UNDERSTANDING THE CHINESE COFFEE MARKET

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China may have tea-drinking roots, yet coffee consumption is on the rise in what is, by purchasing-power-parity, the world’s largest economy.

And while the Chinese coffee industry might be young, it would be a mistake to think that it is behind Western and Australasian markets. From record-breaking auction prices to consumer-facing apps, China is transforming the idea of café culture.

Why is the Chinese Coffee Market Growing So Fast?

Coffee has long been valued in China as a status symbol. During the 1980s, it functioned as a rare, imported, and highly prized gift.

It was in the late ‘90s, when the first Chinese Starbucks store opened in Beijing, that coffee consumption slowly started to become mainstream. Coffee imports began to increase, with whole bean and ground coffee imports growing faster than soluble. Chinese consumers were looking for a way to create the café experience, rather than just a caffeine buzz.

Consumption is still relatively low compared to the US and Europe: in urban areas, consumers drink five cups of coffee per capita on average. However, this rate is increasing annually by 30%.

Second-wave chains have a strong presence. In 2019, there were 3,300 Starbucks stores across the country, with plans to double this amount over the next five years. The Chinese-owned Luckin Coffee competes heavily with Starbucks, opening 525 outlets throughout China in the first nine months after its launch. And KFC, which is China’s largest restaurant chain, serves up 100% Arabica coffee.

Third wave coffee also has a small but passionate following, while Chinese coffee farmers in Yunnan are increasingly targeting the specialty market.

The student demographic is at the forefront of the coffee-drinking movement. Consumption rates have increased faster in larger cities, such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, as young professionals return from Western universities with a new café-visiting habit.

Today, 75% of Chinese coffee consumers are the younger middle class. They are typically affluent, career-driven millennials with higher disposable incomes to spend on premium products such as coffee.

How the Chinese Coffee Industry Influences Prices

Coffee may have become more commonplace in China compared to in the ‘80s, yet its association with high value remains.

In green coffee auctions, Chinese roasters are consistently willing to pay more per pound for exceptional lots. In the 2017 Best of Panama and Cup of Excellence auctions, 37 of the 51 lots up for sale were purchased by East Asian roasters.

And at the 2018 Best of Panama show, a Geisha from Elida Estate went for $803, which was a record-breaking price at the time. Most of these beans were purchased by Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese roasters.

Yet Klatch Coffee in the US also got 10lbs of the coffee, which they then sold at $75 a cup – something that likely could never have happened without the East Asia-led drive for exceptional, status-symbol coffees bought at record-breaking prices.

Coffee Apps and the Changing Consumer Experience

The world has turned away from cash payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet app-based transactions have been the norm in China for years.

70% of Starbucks customers in China order via their app, whilst Luckin Coffee only allows consumers to order and pay through WeChat, China’s biggest social networking application, or Luckin’s own ‘coffee wallet’ – no cash allowed.

Food and beverage delivery services are commonly used in China: in Beijing, around 1.8 million deliveries are ordered every day. Most transactions at Luckin Coffee are for pick-up and delivery, with the brand sending the customer a text once their coffee is ready.

We are only just beginning to see how COVID-19 will affect the coffee sector. Yet China is well-prepared for low-contact and efficient customer service, thanks to its early adoption of technology.

And while the Chinese specialty sector may only just be emerging, it is clear that it has immense potential to influence the international coffee industry.

Text author: Perfect Daily Grind Editorial Team
Sources:

Pictures: Designed by pressfoto / Freepik

THE MYTHOS GRINDER: HOW DESIGN AND THE MATERIALS OF THE BURRS CONTRIBUTE TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF YOUR BEVERAGES.

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Three types of burr treatments are available to help improve the grinding quality, performance, and the life span of your grinder.

Not every burr is the same. The design and the composition of the material, for example, can considerably influence the grinding process. It is fundamental to know how to choose original burrs to guarantee consistent quality, efficiency, and endurance. Below we explain the reason why.

