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Zhu Wenqian

US premium coffee brand Blue Bottle Coffee will open its first Beijing store in the capital’s central business district, as it seeks to tap into China’s still growing market for the drink.
The California-based brand is taking a spacious unit at China World Mall. The location, currently enclosed by construction hoarding, was previously occupied by Japanese jeweller Tasaki.
The brand has yet to reveal an official opening date, though industry sources said the shop was expected to open by the end of the year.
“There should still be growth overall for the freshly brewed coffee sector in China, as the average annual cups consumed per capita still lags significantly behind that of other markets like Japan and South Korea,” said Cathy Chao, senior director of Asia-Pacific corporate ratings at Fitch Ratings.
Blue Bottle Coffee’s price point lies at the premium end in China’s coffee market. A cup of its Americano retails at 32 yuan (US$4.77), whereas lower-priced domestic chain Luckin Coffee charges 18 yuan before discounting, according to store menus.
After debuting in mainland China in 2022 with a store in Shanghai, Blue Bottle now runs more than 10 outlets in Shanghai, in Shenzhen in the southern province of Guangdong, and in Hangzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. The brand also operates six stores in Hong Kong.
Blue Bottle may face a challenge in the mainland market, where consumers have tightened their purse strings. Premium-priced American giant Starbucks lost market share to domestic rivals steadily in recent years, partly leading to the company’s sale of a 60 per cent stake in its Chinese operations to a private-equity firm last year.
“[Blue Bottle] will need to justify the pricing with a differentiated in-store experience and high-quality coffee for the more discerning customers in first- and second-tier cities,” Chao said. It should also offer “a degree of product innovation” with “new taste combinations”, as Chinese consumers were more open to trying new flavours than those in other markets, she added.


Earlier this year, Nestlé sold Blue Bottle Coffee to Centurium Capital – the controlling shareholder of Luckin Coffee – in a deal reportedly worth nearly US$400 million. It marked the first acquisition of a global premium coffee brand by Chinese capital.
Nestlé announced the deal in its April earnings report, and the transaction was expected to close in the first half of the year.
China’s per capita coffee consumption climbed to 28.6 cups in 2025, up from 16.7 in 2023, and the country has more than 550 million coffee drinkers, according to the research institute of Canyin88, a catering sector information platform.
In South Korea, annual per capita consumption hit 405 cups last year – 2.7 times the global average of 152, according to data from consultancy Euromonitor.


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Blue Bottle bets that Chinese consumers will drink more premium coffee

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}US brand, recently sold by Nestlé to Chinese capital firm, will need to offer unique experiences and ‘new taste combinations’, analyst says

US brand, recently sold by Nestlé to Chinese capital firm, will need to offer unique experiences and ‘new taste combinations’, analyst says