15% of consumers are affected by the environment and atmosphere-the number of cafes in China will increase in the past five years.

China has a tea culture tradition, but compared with the prosperity of cafes, the development of teahouses in China is lukewarm. From 2007 to 2012, the number of teahouses increased from 48842 to 50984, an increase of 4%. Matthew Crabbe, director of research for Mintel Asia Pacific, said coffee chains expanded rapidly after entering China in the late 1990s, but tea houses struggled to find a way out, and the final consumer group was still tourists or low-spending elderly people in traditional leisure places, not young people. Coffee shops began selling Chinese tea, which is undoubtedly worse for traditional teahouses."Operating costs forced teahouses to change their strategy and position the market at a higher end of the consumer group. Nearly half of consumers used teahouses as business conversation places."

However, limited by market saturation, Mintel believes that coffee shop growth in China will slow down in the future.

Costa Coffee said same-store sales growth at its 200 chain coffee shops in China slowed from 19 percent in the first half but remained "stable in double digits" for the 13 weeks to the end of November, the Financial Times said.

According to Mintel's findings, the total market value of cafes and teahouses in China grew from 31.785 billion yuan in 2007 to 71.599 billion yuan in 2012. Mintel expects that figure to grow 70 percent between 2012 and 2017 to $121.69 billion.

"Like Starbucks, the plan to open 1500 stores in China by 2015 is a very radical plan." Mintel points out that starbucks can reduce costs by starting to use locally grown coffee beans in china.

The number of cafes in China has doubled in the past five years-from 15898 in 2007 to 31783 in 2012, according to a market research report by Mintel **, a London-based specialist market research firm.

Of the 3000 Internet users over the age of 20 surveyed, one in five Chinese urban consumers said they had visited a cafe at least five times in the past year. When consumers choose a cafe, the quality of the food is the primary factor, followed by the quality of the beverage.

It's not just food and drink that draw consumers into the coffee culture. 15% of consumers are influenced by the environment and atmosphere.