Choosing the correct burrs

The design drafting of the burrs is a complex operation that must follow requisite rules: the grinding principle, the type of engine installed, the material used, the coating treatment, the burr diameter, and the desired production rate.
Burrs with the same diameter and engine speed can differ in hourly productivity from one another by modifying the number of dents, the cutting edge, the coffee passage, and the tangent angle. Different designs correspond to varying speeds of the outbound coffee, different types of cuts, and morphology of the grounded coffee bean, other than the many grinding temperatures. During the project planning, the wear rate is also calculated on different parts of the burr to make it uniform.

Even the simplest and smallest variation of one of the above factors can completely alter the type of burr. So to guarantee the quality, safety, efficiency, and durability of the grinder, it is essential to use official spare parts and products.

Nanotech, Titanium and Red Speed: The Victoria Arduino burrs for the different needs of coffee shops

To widen the response to the distinctive needs requested by coffee shops, Victoria Arduino proposes three types of burrs to help reach the set goal. The range consists of the Nanotech treated burrs along with the special-coated burrs that increase life span like Titanium and Red Speed. In this article, we discover the different types of burrs Victoria Arduino has on the market.

It is quite noticeable because of its visible characteristic, iridescence. The Nanotech burr is explicitly treated on its surface through nanotechnology that gives the material an anti-striking and antibacterial quality, reducing any possible coffee residues. The nanometric system fills the porosity of the material used, smoothing out the surface, reducing friction and the potential overheating of the burrs. The result is a higher quality of coffee, cleaner burrs, and less waste. Recommendation: for those who request cleaning simplicity and antibacterial treatment.

On the other hand, Titanium and Red Speed burrs, always in stainless steel, are coated with a particular element that raises the grinder’s durability. They guarantee different levels of friction protection, therefore, less overheating and more endurance and resistance. The result is a consistent grinding and long-life burrs.
Recommendation: for those who request a durable burr.

MILK AND INTOLERANCES: HOW TO AVOID THE CONTAMINATION OF VARIOUS DRINKS IN THE CASE OF DIFFERENT MILK TYPES.

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Simonelli Group’s research provides suggestions to guarantee, to those who have an intolerance or are allergic to milk, a healthy way to sip a great cup of cappuccino in complete safety.

More and more coffee shops are offering a more extensive range of milk types and alternative drinks, (soy, almond, oat, etc.) for those cappuccino lovers that are allergic or have an intolerance, or even for those vegetarian and vegan cappuccino fans. But how to avoid contamination while using different types of milk in a coffee shop?

The International Hub for Coffee Research and Innovation – research hub born from the collaboration between Simonelli Group and the University of Camerino made a study project about the contamination that may occur during the utilization of different milk variants in the composition of a cappuccino.

Experimentation phase: the analysis of protein residue of cow milk in a cappuccino made with soymilk and frothed with the same steam wand.

The experiment used cow milk and a soy-based drink in the preparation of cappuccinos. The particularity of this analysis was to seek out the presence of protein residue of the cow milk inside the soy-based cappuccino, prepared with the same steam wand, and afterward analyzing also the cow milk cappuccinos.

Using an espresso coffee machine, the researchers made a series of tests attempting to replicate the most as possible, all the coffee shop’s customary conditions.

The procedure used is called Western Blot and is a biochemical method able to identify a protein in a determined specimen. In this procedure, the protein under analyzation is specifically the lactoglobulin, a whey milk protein only present in cow milk.

After various experiments using a clean cloth or paper towel and a separate pitcher, the observation was that the contamination originates with the way the steam wand is cleaned and purged by the barista.

The result of the research: an accurate cleaning procedure is the solution to avoid even the smallest contamination.

The study brought to light that contamination may very quickly occur. It is necessary to keep the machine accurately clean when preparing a cappuccino with another milk type. The approved sterilization method best at eliminating any contamination consists of cleansing the steam wand with boiling water and drying it every time with a clean paper towel. The use of different and dedicated pitchers is also a must to keep everything thoroughly uncontaminated.

