China might be known for its tea traditions, but today, it's
brewing an increasingly sophisticated coffee culture.
As a growing number of Chinese develop a taste for the
traditionally Western beverage, their knowledge of coffee is
becoming more complex.
"There is a greater awareness of coffee in China than then we
first started selling it in China," said managing director of
Arabica Coffee Roasters Stuart Eunson.
Having helped shape the culture in its early days, Eunson knows
well how far China's coffee culture has come since Arabica first
entered the Chinese market in 1994.
"In 1994, Beijing taxi drivers didn't know what coffee was,"
Eunson said. He recalls that when he would respond to cabbies'
inquiries about what he was doing in China, "They'd say, 'we've
heard of coffee. What is it exactly'?"
They were familiar with the word and with the marketing, but not
with the product.
However, it didn't take long for a fledgling coffee culture to
percolate into urban Chinese life.
"In less than a decade, it went from taxi drivers in Beijing not
knowing what coffee was, to it becoming part of the colloquialism,"
Eunson said.
The speed at which Chinese took to coffee is demonstrated by the
90 percent increase in total volume sales in China between 1998 and
2003, when it reached 6,504.5 tons. Demand for coffee more than
doubled between 2001 and 2006 and is currently estimated to be
growing by 10 percent a year, according to the International Coffee
Organization (ICO).
Many industry leaders credit the birth of Chinese coffee culture
to Nestl's intensive marketing of its Nescaf brand when it
pioneered the market in the mid-1980s. Then, the company introduced
Chinese to soluble, or instant coffee, which today accounts for
about 90 percent of retail sales, according to the ICO.
"(Soluble coffee) is preferred for in-home consumption, as it is
easier to prepare and more akin to tea making," said ICO executive
director Nstor Osorio.
With its first-mover advantage Nestl has maintained its grip on
the soluble coffee industry and today accounts for 45 percent of
retail sales. Its main competitors are Kraft's Maxwell House brand
and Sara Lee; together, these three companies account for 70
percent of the market, according to the ICO.
Starbucks introduced the coffee shop to China when it entered
the market in 1998. Today, the company has 450 stores in Greater
China, with more than 200 stores in 21 cities on the
Chinese?mainland the region undergoing the fastest growth.
"We believe that China will eventually be the largest
international market for Starbucks outside of the US," said
Starbucks' Greater China vice-president Eden Woon. "Traditionally a
stronghold of jasmine, oolong, green, black and myriads of other
fragrant kinds of tea, the Chinese mainland is becoming more
attuned to the rich flavor of the coffee bean, driven by a wealthy
middle class that is more receptive to Western choices and
tastes."
And therein lies the question, which has been spotlighted by the
recent controversy surrounding Starbucks' presence in the Forbidden
City: Is the development of China's coffee culture motivated by a
desire to embrace all things Western, or is it a culture that the
Chinese have adopted from outside but made their own?
According to research conducted by global marketing firm
Euromonitor, the Asian demographics most likely to support a coffee
culture include affluent urbanites subject to "a high degree of
Western influence".
Chinese coffee drinker Fu Jing, 37, of Beijing, believes that
much of China's current interest in coffee is due to an infatuation
with the West.
"I don't think China has its own coffee culture yet," she said
between gulps of mocha at a Starbucks in Beijing's affluent Jian
Wai SOHO shopping complex. "It originated in Western countries, and
these Western countries have brought their coffee culture here. I
think that Chinese people are very attracted to Western culture,
and I think coffee is a good example of that."
Sitting a few tables away, 21-year-old university student Wang
Hao, of Beijing, said that he was exposed to coffee through Western
pop culture.
"I learned about coffee culture by watching the TV series
Friends," Hao said, referring to the internationally
popular American TV sitcom in which the characters frequent a local
coffee shop. "So, I don't drink it at home just at coffee
shops."
But a few tables further down, Zhou Chenbin, 30, of Nanjing,
believes that while coffee originally came from the West, that's no
longer its fundamental appeal for most Chinese.
After sipping a Starbucks' house blend, Zhou said: "It's not
just a Western thing. It just tastes good."
Like Zhou, Eunson believes that when it comes to coffee in
China: "There's a lot of non-Western influence here."
"It's viewed as an international product rather than a Western
product," he said. "I'd take Japanese coffee culture, and blend it
with Italian coffee culture, and blend that with American coffee
culture, and you'll have what Chinese coffee culture might look
like."
He pointed out that Chinese coffee culture has already developed
its own unique features.
According to him, Chinese coffee lovers pay more attention to
presentation than those in the West and have developed a penchant
for elaborate latte art. Chinese drinkers also have a fondness for
siphon pots, which are rarely used overseas. And because Chinese
value freshness, they're likelier to make coffee by the cup,
whereas in the West, it's common to brew a large pot and let it sit
between refills.
"Because it's such a new market here, there are no
preconceptions about what coffee should be, so you find coffee
served in very creative ways that you wouldn't see in the West,"
Eunson said.
According to the ICO, Chinese coffee culture is unique in that
the Chinese often eat when drinking coffee, leading to a smaller
take-away business than found in Western countries. The ICO also
says that most Chinese coffee drinkers prefer cappuccinos or lattes
to espresso, which they consider to be too bitter.
Today, "nearly every type of fine quality coffee is available in
China's coffee bars," Osorio said. "However, much education is
needed in the subtleties of taste and properties of different
origins, which are alien to most Chinese consumers."
Eager to make headway in the Chinese market, the coffee industry
is rising to the call.
In order to increase coffee awareness, the ICO organizes coffee
exhibitions in the country, such as the 2007 Shanghai International
Coffee Exhibition, which will run from March 16-18.
But Chinese such as Wang Ke, 27, of Central China's Henan Province, are skeptical about Chinese
coffee culture's future.
Ke says her cynicism stems from her belief that most Chinese
coffee consumers drink it to be fashionable, or because they work
at foreign companies. "True coffee lovers," she says, are few and
far between.
"Drinking coffee is not a habit yet in China," she says. "Even
though there are more coffee shops popping up, it doesn't mean that
the customers are going there to order coffee or truly appreciate
the coffee culture."
Osorio, however, believes there is good reason to be optimistic
about the coffee bean's future in China.
"Japan also a traditional tea-drinking country was at the
current Chinese consumption level in the mid 1960s but now consumes
more than 7 million bags," he said. "It is likely that China could
follow a similar growth path."
By Erik Nilsson
(China Daily March 2, 2007)