China's coffee craze moves to the countryside — but can the buzz last?
Coffee and countryside charm
For Asa Jin, a freelance service provider from Hangzhou, no two coffee excursions are identical. With camera and latte in hand, she moves from one coffee shop to another, taking delight in picturesque sights and curating social media content, before moving on. 'Most rural cafes are leaning into a fashionable, influencer-driven ambiance, but it's not sustainable,' she says. The uniqueness diminishes after a single visit.
However, the fast turnover of interest doesn't stop the outpouring. Countryside coffee shops, usually snuggled in tranquil natural settings, are flourishing due to their 'escape' and visual appeal. As coffee substitutes for tea in more cups all over China, the market is undergoing volatile development. Net coffee imports increased over six times between 2020 and 2024, and the nation's coffee business is now assessed at more than 300 billion yuan (US$42 billion or S$53 billion). With rising demand, out-of-town cafes are thriving in fame, acceptance, and number.
More than just a drink: Coffee as a catalyst for rural revival
Beyond the caffeine dose and photo ops, these coffee shops are part of a larger plan — countryside revival. The government views them as instruments for reducing the urban-rural gap through job creation, tourism development, and driving local expansion.
For example, Deep Blue in Anji County, Zhejiang. Its exceptional 'two investments, three returns' model permits village dwellers to earn from land rent payments, salaries, and dividends. The shops' success has made Anji become a coffee flashpoint. With more than 300 cafes for just 600,000 inhabitants, it even outperforms Shanghai in cafe concentration.
Parallel advancement is taking place across the country. More than 40,000 bucolic coffee shops have launched nationwide, many of them backed up by strategies linked to President Xi Jinping's call for 'rural revitalisation in the new era.' Communities like Guozhao in Deping County are renovating roads and infrastructure to entice urban guests, while locals like Zhou Haojie are turning homes into cafes, eager to translate foot traffic into sustainable businesses.
Homogenisation and overload
The swift upsurge created a jam-packed market, with issues permeating just behind the façade. Specialists caution that the number of cafes has overtaken actual coffee consumption growth, profit boundaries are squeezed, and continuing feasibility is compromised.
'Although demand for coffee will continue to grow, the growth rate of cafes far exceeds that of coffee demand,' says Professor Li Bin of the Central University of Finance and Economics. Many coffee shops are beginning to look and taste the same. A confounding 98% of rural cafes in Zhejiang boast of 'natural settings,' and reviews on platforms like Dianping expose a shared disapproval — 'style over substance.' One well-known cafe, Gelien Coffee, famous for its charming Swiss-style background, is also inundated with grumbles about 'bad-tasting coffee' and 'only good for photos.'
This monotony can undermine the very appeal that attracted clients in the first place. Professor Li suggests a shift — 'Homogenised business models and insufficient rural culture are limiting expansion. Differentiated development, rooted in local culture, is key.'
As China's rural areas continue to savour the aroma of coffee and the appeal of a curated environment, the future of countryside coffee shops will depend on their capacity to evolve beyond aesthetics. For the time being, they remain a symbol of change, where tradition meets trend, and a mug of coffee serves something larger than itself.
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