How hot is coffee in China?

By Sam Balf

Tea has been the drink of choice across China for millennia, but could that all be about to change? Credit: Pixabay

In China, many would think of tea, or maybe even some bubble tea, as the drink of choice after a meal. But with the global growth in the culture of coffee, the smell of roasted beans has also hit the shores of China.

And with the world’s largest population, China is definitely a market many companies both national and international are eager to get a slice of, but how much do the Chinese really love their coffee?

Zhang Jun, the organiser of China’s leading coffee expo, I Coffee Expo remarks at how many companies are keen to establish a coffee related business in China.

“Foreign investors and coffee chains like Starbucks are all interested in China as the future of coffee. Western companies introduced wines from France and South Africa, and Chinese people became big supporters, we see the same happening with coffee in the next generation.”

With the Chinese economy growing by almost seven per cent last year, demand for luxury goods such as coffee is definitely on the rise. Domestic coffee consumption has grown on average by 22 per cent between the period of 2006 and 2017, and today more coffee is consumed in China than Australia.

But some Chinese harbour a more sober view on the love for the bitter brew.

Li, a barista at Cafe Zarah in Beijing feels the road to China “accepting coffee like it is in Europe” is still far away. “Chinese people are conservative. We have a long and proud history, and coffee is not a part of it.”

“Maybe now with many young people studying in Europe or North America, they get used to coffee, but most of the Chinese people have never tasted coffee before, and if they have it was most likely from a cold can in the supermarket.”

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