BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- At a 25-square-meter cafe with no indoor seating in east Beijing's Sanyuanli Market, Mingming, 27, placed an order of hand-brewed coffee Omakase with a diverse selection of beans.
"I heard it's like a 'coffee bean feast'," said Mingming while eagerly waiting alongside a crowd of customers at the shop on a cold winter day.
Brewing, portioning... different flavored coffee beans are brewed in an ongoing cycle. Meanwhile, a barista introduces customers to the different types of coffee beans, like a "mini" coffee tasting class.
The cafe belongs to the domestic coffee chain brand Grid Coffee. Just over a year ago, the brand only had a coffee truck selling black coffee. Now, it has 25 shops and plans to expand to more cities, opening 150 to 200 shops this year.
The growth of Grid Coffee offers a glimpse into the rapid development of the coffee market in China in recent years.
"I order a latte or an Americano almost every day," said Zhang Dajiu, a "post-95s" coffee lover. Coffee orders make up the majority in her delivery app.
In China, more and more people are getting into the habit of grabbing a cup of coffee during their commute, either taking it with them or ordering a coffee delivery.
Currently, China's annual consumption of coffee beans stands at nearly 300,000 tonnes, and the country's total annual import and export trade of coffee is close to 5 billion yuan (about 700 million U.S. dollars).
In addition, China has over 220,000 coffee-related enterprises, with a registration growth rate of over 20 percent.
As coffee shops spring up across the country, cafe owners are also taking the initiative to create new coffee recipes to give their customers a unique and flavorful experience, such as lattes containing the fiery Chinese spirit baijiu.
"There are many creative types of coffee drinks available in China," said Alessandro Martini from Italy, who has been in China for over 7 years.
Meanwhile, amid the growing coffee supply and demand in China, stronger supply chain dynamics are being unleashed, which has led to the entry of more international coffee brands into the Chinese market and their expansion here.
In 2020, Italian coffee brand Lavazza opened its first store in Asia in Shanghai, focusing on promoting Italian food life. U.S. coffee chain Blue Bottle Coffee, which officially entered the Chinese mainland market in 2022, set up a roasting plant to bring small-batch freshly roasted coffee beans from Yemen, Costa Rica, and Bolivia to Chinese consumers.
While coffee brands from abroad enter China, the Chinese coffee industry is also growing and expanding its industrial chain.
A plant in southwest China's Yunnan Province is immersed in a refreshing coffee aroma, with bags of specialty coffee beans rolling off its two production lines.
The plant, in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, was built from scratch and completed within less than three months, said Deng Ziyang, chairman of the Dehong Laihui Coffee Bean Co., Ltd.
"The quality of Dehong coffee beans is excellent," Deng noted.
With a maturing industry chain and supporting measures, Dehong is hosting a growing number of coffee-making companies.
As the largest coffee-producing region in China, Yunnan produces about 98 percent of China's coffee.
In recent years, Yunnan has promoted the construction of boutique coffee estates, striving to become a globally important region for specialty coffee.
"This is the development direction of the coffee industry and has a positive impact on extending the coffee industry chain," said Lou Yuqiang, a researcher at the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences. ■
