Entering the height of summer, over 90000 coffee trees planted in Jiangmen have entered their golden period of growth. In 3 years, this place will produce the first batch of local coffee fresh fruits, filling the last link in the tertiary production chain.
Coffee beans are naturally picky and prefer places with high altitude, long sunshine, and large temperature differences between day and night. Tropical regions are traditional coffee producing areas, such as South America, Southeast Asia, and Yunnan, China. In Jiangmen, located in the subtropical region, there has never been a history of large-scale coffee cultivation since ancient times. However, relying on the century long coffee love accumulated by overseas Chinese, a complete coffee industry chain has been forcefully developed.
The roasting production of premium coffee beans accounts for about one tenth of the country's total, and exports account for one-fifth of the country's total. There are over 350 coffee equipment and spare parts manufacturing enterprises, and the number of coffee shops per 10000 people ranks among the top five in the country. Every year, more than 3000 coffee professionals are trained and transported… Jiangmen, which used to not produce a single coffee bean, has become a highland of the coffee industry with an annual output value of over 3 billion yuan.
This is an atypical path of counterattack for the newly established 'Coffee Capital of China'.
Planting Seeds: A Love Letter from Overseas Chinese
More than 100 years ago, overseas Chinese from Wuyi sent "love letters to grandma" to their hometowns, while others stuffed imported goods into suitcases and brought them back to their hometowns. The first coffee bean in Jiangmen came from this way.
Jiangmen is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese, with over 5.3 million compatriots from Jiangmen, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas living all over the world. In the display cabinet of overseas Chinese history and culture at Taishan Museum, there is a 1906 Hill Brothers coffee powder box, witnessing the beginning of the connection between Jiangmen people and coffee.
Local writer Huang Chunyan once described in an article: "Such imported coffee utensils can often be seen in the overseas Chinese houses in Taishan, including coffee pots, cups, grinders, etc. Some have been used by the owners for several generations, while others have long been covered in dust
Overseas Chinese who were used to drinking coffee not only returned to their hometowns to drink good coffee, but also cultivated the habit of drinking coffee among overseas Chinese living in China, which gave birth to the first batch of coffee shops in Jiangmen. Local people recall that as early as 80 years ago, there were many ice rinks on the streets of Taishan, and drinking coffee had become a daily habit for many citizens.
This habit has become a seed for the development of the coffee industry in Jiangmen. But it won't take until the turn of the century for this seed to truly take root and sprout.
Around 2000, during the wave of reform and opening up, a group of Hong Kong and Macau coffee companies recognized the cost advantage and market blue ocean of the mainland, giving rise to the "front store, back factory" model – Jiangmen, which is geographically close to Hong Kong and has a close relationship with people, is the preferred location.
At that time, many big names in the Hong Kong coffee industry were from Jiangmen. When I first entered the industry, I relied on the care of these seniors and fellow villagers to teach me how to sell coffee. "In 2003, Zhong Darong, the general manager of Huasheng Coffee, decided to move his headquarters to Jiangmen. Firstly, this is his hometown, and secondly, the port layout, development space, labor costs, and foreign trade policy advantages here are very obvious.
During this period, coffee brands such as Macau's Eslite, Hong Kong's Xiangji, and Huasheng successively settled in Jiangmen, making it one of the earliest coffee roasting bases in mainland China.
However, at that time, the domestic coffee drinking market was just beginning, and consumers had not yet developed the habit of drinking coffee. Tang Jinqing, Executive Vice President of Jiangmen Commercial Association and Chairman of Coffee Special Committee, founder of Eslite Coffee brand, recalled that at that time, she sold coffee beans to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, and Jiangmen, with monthly sales of only about 4000 yuan per city.
From the 1860s when overseas Chinese became acquainted with coffee, to the emergence of the first batch of coffee roasting enterprises at the turn of the century, Jiangmen has gone through more than 200 years. And afterwards, from the budding of the industry to explosive growth, Jiangmen only took one tenth of the time.
Being seen refining into a 'hidden boss'
At the same time as baking companies entered the Jiangmen coffee industry, there was also a group of "invisible" equipment manufacturing enterprises.
The stainless steel products industry in Jiangmen started in the 1970s and gradually grew in the mid-1980s with the "three processing and one supplement" strategy. Among them, Xinhuisi Qianzhen gathered a large number of stainless steel factories, known locally as the "Silver Corridor".
