Just coffee?

Here is my second contribution to the Zhongshan Ribao. In China's major cities the green mermaid logo of Starbucks is becoming as prominent as Colonial Sanders and the golden arches. While Starbucks has not yet moved to Zhongshan, local cafés are springing up around the town. I enjoy them because I like coffee. The Chinese have other reasons...

JUST COFFEE?
By Paul Wegerson
March 25, 2005

Since coming to Zhongshan I’ve traded my morning cup of coffee for a glass of green tea. Packed with anti-oxidants, green tea seems more healthy and less heavy than a cup of coffee. Despite this, a cup of coffee and a good book will remain my recipe for relaxation.

Although tea will remain the traditional drink of China, a craving for all things western has turned on China’s coffee makers.

A perfect cognate in almost any language – coffee, café or kafei （咖啡) – love for the caffeinated bean is almost universal. With more and more cafés opening in Zhongshan, a distinct coffee culture is beginning to emerge.

In the highly trafficked area around the Metro Mall (Da Fu Yuan- 大福园) 4 classy café restaurants are jostling for business on the same corner. Yet, the clients don’t come just for the coffee.

Hip twenty-somethings and young professionals are flocking to these coffee shops to unwind and chat with friends. Many patrons enjoy a light dessert of cheesecake, flan or a social basket of French fries with their iced mochas. Business is booming for these cafés, and the coffee culture is becoming a status symbol. The draw is not always the drinks but rather this Western atmosphere. They want to pay for it too.

Near the Metro Mall, where quality is second to cost, a cup of Colombian coffee at the ultra swanky Kimo Coffee goes for 25 RMB ($3 US). Included in that cost, however, is a white-gloved piano player tickling the ivories to an easy listening Western hit. The décor is more like a Manhattan wine bar than a bohemian café.

These trendy coffee shops serve international coffee blends from bilingual menus and they even don English names like Kimo Coffee, Conception and Jack & Magic Pea. With Kimo being the exception, the atmospheres of the latter two cafés are reminiscent of the java joints in my hometown of Minneapolis, MN – right down to the pillow-soft couches, the smooth jazz vocals of American artist Norah Jones and wireless internet connection.

Tucked away from major roads, Just Coffee offers a great cup of coffee for only 8 RMB (less than $1 US). However, owner Li Li Wei complains that quality and value are not alluring to this new blend of coffee drinkers. “They think that [8 RMB] is too cheap. It must not be good. They pay for the atmosphere because they don’t really know what good coffee is,” he said.

Whether customers are attracted by their palates or their pocketbooks, coffee culture is percolating in Zhongshan. If this trend continues, I’ll surely have more company in China. #####

*This article is property of Paul Wegerson 韦保罗　and The Zhongshan Ribao 中山日报. It may not be reproduced without permission.

Fact: There are 158 Starbucks retail stores to serve an 'urban coffee experience' to the Chinese coffee drinker. Most of them are in the cultural hubs of Shanghai (47), Beijing (44) and the Hong Kong SAR (34).

Fact: Most of the new coffee shops mentioned in this article (Just Coffee, Conception, Jack and Magic Pea) are owned and operated by Taiwanese investors who also own factories in districts of Zhongshan.