To summarize the research, the simple wiping with a clean moist cloth on the steam wand doesn’t wholly avoid contamination. Still, it inevitably reduces the risk that a client with an intolerance gets unwell. Differently with an allergic client, the suggestion is to dedicate specific steam wands for every type of milk used. Or, use separate pitchers for each milk type and deeply clean the wands each time they are used, with boiling water and wipe it clean with a new paper towel.

RETHINKING COFFEE BLENDS: WHY ARE THEY GROWING IN POPULARITY?

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Blends, until recently, have been treated as the poorer cousin of single origin and micro lot coffees. The third wave’s emphasis on the farmer, as well as the rise of alternative brewing methods, has created the myth that blends aren’t good coffee.

But fortunately, blends are coming back into fashion – and that’s good news for consumers and coffee shops alike.

Why Are Blends in Fashion Again?

Specialty roasters have always created blends: pioneers such as Stumptown and Blue Bottle have been creating house blends since their inception, while even smaller roasters like Square Mile and Heart always have a seasonal blend on offer.

Yet now, coffee shops and roasters are waking up to the fact that these blends don’t necessarily have to be lower quality than single origins – and, on top of that, they offer several significant benefits.

Blends should always be better than the individual coffees used to make them. If those individual coffees are poor-quality, then the blend will be mediocre at best. But if they’re great, then the resulting coffee will shine for its balanced and satisfying flavours.

A blend allows you to showcase a truly balanced coffee. You can have the bright acidity of a Kenyan or the floral sweetness of an Ethiopian along with a Colombian’s heavier body and a Mexican’s sweetness.

As the quality of specialty coffee increases in general thanks to greater consumer demand and innovations in farming, processing, roasting, and brewing, so too has the quality of most coffee blends.

But that’s not the only benefit.

3 Major Benefits of Blends

1. Affordability & Financial Stability

Blends are usually more affordable than single origins. Single origins and micro lots, after all, represent not just exceptional quality but also additional logistical challenges: keeping those beans separate, tracing the origin, perhaps experimentally processing them… All of this adds up to a higher price tag.

2. Year-Round Availability

Single origins might be available for a few months of the year, but a blend is typically on offer all year round. Even if the original components vary, most roasters will be able to gradually replace them with similar origins so that the change isn’t as noticeable. Other roasters might improve the year-round consistency by including origins with two harvest seasons, like Colombia.

3. Increasing Customer Loyalty & Retention

And let’s not forget that while many coffee shops may offer a single origin, washed processed Colombian or Ethiopian, far fewer places will stock the same house blend as you. Customers who fall in love with that flavour will have to come back to you to taste it again.

Blends allow customers to put their trust in a product that they are willing to spend money on, perhaps even every single day.

5 Tips for Serving and Marketing Specialty Coffee Blends

  1. Purchase them from a good roaster, one who knows to match the solubility level of each origin so that the different coffees extract at the same rate.
  2. Market your blends especially for espresso and milk-based drinks. Single origins are often lighter bodied and more acidic than blends, which means they don’t always compliment the creaminess of milk (or alternative milk) quite as well.
  3. Name your blends so that customers can grow loyal to them.
  4. Seasonal blends can cater to curious customers who still value a more traditional tasting coffee.
  5. Be transparent about each origin in the blend to attract the attention of younger demographics, who care deeply about sustainability.

IN LONDON THE NEW VICTORIA ARDUINO BRANCH OFFICE.

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May 2020, London – Trendsetter and reference point in the specialty coffee biz, the city will be the new home of the UK Victoria Arduino branch office. Simonelli Group will have direct supervision through the acquisition of the historic partner VA Machinery, that in the past years, profoundly contributed to the growth of the brand and diffusion of the coffee machines.

With this new step, Victoria Arduino will be even closer to one of the most important markets of specialty coffee. It will be the brand reference point in all of England and a place ready to welcome new and upcoming trends. So, prepare yourselves to live and get inspired by Victoria Arduino in the versatile and advanced city of London.

