An almost identically named article from Reuters talked about the gains coffee is making in China, not only in the amount of coffee consumed, but the production of coffee beans as well. Chinese homes are increasingly drinking coffee (albeit overwhelmingly instant in the home) and Chinese coffee producers are a strengthening presence in the world coffee trade.
I have talked about the coffee culture in China before, but I was very interested in what this article had to say about China's coffee production. Though only briefly, they did hint toward the same conclusions I see for China's coffee beans.
China's coffee, of what I have tasted up till now and from what others say, tends to be mild. When China's people choose to not drink coffee, it is because it is too strong or bitter. And any product is (almost) always cheaper to buy locally than importing.
Add all that together, and what do you get? China itself should be China's best market for now.
Sure, export. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, but with a growing market at home and a improving quality of production, it only seems to make sense for China's coffee producers to target China first. As the article mentioned, many Chinese cafe chains are looking to local coffee, mainly because it is cheaper for them to do so to avoid heavy tarriffs.
The Reuters article then compared China and Vietnam, which is a very unfair comparison: apples and oranges. Sure, Vietnam has a huge volume of export, enough to gain them the status of the world's second largest exporter of coffee, but I would not necessarily say they are an example. They export massive volumes of cheap coffee which is mainly used as filler in other, more well-known coffees. In addition, their rapid increase in exports the last ten years have largely been responsible for a plunge in the global coffee buying price, thus further straining an already bottom-of-the-barrel-scraping price and harming coffee farmers who already were struggling to get by in South America and Africa.
China's coffee has an excellent and growing market right at home. What these coffee producers need is some good marketing. I would love to see China develop the open forum between producers, roasters, and buyers like that in North America. Until then, Chinese will never know that drinking (fake) big name coffee from Jamaica or Hawaii which is two years old is never going to be as good as fresh coffee from humble Yunnan Province.
What you say about Vietnam coffee was true a number of years ago ... but the quality has been increasing rapidly as they have been focused on quality rather than quantity, and are putting greater emphasis on Arabica rather than the traditional Robusta.
Also ... there was a fair degree of explanation that attributed the crashing prices to other factors and not just Vietnam's entry into the Coffee Export world, though that was one factor.
Posted by: Roy | 17 May 2007 at 18:51
Well, it is certainly good to hear they are focusing on quality rather than quantity. When you say they are emphasizing Arabica over the "traditional Robusta", do you mean..."they are emphasizing Arabica over Vietnam's more traditional choice of Robusta for Vietnamese style coffee"
I think that is what you mean, but just want to make sure. Interesting...I did not know Robusta was the choice, previously.
I will have to do a little reading before addressing some of the other issues you bring up.
Posted by: Cooper Strange | 17 May 2007 at 19:01
Here's an interesting article ... which goes some way to explain and agree with your thoughts, but remove the myth element too. I found it helpful.
Posted by: Roy | 18 May 2007 at 09:44
Excellent article. Yes, every country has its premium coffees and its "not so premium" coffees, and the whole industry regularly sells various mixes of the two. And I could concede the point that the issue is much more complex than just pointing a finger at Vietnam as the scapegoat, but that article actually did say that Vietnam is "widely regarded as the cause of all the coffee market woes when its production increased 100 fold the last 20 to 25 years". That is, "widely regarded", but not necessarily so simple.
I think the point is that Vietnam could do much to improve their quality, even if only to market a top two or three percent of their coffees (as the article suggests), and start adding something to the market besides filler. Now, the point of this article was not to trash Vietnam, because it seems Vietnam is on the way to improving in the ways we have mentioned. Unfortunately, that may take a good deal of time, when the market is already so accustomed to the quality attached to Brazilian, Jamaican, Columbian, Ethiopian, and other coffees...even though, they too have their filler coffee beans.
Posted by: Cooper Strange | 18 May 2007 at 10:12
Here is another interesting article from CNN explaining that one major reason behind the coffee price crash was because the USA no longer feared Communism.
Posted by: Roy | 19 May 2007 at 20:32