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The rigid demand for coffee consumption in China has not yet been formed?

Published: 2026-04-07 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/04/07, Every morning, Hu Ding, a 34-year-old highway architect, drinks a cup of homemade espresso, a mellow taste as fascinating as good wine. Like many coffee lovers in China, Hu Ding's road to coffee begins with instant coffee, but since he tasted the rich taste of freshly ground coffee, his life is no longer without this rich and mellow taste.

Every morning, Hu Ding, a 34-year-old highway architect, drinks a cup of homemade espresso. "the mellow taste is as fascinating as good wine."

Like many coffee lovers in China, Hu Ding's road to coffee began with instant coffee, but since he tasted the rich taste of freshly ground coffee, his life has been full-bodied and mellow. Hu Ding not only learned the knowledge about coffee, made coffee himself, studied the skills of flower drawing, but also got the popular capsule coffee machine, and traveling abroad also became a good opportunity for him to taste and search for different flavors of coffee. "for me, drinking coffee is not only a habit, but also an attitude towards life."

Although the group of coffee enthusiasts like Hu Ding is growing, and people in the coffee industry at home and abroad generally believe that the prospect of China's coffee consumption market is promising, some practitioners remain cautiously optimistic. "the Chinese market is still in the nurturing period. We are greeting the dawn, but we are not standing in the sun, because the rigid demand for coffee consumption has not yet been formed in China. " "if Chinese consumers get into the habit of getting up and drinking coffee in the morning, then the revenue of the whole industry will increase a lot," an industry source told the International Business Daily. "

The so-called "weakness" of rigid demand has also affected the living conditions of some domestic cafes. Foreign cafes open in the morning and account for half of the day's turnover from 8 to 10:00. Due to differences in consumption habits, some domestic cafes do not start operation until noon.

Dou Shu, founder of Beijing Dou Shu Coffee Roaster, said that the industry he is engaged in selling boutique coffee serves a minority even in mature markets, but it still needs to be based on rigid demand.

Bai Fang, general manager of Zunkeford (Beijing) Coffee Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd., vice president and secretary-general of Beijing Coffee Industry Association, said in an interview with our reporter that China's coffee consumption is divided into five stages: the first stage is the early stage of reform and opening up. Coffee is far away from the lives of ordinary people, and you can drink coffee only with coupons in foreign-related hotels. In the second stage, instant coffee represented by Nestl é entered public life; in the third stage, brands such as Starbucks and Shangdao Coffee brought cafes into China, making the public feel that they entered cafes not only to drink coffee, but also to enjoy an atmosphere; in the fourth stage, consumers bought their favorite cheap coffee through online stores, coffee retailers and other channels, and formed a group of coffee lovers at this stage. In the fifth stage, the spread of coffee culture in China has realized the whole process from seed to cup, and some personalized cafes have emerged, where consumers can find their favorite coffee origin and flavor. "it is now in the transition period from the fourth stage to the fifth stage." Bai Fang said.

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