The Victoria Arduino experience is at your disposal in all coffee shops where the machines sit and are ready to brew for you a perfect drink. Visit 36 Tanner St. Bermondsey, London SE1 3LD

EAGLE ONE. NEW CUSTOMIZATIONS ROCK GREY AND WOOD

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New personalization solutions to represent the barista, his/her values, and the coffee shop design.

Eagle One never stops. Fully adaptable to any style and design, this machine will satisfy the needs of even the strongest of personalities. Two new customizations are available for the back panel, which are even more sustainable and made with modern materials. They are the new back panels Rock Grey and Wood.

Eagle One Rock Grey

In the RockGrey customization, concepts of coldness and solidness of the stone perfectly cast into the back panel using a unique softening and molding process, gives it a finished soothing soft touch.

Eagle One Wood

A trendsetter in bio-architecture and bio-construction, wood, together with other materials, makes the back panel a natural and simple embellishing object. Wood is one of the elements that today can be used to convey a precise identity to any shop.

I am One. How the machine reflects the personality of the barista and the shop.

It is with personalization that the machine reflects the personality of the barista and the coffee shop. Eagle One has been designed to be easily adaptable and customizable to any surrounding, shall it be classical, glamour, or even pop-style. It is the coffee machine born to respond to the ever-growing needs of the new generation coffee shops where design meets performance, meeting sustainability. These are the main assets needed and that the machine has to deliver a memorable coffee experience.

SOCIAL NETWORK CHALLENGE: THE BATTLE BETWEEN COFFEE EXPERTS.

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Dario Ciarlantini and Andrea Cremone battled out their skills and creativity on the Victoria Arduino Instagram page. Who will be the next contenders?

Victoria Arduino launched an Insta-challenge with some influential personages of the coffee industry. With the world forced into quarantine because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Victoria Arduino proposed to some coffee specialists to battle out themselves in various difficulty levels. The challenges demonstrate that even in the safety of one’s home, everyone can prepare an excellent cup of coffee or milk-based drink while being active, resourceful, and unleash inner creativity.Here are the trials Victoria Arduino proposed:

  • Challenge #1 LATTE ART: Prepare the best latte art possible
  • Challenge #2 GRINDING AT HOME: extract a coffee starting with only the coffee beans, without using an electric nor manual grinder
  • Challenge #3 HOMEMADE DESSERT: prepare a coffee-based dessert (tiramisu’, the typical coffee-based dessert, is not accepted in this challenge)
  • Challenge #4: DRAW WITH COFFEE: the best drawing made with coffee beans or ground coffee under one condition, the coffee must be capable of being reused.

To follow the battle of the coffee masters, join us on the Victoria Arduino Instagram page and send us your comments and suggestions.

TUTORIAL. HOW TO TURN OFF AND TURN BACK ON THE COFFEE MACHINE AFTER THE FORCED CLOSURE DUE TO COVID-19?

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“After the emergency protocol of COVID-19, I had to close my shop temporarily. I want to be sure that once I turn the machine back on, everything will function correctly. Do you have any suggestions on how to turn off and back on my machine and grinders correctly?” Victoria Arduino received this message yesterday from a barista, that, like many, has been forced to close their shop due to Coronavirus pandemic temporarily. Following up with many of you, we decided to share our recommendations for a correct maintenance procedure on how to turn off and on the machine. As we are keen on saying, a clean and controlled machine guarantees optimal performance, excellent quality, and lasts longer!Please find below the the necessary and suggested steps by Victoria Arduino for preservation for the temporary shutdown of the machines and grinders:

  • Perform full back flush;
  • Clean thoroughly on the shower screens and steam wands and around the seals;
  • Flush lots of hot soapy water down the drain;
  • Flush lots of hot soapy water down the pitcher rinsed after the cleaning is done;
  • Empty the grinder hopper and grind all beans through until empty;
  • Switch off the power. On the right hand side under the machine and at the wall;
  • Close the main water tap connecting water to the machine.

For the re-starting of the machines and grinders:

  • Switch ON the machine;
  • Purge all the groups for a long time (1lt of water per group);
  • Pour hot water from the hot water wand (once the machine is ON and reached the 1.2 bar) to exchange the water in the main boiler with fresh water. It is enough around 4-5 lt for the 2 groups and 6-7 lt for the 3 groups.

