteristics and flavor profiles of Yunnan green coffee beans.

03 Double-Layer Drum Structure, Creating a Clean Flavor Foundation

The PEAK-P1 adopts a mainstream structure combining direct fire + hot air technology with a double-layer drum design.

This increases the participation of hot air during roasting, reduces unwanted flavors, and enhances flavor clarity.

It perfectly matches the evaluation requirements of specialty coffee cupping, allowing the unique terroir characteristics of Yunnan coffee beans to be clearly presented.

04 Continuous Batch Production, Designed for High-Intensity Competition Operations

The hardware structure has been optimized for large-scale sample roasting scenarios during competitions.

The equipment operates stably with a low failure rate and supports long-term continuous operation.

It can efficiently handle multiple rounds and large quantities of coffee sample roasting tasks, ensuring the competition process runs smoothly and efficiently.

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Every selected coffee treasure deserves precise treatment. HB Coffee Roaster is honored to continuously become the designated roasting equipment supplier for the Yunnan Treasure Green Coffee Bean Competition (Yunnan Cup of Excellence Pilot Competition) for two consecutive years. Together with the Yunnan Specialty Coffee Association and the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE), HB uses professional roasting technology to protect the authentic flavor of every Yunnan coffee bean.

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Moving Forward Together:

Let the World Taste Yunnan

Among the high mountains and misty clouds of Yunnan, every carefully harvested coffee cherry carries a family’s aspiration for a better life and contains the potential for Yunnan coffee to reach the global stage.

June 15, 2026, see you at the Kunming competition venue.

HB Coffee Roaster, together with Yunnan coffee, steps onto the world stage.

We look forward to seeing — the dedication of those who have cultivated coffee deep in the high mountains and misty valleys, being discovered and recognized by the world through layers of high-standard competition processes.