I'm new in town and have work a bit in the coffee industry. I was wondering if there are any real good coffee shops in town or anywhere I could buy good fresh roasted beans to brew at home?

Thanks,
Marty

Marty,
Welcome to Kunming. Yunnan coffee beans are very good in my opinion. Salvador's is the best place I know to find them, although others may know better.

coffee is lacking due to bean roasting. if you like tea,.ill gladly invite you to my tea houses.

Hani Coffee. For sale at Paul's or Wicker Basket

I will second the comment about bean roasting. All of the Yunnan coffee I have had lacked flavour. The other thing about local coffee is that I have mostly seen 100% Arabica. Another favourite trick is to sell Blue Mountain Flavour coffee as Blue Mountain coffee, not the same.
The Hani Coffee is popular amoung expat coffee drinkers here, as it has more flavor than other Yunnan coffees. Probably the best choice of beans I have seen for sale is in Starbucks.
I am not sure what Silvio (regular poster on here) has to offer in the line of coffee.

starbucks? can you please recommend a more expensive place to buy coffee? i like to flush money down the toilet and try to impress others while doing it. that's why i hang out at starbucks.

I had the same experience as tigertiger and settled for Starbucks beans. I don't hang out at Starbucks, but buy them on Taobao. It's considerably cheaper than in shops, especially when buying in bulk.

Coffee referred to above from Salvadors and Pauls shop could be from here: thethirdcrack.com/product/china-manzhongtian/
It comes in three roasts. Breakfast, Expresso and Signature Drip. Yunnan beans can often come from Baoshan area and more recently Pu'erh (Simao) and can be very good. What's different about this coffee is that the roasting is more consistent. It's significantly cheaper in Salvadors than Pauls. The 'signature drip' roast is not always available. 65 RMB?

starbucks has some of the worst coffees.
it lacks flavour and it's too acidic plus it's too strong. Starbucks is also ridiculously over priced.

i like, and it hurts to say it. but McCafe has fantasic coffee for the money.

i read that in a blind test by barristas in italy the majority chose the golden arches ones. they tested all the chain coffee shops.

inmo yunnan arabica has some of the best beans in the world.

The OP is talking about buying beans.

I have read that the best coffees are a blend of Arabica and Robusta beans, taking the best accents from both types of bean. These are the coffees that I personally prefer.

My personal preference for coffee beans are those from Central America.