* Despite having no coffee farms, Guiyang in southwest China is home to more than 3,000 coffee shops and has produced over 10 world and national champions in coffee roasting.
* In Guiyang, there is one coffee shop for every 2,000 residents. This makes it one of the Chinese cities with the highest coffee shop density.
* Its distinctive coffee culture, coupled with an open mindset and innovative flair, is also bringing new employment opportunities for the local youth.
GUIYANG, June 27 (Xinhua) — Guiyang, in southwest China’s Guizhou Province, has made a name for itself as a coffee powerhouse despite having no coffee farms. Home to more than 3,000 coffee shops, the provincial capital has produced over 10 world and national champions in coffee roasting.
This once quiet inland city is now enjoying the buzz of being a burgeoning coffee hub. It has cultivated a vibrant coffee culture by inviting world champions to give lectures and training, and sending local teams to participate in international competitions.
Its distinctive coffee culture, coupled with an open mindset and innovative flair, is not only drawing in a growing number of coffee aficionados from near and far, but also bringing new employment opportunities for the local youth.
CRAFTSMANSHIP
Peng Jinyang, a barista and coffee shop owner of Captain George in Guiyang, recently clinched the champion title at the 2025 World Brewers Cup (WBC) in Indonesia. He noticed that under the same conditions, even if three cups of coffee were brewed consecutively, there would be subtle differences in the taste of each cup.
His skill comes from years of refining his palette, through which he discovered how the temperature variations between the spout and the center of the teapot impact flavor. This became the theme of his WBC presentation, which won high praise from the judges.
In 2012, Peng, then a college student with an interest in the rich flavor produced by roasting coffee beans, co-founded a coffee shop with a fellow barista in Guiyang. At that time, domestic coffee information was scarce, and the types of coffee beans were limited. With the support of his parents, he bought a coffee roasting machine and learned about roasting from English-language videos.
To improve his techniques, he attended coffee seminars across China and, in 2019, started to invite global coffee champions to give lessons in Guiyang. With expertise, Peng took home the champion prize at the TAKAO International Coffee Competition in 2016, and captained his team to win the WBC China champion title for four consecutive years since 2022.
“‘Bringing in’ these champions is crucial for accessing the latest coffee knowledge and ensuring that baristas in Guiyang, despite it being an inland city, stay at the forefront of the coffee industry,” Peng said.
COMMUNITY
In Guiyang, there is one coffee shop for every 2,000 residents. This makes it one of the Chinese cities with the highest coffee shop density. Some tourists even walk through the city’s streets and alleys with maps in hand, determined to seek out the coffee shops hidden in the deep lanes.
Nestled in narrow alleys and old neighborhoods of Guiyang, many boutique coffee shops are strategically placed. For locals, it is convenient to pick up a cup of high-quality coffee during their daily commute.
In Yunyan District, which boasts the highest concentration of coffee shops, each of its five leading cafés sells an average of 300 cups of coffee per day, generating a revenue of over 10,000 yuan (about 1,400 U.S. dollars). Most of the consumption comes from residents of the surrounding community. This once-foreign beverage has gradually been woven into the fabric of their daily lives.
In an old community off the bustling snack street of Caijiajie, Rock Black is a hidden gem. Owned by Lei Ming, who has been in the coffee business since 2020, this cozy spot has rightly made a name for itself.
Lei actively participates in professional coffee competitions and serves as a judge for coffee events. During this year’s Dragon Boat Festival holiday, his coffee shop saw an average daily output of over 300 cups, with 75 percent of its customers being out-of-town tourists.
On the edge of a new development zone in eastern Guiyang, where wide sidewalks meet sleek residential blocks, Orchard Café stands out more like a creative community than a commercial coffeehouse.
“We host everything — from international certification courses for new baristas, to community ‘cuppings’ where customers discover their favorite beans, to pre-competition bootcamps for elite brewers,” said Qiang Hua, the shop founder, who is a barista with a decade of experience and eight years as a certified sensory judge at elite events like the China Brewers Championship.
“Barista champion is not just someone who can brew a cup of good coffee, but also someone who should lead the way, elevate the entire industry and drive the community of baristas to keep improving,” Qiang added.
CREATIVITY
Each coffee shop seems to be pulling out all the stops to carve out its own unique path in this “coffee city”.
Lei never expected that his recipe of mixing fish mint with Americano would become a market hit. “It makes you shake your head when you hear of it, but once you taste it, you’re hooked,” he quipped.
In Guiyang, where the local cuisine is celebrated for its masterful use of spices, baristas are turning to local ingredients, blending the sweet and sour of kiwiberry juice, the pungent aroma of litse fruit, and the rich flavor of local milk with coffee beans.
In 2024, Rock Black launched a “One Bean, Three Ways” experience set, pairing one type of coffee bean with three local ingredients. The fish mint Americano has since risen from a novelty drink to a symbol of the city’s taste for many consumers.
GOOD Coffee, another local coffeehouse, has put a lot of efforts into its coffee gear. Its owner Luo Nianyu and her team have turned each cup of coffee into an artistic medium, sparking a social media craze.
Customers love to share the hand-painted coffee cups on social media, each one like a tiny canvas. A shelf behind the counter is filled with cups that Luo and her team have painted by hand.
Her café has won a loyal customer base and a good reputation, being dubbed by many netizens as “the most human café in Guiyang.”
“Cafés exist in a kind of paradox. People want consistency in quality, but they also crave surprises,” Luo said, adding that the hand-painted cups are their way of offering both — a dependable brew with a personal twist.
(Video reporters: Yang Yanbin, Ni Yuanshi, Wu Si; video editors: Zhang Mocheng, Roger Lott, Luo Hui) ■