At the turn of the century, overseas merchants brought coffee utensils samples and came to this "stainless steel town" to seek OEM services. Kaiyu and a group of stainless steel factories seized the opportunity and transformed into the coffee utensil track, completing their original technological accumulation through OEM manufacturing.
All quantitative changes have undergone qualitative changes in the past decade.
Since 2010, coffee consumption in China has been growing at an average annual rate of over 15%, far exceeding the global average annual growth rate of about 2%. In 2023, the registration volume of coffee related enterprises reached a nearly ten-year peak, with a year-on-year increase of 66.17%, reaching 60600.
In Jiangmen, coffee shops have also sprung up like mushrooms after rain.
At present, Jiangmen has nearly 2000 coffee shops, ranking among the top in the country in terms of quantity. In 2022 alone, 370 new coffee shops were added, averaging one new coffee shop per day. Unlike the numerous chain stores in first tier cities, independent coffee shops in Jiangmen have their own styles. Business districts, scenic spots, communities, and even industrial parks can all see the presence of managers. Consumers began to discuss that Heytea's "hometown" Jiangmen used to have so many coffee shops.
With the rise of China's coffee consumption market, those who first entered the coffee secondary industry in Jiangmen tasted the first mover advantage.
The most obvious dividend is that the coffee industry in Jiangmen has seen a significant increase in production and sales, whether it is baking and processing or equipment manufacturing. Tang Jinqing revealed that in the past, he sold over 100 pounds (about 90 pounds) of coffee beans per month, but now he can sell hundreds of tons. Kaiyu has established its own brand, with an annual sales volume of 1 million coffee utensils, ranking among the top in the industry.
Above the wind, the Coffee Professional Committee of Jiangmen Commercial Association was established in 2022, and the industry chain began to develop in groups under the guidance of the government. The following year, Jiangmen proposed the concept of "Qiaodu Coffee" and successively held the first China Qiaodu (Jiangmen) Coffee Culture Week, Coffee Tasting Qiaodu "Qiaodu" World Culture Week, and Qiaodu Coffee Master Vocational Skills Competition.
The coffee industry chain in Jiangmen has entered the public eye with the integration of secondary and tertiary industries.
In just 20 years, Jiangmen, which used to be a production base for coffee companies in Hong Kong and Macau, has now become a hidden giant in the coffee industry.
Explore the world and make a 'global business'
At the beginning of this year, Jiangmen released the "Qiaodu Coffee White Paper". To everyone's surprise, Jiangmen, which does not grow coffee, has truly developed a complete and mature coffee industry chain from scratch.
The relevant person in charge of Jiangmen Municipal Bureau of Commerce introduced that upstream, Jiangmen gathers more than 300 kinds of high-quality coffee beans from Brazil, Ethiopia, Colombia and other production areas, with an annual import value of over 30 million yuan. In the middle reaches, Jiangmen has 21 certified baking enterprises with an annual production capacity of over 10000 tons, accounting for 20% of the country's exports; There are over 350 coffee utensils and spare parts manufacturing enterprises, making it an important coffee processing and production base and export base in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area. The entire service industry chain, including trade, cultural tourism, cultural and creative industries, and talent training, has been fully operational downstream.
And Jiangmen's goal is far more than that.
Looking at the world, batches of green coffee beans depart from coffee producing areas in South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and travel across the ocean to reach Jiangmen. After baking, packaging, and matching with coffee utensils, these flavored coffee beans once again embarked on a journey to coffee shops across the country and around the world, completing a global journey.
Coming from the world is the history of Jiangmen Coffee's success, returning to the world is the future of Jiangmen Coffee.
The 4th China Overseas Chinese Capital (Jiangmen) Coffee Festival was held in March this year. The booth is world-class, with more than 330 brands from around the world gathered, and the world's top coffee competition champion appeared, attracting over 510000 attendees. The purchaser is world-class, and local enterprises in Jiangmen have signed cooperation agreements with representatives from coffee producing areas such as Malaysia, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Brazil. Representatives from more than ten African countries stationed in Guangzhou have visited and tasted the coffee. The competition is also world-class, with the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area Barista Professional Skills Competition, the World Coffee Collar Competition Global Finals, and the Overseas Chinese Coffee Brewing Competition taking place in rotation. More and more baristas are stepping onto the world stage here.
