KUNMING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Global food giant Nestle opened its first coffee center on Friday in southwest China's Yunnan Province, which will train local farmers and boost coffee consumption in a nation of tea lovers.
The center, located in Pu'er City, is expected to be the largest training base in China for coffee farmers, agronomists and business professionals. It will have a quality assurance coffee laboratory and an integrated handling and storage facility, said Christian Schmid, executive vice president of the Nestle Greater China region.
Nestle will buy about 10,000 tonnes of coffee beans from Pu'er during the 2014-2015 season, he said.
Yunnan is the largest center for coffee plantations in China, its bean output accounts for over 98 percent of the national total. The province produced nearly 100,000 tonnes of coffee in 2013.
Pu'er is also a famous production base for a variety of fermented dark tea.
Nestle started to establish coffee-related technical assistance projects and model farms in the province in 1988.