The number of cafes in China has doubled in the past five years.

According to the latest market research report by London-based professional market research firm Mintel, the number of cafes in China has doubled in the past five years-from 15898 in 2007 to 31783 in 2012.

Of the 3000 Internet users over the age of 20 surveyed, 1/5 of Chinese urban consumers said they had been to cafes at least five times in the past year. When consumers choose cafes, the quality of food is the primary factor, followed by the quality of drinks.

It is not just food and beverages that attract consumers into the coffee culture. According to the report, 15% of consumers are affected by the environment and atmosphere.

China has a tradition of tea culture, but compared with the prosperity of cafes, the development of Chinese teahouses is tepid, with an increase of 4 per cent from 48842 to 50984 between 2007 and 2012.

Matthew Crabbe, director of Asia Pacific Research at Mintel, said that after the coffee chain expanded into China in the late 1990s, teahouses have been struggling to find a way out, and the final consumer group is still tourists or low-spending elderly people in traditional leisure places, not young people. The cafe began to sell Chinese tea, which is undoubtedly even worse for the traditional teahouse. "operating costs force the teahouse to change its strategy and position the market to a higher-end consumer group, and nearly half of the consumers use the teahouse as a place for business conversation."

However, limited by market saturation, Mintel believes that the growth rate of cafes in China will slow in the future.

Costa Coffee said same-store sales growth at its 200 coffee chains in China was down from 19 per cent in the first half, but remained "steady in double digits" in the 13 weeks to the end of November, according to the Financial Times.

According to Mintel, the total market value of Chinese cafes and teahouses increased from 31.785 billion yuan in 2007 to 71.599 billion yuan in 2012. Mintel expects the figure to grow by 70 per cent to 121.69 billion yuan between 2012 and 2017.

"like Starbucks, the plan to open 1500 stores in China in 2015 is a very radical plan." Mintel points out that Starbucks' adoption of locally grown coffee beans in China can reduce its costs.

(responsible Editor: Leo)