We can’t wait to see all of your coffee shops open again and enjoy your menu!

VIDEO TUTORIAL: HOW TO CLEAN A MYTHOS 2 COFFEE GRINDER AND HOW TO REMOVE A CLUMP CRUSHER

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How to keep clean the Mythos 2 every day?
How to remove or clean the clump crusher?

Baristas know that the daily cleaning of their grinders is at the base of high quality. A clean grinder means excellent coffee. To guarantee the quality in the cup, Victoria Arduino made a series of tutorials to offer baristas useful suggestions on how to keep their grinder clean and how to remove and install the clump crusher.

Andrea Cremone, an AST trainer, explicates all the quick and straightforward operations while reducing waste. In the video “How to clean a Mythos 2 coffee grinder”, Andrea explains the step-by-step procedures that a professional barista should do during the daily cleaning routine. A clean grinder contributes to the making of a great coffee and guarantees a longer life span of the Mythos 2.

The clump crusher, integrated into the grinder since the first series Mythos, is claimed by baristas to be an essential factor to work with, as it eliminates the static effect of the ground coffee while maintaining a continuous coffee flow, all while reducing waste. The correct maintenance of the clump crusher is fundamental for perfect grinding. In the video “How to remove and install Mythos 2 clump crusher”, Andrea Cremone explains how to remove and clean the clump crusher, providing suggestions and experience-born tips for a perfect reassembly.

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How to clean a Mythos 2 coffee grinder

How to remove and install Mythos 2 clump crusher

CAPPUCCINO AND FLAT WHITE. HOW TO KEEP THE ORGANOLEPTIC QUALITIES OF THE MILK?

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Proteins, phospholipids, and a temperature around 60 degrees C: these are the key to a perfect milk-based drink recipe that is nice to look at while being good for you.

Did you ever ask yourself if the milk you prepare each morning for your cappuccinos and flat whites maintain the best way possible its nutritional and organoleptic qualities? Is it possible to have the perfect balance between a good-looking product and one able to keep all of its nutritional qualities?
The answers to these questions have been sought out by the researchers of the University of Camerino through the commune project with Simonelli Group, brand owner of Victoria Arduino.

The study examined the nutritional qualities of different types of milk and cappuccinos. They were tested on espresso coffee machines using different temperatures and steam to find the optimal condition for the making of high-quality cappuccinos and milk-based drinks (Latte, Flat White). “In the cappuccinos and Flat White, we analyzed both the milk and the foam, then confronted the results with those obtained by the same batch of milk before the cappuccino preparation” – apprises Professor Silvia Vincenzetti, research coordinator of the project.

The variable steam introduction

A Latte and a Flat White require a different cream than a cappuccino. They need a thinner line of steam to make smaller bubbles and create a final creamy foam that remains more liquid with a final thickness of no more than a couple of millimeters. In a classic cappuccino, on the other hand, the foam must be creamy and compact, with a fine texture and a shiny surface at about 1 cm in thickness.
“the foam of a cappuccino – tells Professor Vincenzetti – is a colloidal dispersion of a gas into a liquid. The liquid is the milk used for the cappuccino, while the gas is made up of air and watery vapor used to froth the milk. The air particles can form a colloidal dispersion in the milk because of surfactant presence that in milk represent proteins and phospholipids. The foam stability depends on the concentration of the surfactants. Higher the concentration, more stable the foam will be because the gas particles are smaller and further dispersed”.

The variable temperature

Another important aspect is the temperature. “The milk frothing temperature should not exceed 70 degrees C. Otherwise – informs the Professor – the milk will have a “burnt” taste because of the “caramelization” of the lactose and the present proteins in the milk will go through a denaturation process. The denaturated proteins will end up binding with tannic acid present in the espresso coffee forming the “tannato di caseina’, an undigestible and challenging compound. The optimal temperature should be around 60 degrees C because it is right here that the lactose is at the peak of its sweetness”.