However, coffee consumption has also been growing with an average annual rate of 16% in the last decade, overshadowing the global average of 2%, according to the International Coffee Organization. The overall annual tea consumption in China is currently way over that of coffee with figures expected to reach 669,500 tons to 80,718 tons respectively in 2020, according to Statista. Call it whatever you will, it’s all the same in essence. What we’re getting at is the new incarnation of the good old drink that has resonated greatly with the youths all over Asia, which is milk tea or bubble tea or the latest novelty, cheese tea. You might see some senior citizens with home-brewed tea in their thermoses, but that’s about it. Chinese people don’t go around brewing tea in pocket sized pots or indulge in lengthy tea ceremonies on every lunch-break. ![]() ![]() To make it clear, it’s probably not what you imagined. SEE ALSO: What Can Luckin Coffee’s Expansion Teach Us About the Changes in Chinese Consumption Patterns? Starbucks, on the contrary, sells products and experiences, and here is where it meets its real challenger – tea. Their coffee is lackluster, lukewarm and watery, but at the end of the day, we are not buying the drink, we are buying convenience. Luckin stores have been popping up all around the country like pesky weeds that would grow anywhere there’s soil. And for us, judging from inside China, it is quite self-explanatory. Time Magazine has even published a piece literally titled “China’s Luckin Coffee Is More 7-Eleven Than Starbucks”. ![]() Many have already noted that Luckin’s business model resembles more that of 7-Eleven in that it puts convenience above quality. But there’s one thing all of them seem to ignore – Starbucks and Luckin Coffee are not really in the same league. For local business aficionados debating over whether the Chinese start-up will overthrow the Seattle giant has already become a routine affair. Indeed, coffee is inescapable here, there’s a Starbucks in every mall and a stall of the local caffeine prophet Luckin coffee on pretty much every corner. Nowadays, however, there’s so much blabber about coffee becoming the new drink of choice for the Chinese, that an unenlightened tourist on the streets of Beijing could think that he’d been lied to all his life. It seems like any person at least moderately familiar with China would know that it’s a realm of tea.
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