Suzhou drinks 400 tons of coffee beans a year.

At present, there are more than 1600 coffee shops and cafes in urban and rural areas of Suzhou, and more than 500 western food restaurants and halls, with more than 10, 000 employees and consuming more than 400 tons of coffee beans a year. This is the news obtained by the reporter from the inaugural meeting of the Coffee and Western Food Industry Chamber of Commerce in the city yesterday afternoon.

According to reports, since 2010, Suzhou coffee consumption showed a blowout growth. In addition to Starbucks and other foreign brands stationed in the streets, some independent coffee shops appear in people's eyes, and business is booming. "Pinyuan Coffee" is a local coffee enterprise in Suzhou, which integrates research and development, production and sales. The annual sales of coffee materials in this coffee enterprise is more than 40 million yuan. Another "Wang Coffee" transformed from an Internet company is a 24-hour retail store that attracts consumers at the price of 8 yuan a cup. At the same time, coffee consumption has shifted from popularity to boutique. Blue Mountain, cat shit, Indonesian coffee, Yunnan Pu'er and other boutique coffee beans have entered more and more star hotel cafes and independent coffee shops.

With the popularization of coffee culture, strengthening the application of baristas' professional standards and standardizing the development of the industry have become the common needs of current coffee enterprises. In order to build a development platform, with the approval of the Civil Affairs Bureau, the Municipal Coffee and Western Food Industry Chamber of Commerce was established. Yesterday, a total of 70 coffee companies joined the chamber of commerce, becoming the first batch of members. It is reported that on the 13th, the Chamber of Commerce held the first barista exhibition competition in Suzhou.

Yao Dongming, vice chairman of the Municipal Committee of the Chinese people's political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Federation of Industry and Commerce, attended the founding meeting.