Why is imported coffee much more expensive than domestic coffee? Which domestic coffee beans are the most cost-effective?

Once upon a time, in the minds of Chinese people, the word "imported" represented high-end, high quality, foreign style, genuine goods, advanced technology, delicious, safe and reliable, and other positive words that domestic products could not match.

However, now, with the rapid development of China's economy and Chinese national enterprises, the Chinese people's thinking has changed with the transparency and globalization of the market, and they have realized that imported goods can also be bad, counterfeit, technologically backward, not tasty, and of course unsafe and unreliable.

So for an imported product like coffee, does imported coffee mean it is better than domestic coffee?

What are the brands of imported coffee?

◆ Imported freshly ground coffee brand

The most common imported coffee in China is Nestle, which is the leader in the instant coffee market, not only in China but also abroad.

As for whether Nestle coffee is good or not? The market has given the best answer to this question. At least in the instant coffee industry, no other brand can compare with it in terms of technology. Other imported instant coffee brands include Zhongyuan G7, Maxwell House, Claris, UCC, etc., which are all relatively famous.

◆ Imported freshly ground coffee brand

Coffee is still a relatively niche drink in China, and freshly ground coffee is even more of a niche. In China, when it comes to freshly ground coffee, most people think of coffee shops such as Starbucks, Man Coffee, and Shangdao Coffee, which provide freshly ground coffee and snacks. Or fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut provide coffee with meals. In fact, freshly ground coffee also includes coffee beans sold in stores such as Lavasa, Iris, Starbucks, and Costa.

Are there any coffee brands in China?

◆ Domestic coffee brands are rising rapidly

In China's more developed cities, coffee has become a common sight in coffee shops, homes, and offices. Coffee has entered the daily lives of Chinese people, and the coffee industry has become one of the business opportunities that cannot be ignored.

The emergence and rapid expansion of domestic coffee brands such as Luckin Coffee and Lian Coffee are first of all due to the broad prospects of the Chinese coffee market.

Luckin Coffee, in particular, has opened 3,000 stores across the country in just two years, while Starbucks took 18 years to achieve this goal. Luckin Coffee, with its unique combination of online and offline, "unlimited scenarios" model, attracts and satisfies consumers' demand for Internet-based coffee purchases, rapidly expands and occupies China's coffee market share, and becomes a leading company in China's new retail coffee market.

◆ Improvement in the quality of domestic coffee beans

China produces 138,000 metric tons of coffee beans each year, which is about the sum of Kenya and Yalsa's annual production. However, despite China's high coffee production, it is difficult to directly associate coffee with China; this is because the quality of Yunnan's coffee beans was not high in the past, and most of them were used as raw materials for instant coffee. In fact, China is already capable of producing high-quality specialty coffee beans.

Gurel and the team from the non-profit organization Coffee Quality Institute¹ tried 40 coffee processing experiments on a donor's land in Yunnan. According to the research of Coffee Quality Institute, the low-altitude provinces are more suitable for sun-drying processing, the medium-altitude ones are suitable for honey processing, and the high-altitude beans are suitable for washed processing. The coffee beans they grow are best dried and shelled by sun-drying processing.

The specific treatments for the beans at different altitudes resulted in a very sweet taste. The cupping score of the coffee beans rose from 80 to 86 points, which was an exciting result. It is rare for Asian coffee beans to receive such high scores.

Which is better, imported coffee or domestic coffee?

Imported coffee is very good because it has the support of the brand, and the brand means technology.

Of course, this also depends on the object. Compared with domestic coffee, imported instant coffee has obvious advantages, both in terms of brand awareness and product quality.

If it is the market for freshly ground coffee, imported coffee has a great advantage in roasting technology. However, even if domestic coffee producers have tried very hard, they still have a big gap in roasting technology compared with foreign old coffee roasting factories. This is where others excel, and we need to recognize and learn from them instead of making up rumors and belittling them.

In addition, there are imported coffee beans, which are caused by differences in geographical environment and planting management. The environment is an objective factor.

At present, the advantages of domestic coffee over imported coffee are price and freshness. Due to its low transit cost and short transit time, domestic coffee can crush imported coffee beans in terms of freshness, and its price is naturally much lower than that of imported coffee.

Recommended Chinese coffee brands

■ Hougu Coffee

Hougu Coffee has been highly recommended by Foreign Minister Wang Yi and has its own plantations and coffee production technology.

■ Rainbow Manor Coffee

It is cheap and tastes good. It can be bought at convenience stores such as FamilyMart and Lawson. The price of a cup of coffee is generally around ten yuan.

■ Spring Light Coffee

Chunguang is an old Chinese brand with trustworthy quality. It has its own coffee planting base and reliable raw materials.

■ Southern Coffee

Hainan Nan Guo Food Industry Co., Ltd. has patented technologies for food production in many countries, and the quality of Nan Guo coffee is also excellent.

■ Yunlu Coffee

Yunlu Coffee promises that the origin of every coffee bean can be traced, the defects of coffee beans are greatly reduced, and it uses the German PROBAT roasting machine, so the coffee tastes wonderful.

■ Four Cats Cafe

The coffee packaging has a very stylish and novel design, tastes good and is affordable.

■ Jierong Coffee

Although the name of Jierong Coffee is not well-known, it is considered to be the best domestic coffee. Jierong Coffee products have been used in the Olympic Games and Asian Games, and it has a long history and is worth recommending.

■ Fushan Coffee

Fushan Coffee uses red soil Lao Zhong coffee beans and is the only domestic coffee brand in the country to be included in the state banquet beverage.

■ Saipin Coffee

Kunming has long sunshine hours and a large temperature difference between day and night, which is conducive to the accumulation of coffee nutrients. The soil also contains more trace elements, so Saipin Coffee has an excellent source of raw materials.