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)