Xiamen was one of China's first regions to introduce coffee. In recent years, by attracting and cultivating coffee enterprises and creating coffee art festivals, the city has expanded and strengthened its coffee industry chain, developing a complete industrial ecosystem spanning "from bean to cup".

Fostering a coffee culture atmosphere

A barista introduces coffee specialties. [Photo/Ukopia Coffee Festival]

A four-day coffee art festival was held in Xiamen from June 26 to 29, attracting nearly 100 coffee brands from 40 cities worldwide.

In addition to hosting a coffee market, the festival also organized events like coffee competitions and cupping sessions, attracting coffee enthusiasts from across China. The ongoing coffee art festival, which originated locally in Xiamen, has been held five times since its inception in 2022.

Huang Xiaojing, co-founder of the Ukopia Coffee Festival, said: "During our first edition, we only had about 60 booths with approximately 30,000 to 40,000 visitors. This year, we estimate the attendance will exceed 100,000. The visitor numbers keep growing with each edition, and I believe this growth reflects the development of Xiamen's coffee industry and its increasingly vibrant coffee culture."

Xiamen-brand coffee gear sells worldwide

TIMEMORE's self-developed coffee machine. [Photo/TIMEMORE]

TIMEMORE, one of China's first independently designed leading coffee equipment brands, relocated its headquarters from Shanghai to Xiamen's Software Park Phase III in 2022. Through its self-developed grinding core technology, the company has solved common industry problems such as uneven particle size and overheating in coffee grinders.

Currently, its products are exported to over 100 countries and regions, with its manual coffee grinders holding 40 percent market share in North America and about 35 percent in Japan.

Xiamen hosts over 1,000 coffee businesses

The Luckin Coffee. [Photo/Xiamen Daily]

Xiamen has nurtured nationally renowned coffee enterprise Luckin Coffee and is home to over 1,000 coffee-related businesses. On the consumer platform Ele.me, Xiamen once ranked fourth nationwide in terms of coffee consumer population ratio. According to Dianping.com, Xiamen has among the highest density of coffee shops of any Chinese city.

In the coffee industry sector, Xiamen has established a complete industrial chain ecosystem encompassing "raw bean trade - roasting processing - equipment manufacturing - consumer retail".

The city continues to step up investment promotion across this industrial chain while expanding into "coffee + exhibitions", "coffee + culture and tourism", and "coffee + consumption" models. During the China International Fair for Investment and Trade, Xiamen will organize international coffee festival activities, building itself into a specialty coffee capital with global influence.