China has long been described as a tea-drinking country, and the US Department of Agriculture's Beijing office still opens its 2026 market report on coffee with that point. The numbers now tell a different story. Coffee consumption in China has risen steadily in recent marketing years, imports have grown faster than domestic output, and a coffee culture built on chains and apps has taken hold in large cities.
This article sets out what official data show about that shift. All volumes come from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and are given in thousands of 60-kilogram bags for marketing years running from October to September.
How much coffee China drinks now
The FAS report Coffee: World Markets and Trade, published in July 2026, puts China's domestic consumption at 5,893 thousand bags in the 2024/25 marketing year. That compares with 4,920 thousand bags in 2021/22 in the same report.
For the current season, the figures are projections. The FAS estimates consumption at 6,420 thousand bags in 2025/26 and forecasts 6,750 thousand bags for 2026/27. Each season in the series is higher than the one before, which points to steady growth rather than a one-off jump.
Who drives demand
The FAS Agricultural Trade Office in Beijing describes how the market developed in its report Brewing Momentum: China's Coffee Market and Emerging Opportunities for US Exporters, dated 15 January 2026. Early coffee products were mainly sweetened instant coffee with creamer. The report credits the opening of the first Starbucks in Beijing in 1999 with helping to turn coffee into an everyday drink rather than an occasional luxury.
Domestic chains now set the pace. According to the same report, Luckin Coffee and Cotti Coffee dominate the market with affordable prices and app-based ordering aimed at younger consumers. The report also highlights product innovation, including tea-infused, fruit-flavoured and other locally styled drinks, alongside intense price competition outside the specialty segment.
The FAS links the spread of coffee shops to urbanisation, rising disposable incomes and a young urban population, and expects urbanisation and Generation Z consumers to keep supporting growth. As per capita incomes rise in cities, that demand spreads across formats, from specialty cafés to ready-to-drink coffee sold in convenience stores.
Yunnan: China's own coffee belt
China also grows coffee. The FAS circular records Chinese production, all of it arabica, at 1,900 thousand bags in 2024/25, against 1,800 thousand bags in 2021/22. Production is estimated at 1,900 thousand bags in 2025/26 and forecast at the same level for 2026/27.
Yunnan, in southwest China, is the origin the FAS names for domestic beans. The January 2026 report states that ready-to-drink coffee made in China mostly uses domestically grown arabica from Yunnan, with the rest imported from producers such as Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam. An earlier FAS report on China's coffee imports (CH2022-0034) linked weaker domestic output to declining incomes for farmers and noted that the Yunnan government might consider programmes to raise them.
Imports fill the gap
Flat domestic output and rising consumption leave imports to cover the difference. According to the July 2026 FAS circular, China's imports of coffee beans rose from 1,660 thousand bags in 2021/22 to 3,320 thousand bags in 2024/25. The FAS estimates bean imports at 3,700 thousand bags in 2025/26 and forecasts 4,000 thousand bags for 2026/27.
Beans are not the whole picture. The same circular estimates soluble coffee imports at 1,900 thousand bags in 2025/26. Its total import figures for China, which include roasted and soluble coffee, are 5,750 thousand bags for 2025/26 (estimate) and 6,050 thousand bags for 2026/27 (forecast).
For exporting countries, this growth adds a new source of buying to a market shaped by weather, currencies and stock levels, which are among the global drivers of coffee prices. The January 2026 FAS report names Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia and Vietnam as the leading suppliers of unroasted beans to China.
China as an emerging market for global coffee
China's importance lies in the direction of travel rather than the level. The Beijing office describes China as one of the fastest-expanding coffee markets globally, while consumption per person remains well below that of more mature Asian markets such as South Korea and Japan.
This makes China a clear case of emerging market demand. Growth comes from a large population taking up coffee as an everyday drink, mostly in cities. Domestic production has stayed close to flat in the FAS series, so most of the additional demand is met through trade.
What the data does not show yet
The figures have limits. The most recent seasons in the FAS circular are estimates and forecasts, and they can be revised in later editions. Readers comparing reports should check which edition a number comes from.
Definitions also differ between sources. The circular reports volumes in 60-kilogram bags by marketing year, while the Beijing office's market report mainly uses calendar years and metric tonnes, and the two should not be combined in a single calculation. Finally, national totals say little about regional differences, and the Beijing office lists Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen among the leading cities for coffee shops.