A course description on the university’s website says the course of study will cover subjects such as coffee flavor chemistry, processing, quality and safety testing, factory design and environmental protection, global coffee trade, principles of engineering, and nutrition and health.
It was the “first college in the country to offer an undergraduate degree in coffee professional education,” the university said.
China is the world’s 13th-largest coffee producer, although it accounts for just 1.1 percent of global production, or about 1.8 million 60-kilogram (132-pound) bags of coffee per year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
About 98 percent of that coffee is grown in Yunnan province, the Chinese-language news site Science Times reported last week.
A total of 84,600 hectares (209,000 acres) of coffee were grown in Yunnan in 2022, with annual production of 114,000 tons of raw coffee beans estimated at 41.8 billion yuan ($5.7 billion), according to state news agency Xinhua.
Liao Xiugui, a specialist coffee farmer in Yunnan province, said the biggest obstacle for farmers looking to augment production is a lack of talent and technology, Science Times reported.
While bachelor’s degrees in coffee studies are modern, China is not the only country offering specialized higher education related to coffee.
In Switzerland, the Zurich University of Applied Sciences offers a certificate of advanced study in coffee excellence, the curriculum of which includes coffee science.
In the United States, the University of California, Davis, opened the country’s first coffee studies center in May. The institution already offered optional coffee courses, though it does not have a dedicated coffee major.
William Ristenpart, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Davis, and founding director of the university’s Coffee Center, said in a video that while coffee is “extremely convoluted,” it has not been the subject of much scientific research.
Ristenpart said that over the past decade, scientists have begun thinking about chemical engineering in the context of coffee, and that’s exactly the field they want to explore at UC Davis.
Meanwhile, Yang said, Yunnan Agricultural University hopes to open its coffee science and engineering program to international internships and exchanges.
