Mixing Tea and Coffee Cultures with Today’s Chinese Youth

“We hope to have more competitors in the coffee area, everyone works together to make the cake bigger. Compared with tea in the Chinese market, coffee is just only a small part of the beverage market.” – David Sudan, Nestle Coffee China Business Director

Right now in China, it is felt that coffee is a high class beverage, but the reality is not entirely like this. In Shanghai, income levels are able to support the “higher than tea” coffee prices as long as the quality matches the price, or “性价比”. We feel this is a strong sign of the maturing coffee market in China. The sales and penetration of tea beverages are much more than coffee; not only in the supermarket but also in China’s cafes and tea houses. The reasons indicate cultural differences between China and the rest of the world.

(photo credit, loonyhiker)

Lifestyle

Coffee, rich and mellow. Tea, fresh and pleasant. The first time I discovered coffee is from a the novel “第一次亲密接触” (“First Intimate Contact”). The young actress use different types of coffee to describe the colors of clothes; she must be a coffee drinker. While I don’t like drinking coffee all of the time, I often long for the coffee sensation. Under the sunshine on Huaihai Road Having a cup of cappuccino with a blueberry cheese cake and chatting with friends is really “小资”.（”Xiao Zi” references the influence of materialistic things, i.e. coffee on the communistic society, making things more capitalistic.） This is the lifestyle and culture of young ladies drinking coffee. This elevated societal status of coffee then filters to the Chinese business elite. Demand grows and one Starbucks after another opens in the Shanghai commercial districts near Huaihai road, West Nanjing Road and Xujiahui. China’s young “white collar’s” then become coffee addicts.

Tea is often inseparable with chat and is more welcomed by the civilian population. Tea is also one of China’s oldest and most elegant art forms. Tea culture is a long shared and social custom in China’s streets, living rooms, and tea houses. Today, a local tea house is not only a place to enjoy tea, but also a place for young guys to play cards such as 斗地主、80分 and the fashionable desk games such as 狼人、三国杀. So during this period, 避风塘 and 圆缘圆 become much more popular. But there are also a number of tea houses (RBT, 一茶一坐), that are popular with young guys because they sell tea and coffee with creativity.

(photo credit, charles chan)

Diet habits

Chinese people are accustomed to having a pot of tea when they have dinner, and in different regions people prefer different kinds of tea. The most common types are chrysanthemum tea, oolong tea, pu’er tea, Kungfu tea, and Chaozhou tea. In Southern China, food habits and culture are different, so they also have the morning tea and afternoon tea with lunch.

As influences from Europe creep into China, people from Hong Kong often mix milk tea and coffee to make a special drink called, 鸳鸯. Hong Kong tea houses and restaurants also serve Chinese food and Western-style food. This is their unique combination of Chinese and Western cultures.

Tea and coffee each have their own culture, their own emotion, and their own market. Coffee is more refined and has small minority market share, while tea is more popular. Coffee is a product of Western culture and tea is a crystallization of Chinese civilization. In order to make coffee popular in China, coffee makers should adapt to local Chinese cultures, but also keep in mind the lifestyle and diet changes that are happening in China. If they can balance the advantages and the disadvantages, the tea and coffee cultures can co-exist in China’s crowded beverage market.

(written and compiled by enoVate team member and moderate coffee and tea drinker, Sunnie Qin)