Is coffee the new black?
By Erik Nilsson (China Daily)Updated: 2007-03-02 10:40
According to research conducted by global marketing firm Euromonitor, the Asian demographics most likely to support a coffee culture include affluent urbanites subject to "a high degree of Western influence".
Chinese coffee drinker Fu Jing, 37, of Beijing, believes that much of China's current interest in coffee is due to an infatuation with the West.
"I don't think China has its own coffee culture yet," she said between gulps of mocha at a Starbucks in Beijing's affluent Jian Wai SOHO shopping complex. "It originated in Western countries, and these Western countries have brought their coffee culture here. I think that Chinese people are very attracted to Western culture, and I think coffee is a good example of that."
Sitting a few tables away, 21-year-old university student Wang Hao, of Beijing, said that he was exposed to coffee through Western pop culture.
"I learned about coffee culture by watching the TV series Friends," Hao said, referring to the internationally popular American TV sitcom in which the characters frequent a local coffee shop. "So, I don't drink it at home just at coffee shops."
But a few tables further down, Zhou Chenbin, 30, of Nanjing, believes that while coffee originally came from the West, that's no longer its fundamental appeal for most Chinese.
After sipping a Starbucks' house blend, Zhou said: "It's not just a Western thing. It just tastes good."
Like Zhou, Eunson believes that when it comes to coffee in China: "There's a lot of non-Western influence here."
"It's viewed as an international product rather than a Western product," he said. "I'd take Japanese coffee culture, and blend it with Italian coffee culture, and blend that with American coffee culture, and you'll have what Chinese coffee culture might look like."
He pointed out that Chinese coffee culture has already developed its own unique features.
According to him, Chinese coffee lovers pay more attention to presentation
than those in the West and have developed a penchant for elaborate latte art.
Chinese drinkers also have a fondness for siphon pots, which are rarely used
overseas. And because Chinese value freshness, they're likelier to make coffee
by the cup, whereas in the West, it's common to brew a large pot and let it sit
between refills.
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