Coffee culture with China's own features starts to take shape

A coffee farmer airs coffee cherries in Pu'er, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Nov. 16, 2022. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Despite a relatively short coffee-drinking history, a coffee culture with China's own features has gradually taken shape in the country.

China became exposed to the coffee culture in the late 1980s. The past decades have seen American coffee chain Starbucks and Hong Kong's Cha Chaan Teng (or 'tea restaurant') enter the Chinese mainland, as well as the rise of local coffee brands, all of which have influenced people's lives, and helped shape China's own coffee culture.

"China has long been dominated by a tea-drinking tradition. In terms of coffee, I don't think we coffee drinkers have to follow some fixed patterns," said Zhang Yipeng, owner of a coffeehouse in Beijing. Zhang believes that the right way to enjoy coffee is to pick your favorite tastes among all kinds of varieties.

Luckin Coffee, a leading Chinese coffeehouse chain, rolled out the raw coconut latte in April 2021, a concoction made with raw cold-pressed coconut milk. The new product became a big hit, helped boost the sales of freshly ground coffee, and most importantly, proved that coffee can win the hearts of Chinese consumers, as long as it caters to their tastes. Unlike Western coffee drinkers, Chinese prefer a combination of milk or coconut milk and coffee with a rich taste.

A staff member makes coffee in a commercial complex reconstructed from an old building in Yuzhong District, southwest China's Chongqing, Oct. 6, 2022. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

In March 2023, Luckin Coffee launched the "Global Coffee Bean Search Plan" led by Anthony Douglas, the 2022 World Barista Championship champion. By coming to the frontline of coffee production, his team explores high-quality coffee beans for Luckin Coffee consumers, looks for the coffee beans that are favored by Chinese coffee drinkers, as well as enhances the brand's competitiveness in global industrial chains.

To get high-quality coffee beans, the team visited coffee farms and factories in Panama, a boutique place to buy coffee beans. In May 2023, Luckin Coffee established an office in Ethiopia where high-quality coffee beans are produced.

Wu Jun, founder of the Chinese coffee brand Saturnbird, observed that China's coffee industry will have more in-depth development and possibilities, with new flavors, business models and consumption habits.