Now, Jiangmen still has to do something 'inexplicable' – grow coffee.
The relevant person in charge of the Jiangmen Municipal Bureau of Commerce stated that the "Jiangmen City Action Plan for Promoting High Quality Development of the 'Qiaodu Coffee' Industry" has recently been issued, which plans to create a boutique coffee planting industry belt in Tianlu Mountain and develop integrated agricultural, cultural and tourism projects. At present, 12 coffee planting sites have been built in Jiangmen, with a cumulative planting area of 2062 acres and a total of 90900 plants.
This means that Jiangmen, which used to not produce coffee beans, will soon be able to fill this gap and achieve comprehensive flowering of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries.
Without the natural endowment of relying on mountains to eat, Jiangmen has turned itself into a high mountain. What overseas Chinese have left behind is not only coffee, but also the spirit of starting from scratch and daring to take the lead in their hometown, engraved in their bloodline.
■ Witnesses say
Liao Zehua, the champion of the first Guangdong Province Barista Vocational Skills Competition——
Auto repair guy crosses over to become a coffee mentor
If he hadn't been exposed to coffee, Liao Zehua might still be working as an auto mechanic in Guangzhou now.
Before 2018, Liao Zehua's summary of his experience was simple: his academic performance was average, and his father helped him enroll in the auto repair major at a technician college, hoping that he would learn a craft and not be afraid of not having a job in the future – in fact, he didn't like it in his heart.
By chance, he witnessed coffee latte art. The milk, after being whipped, outlines various patterns on the coffee surface, awakening the long buried love for painting in my heart. This attempt changed his life.
With the introduction of a friend, Liao Zehua started working at a coffee shop. At first, he was not qualified to enter the bar and could only practice latte art in the sink with a latte art cylinder when there were no customers. I don't want to buy milk either, I train with water
The store was very busy one day, and the barista at the bar was understaffed. A colleague asked him to help pull a flower. He still remembers that he was more nervous than any official competition later on. To everyone's surprise, he successfully pulled out a standard "big white heart" by extracting coffee, frothing milk, blending, and pulling flowers.
The longer he worked in the coffee shop, the more he realized that he needed greater progress. Around 2020, he firmly did two things: one was to take a leave of absence from the store and go to Chongqing to find the then Chinese flower pulling champion Liang Fan. He attended a 5-day flower pulling class and found that he still had a lot of room for improvement in flower pulling. Secondly, I spent two months' salary and signed up for the Q-Grander (International Coffee Quality Appraiser) training course organized by Eslite Coffee to learn about coffee sensory tasting, because I didn't want others to say that he was "only good at latte art" anymore.
It is a talent that has been stimulated and the result of daily hard work. He passed the Q-Grander exam once. This certificate gave him more rewards than just a salary increase. Eslite Coffee invited him to become a coffee trainer, ushering in a "second spring" of his career.
In the past two years, Liao Zehua has made a name for himself in various coffee competitions in China. He is the champion of the 2025 Guangdong Province Barista Professional Skills Competition and also the evaluator of the country's first Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Barista Professional "One Test Three Certificates" skill evaluation project.
Numerical Reading
Jiangmen gathers over 300 types of premium coffee beans from major production areas such as Brazil, Ethiopia, and Colombia, with an annual import value exceeding 30 million yuan. There are 21 certified roasting enterprises in the city with an annual production capacity of over 10000 tons. The roasting output of premium coffee beans accounts for about one tenth of the national total, and the export volume accounts for one-fifth of the national total.
There are over 350 coffee utensils and spare parts manufacturing enterprises, making it an important coffee processing and production base and export base in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area.
Jiangmen has nearly 2000 coffee shops, with 5.64 coffee shops per 10000 people, ranking fifth in the country and surpassing first tier cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Jiangmen has held four consecutive sessions of the China Overseas Chinese Capital (Jiangmen) Coffee Festival, with the scale of the event increasing year by year. The four sessions have attracted over 1.5 million visitors.
As of now, Jiangmen has implemented the "One Test, Three Certificates" project, benefiting 248 skilled talents from Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. Among them, 145 baristas have obtained four certificates from Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao through the "One Test, Three Certificates" project, expanding their employment opportunities in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area.
Jiangmen has built 12 coffee planting sites, with a cumulative planting area of 2062 acres and a total of 90900 plants.