From tea country to espresso bars
On my first trip to China in 2010, finding a decent cup of coffee meant going to a four-star hotel lobby, paying the equivalent of six dollars, and drinking something that had sat on a hotplate for an hour. The barista, when there was one, spoke no English and had no reason to know what a cortado was. Last spring, I walked out of a Chengdu metro station and passed four coffee shops within two hundred meters, including one where a woman in her sixties was ordering a latte through a phone app without breaking stride. The change happened inside fifteen years, and it is one of the fastest transformations in any food category I have watched anywhere.
China is still a tea country, and will remain one. But coffee has gone from a curiosity to a daily habit for a large slice of the urban population, and visitors now drink better coffee here than in most Western cities, for less money. This guide covers the chains, the independent scene, what to order, how to pay, and how to buy beans to take home. For the cultural deep dive, our overview of coffee culture in China has the history and the regional styles.
How the market got here
The short version: coffee arrived twice. The first time was in 1904, when a French missionary planted beans in Yunnan, and the second was in the 1920s, when European-style cafes served Shanghai’s international crowd. Neither created a mass market. For most of the twentieth century, coffee in China meant instant powder, and the dominant product was a jar of Nescafe on a shelf next to the malted milk.
The modern market starts in January 1999, when Starbucks opened its first mainland store in Beijing’s China World Trade Center. The strategy was patient: teach a market with no coffee habit to associate the drink with a particular kind of urban aspiration. It worked, and by the mid-2010s Starbucks had hundreds of stores and a lock on the premium end of the market.
Then Luckin arrived. Founded in 2017, it opened stores at a rate no one had seen in retail anywhere, using an app-first model, small pickup stores, and heavy discounting. The company collapsed in 2020 after an accounting scandal, and then, improbably, rebuilt itself through 2021 and 2022 with cheaper drinks and better operations. By 2023 it was reported to have more stores in China than Starbucks, a reversal nobody would have bet on in 2018. Cotti, founded by Luckin’s original backers in late 2022, answered with a price war that pulled most chain drinks down to single digits. The beneficiary of all this competition is you.
The chains, and what each is for
Luckin is the volume leader, with stores in nearly every Chinese city, app ordering, and prices that drop below 10 RMB when the promotions run. The drinks are consistent, the menus churn through novelty items monthly, and the pickup-only format means no waiting. For a visitor, it is the easiest way to buy coffee in China, because the app works in English and takes foreign cards in some markets.
Starbucks still holds the third-place experience: big stores, tables, reliable wifi, and the kind of room you can work in for an afternoon. Prices run 30 to 45 RMB, roughly double Luckin’s. Cotti competes on price with Luckin and has the worse store network. Manner, which started in Shanghai in 2015, is the one I drink most: a short menu, tiny stores, 10 to 15 RMB, and a discount for bringing your own cup.
M Stand, also Shanghai, targets the design-conscious crowd with higher prices and better presentation, and Seesaw, founded in 2012, is the original local third-wave brand. Tims, the Canadian chain, entered in 2019 and is strong in the north, though its coffee is the weakest of the major names.
Where to find the good stuff
The independent scene is concentrated in the big cities, and Shanghai leads. Our guide to Shanghai coffee culture covers the French Concession roasters, the Bund hotel cafes, and the office-district chains, and it is the right starting point if you want the best cup in the country. Beijing’s independent shops cluster in the 798 area and the Dongcheng lanes, with fewer of them and a more design-forward style. Guangzhou runs on tea-house culture but has a growing specialty scene, and Chengdu’s cafes are the most relaxed, with outdoor seating under the plane trees.
The farms themselves are the other end of the chain. Yunnan grows about 98 percent of China’s coffee, and the best estates now receive visitors; our guide to Yunnan coffee farms covers where to go and when. If you drink a cup in Shanghai made from beans grown two hours from the Myanmar border, you are tasting the supply chain that makes Chinese coffee interesting.
What to order
The menus translate well. An americano is an americano, a latte is a latte, and the espresso is usually pulled from a decent machine. Where China diverges is in the local inventions, and these are worth ordering.
Dirty, espresso poured over iced milk so the layers stay separate, was popularized by Shanghai cafes and is now everywhere. Done properly it is the best value drink on any menu. Coconut latte, which Manner turned into a mass product, replaces dairy with coconut milk and tastes better than it sounds. The tea-coffee crossovers are a genuine local category: osmanthus lattes, jasmine americanos, and drinks built on the floral teas that China has been producing for millennia. Our guide to Chinese tea varieties explains the leaves behind those flavors.
For the adventurous: order whatever single-origin Yunnan bean the shop is pouring that week. It will usually be a nutty, chocolatey cup, and asking the barista about the farm starts the kind of conversation that does not happen at a chain counter.
Paying, ordering, and the practical bits
Coffee in China is bought through phones. The major chains all have their own apps, and they all plug into WeChat and Alipay, which is the payment layer for everything else in the country. If you have not set those up before you arrive, our guide to paying with Alipay in China walks through it, because the coffee discount apps assume you have a working account. Foreign credit cards work at Starbucks and some independents, but the best prices are behind the local apps.
Seating follows local rules. The small independent shops are working rooms, and the expectation is that you order every 90 minutes or move along. Nobody rushes you out verbally; the tray collection does the talking. Tipping is not expected anywhere. Cups with lids are the norm for takeaway, and most shops give a small discount if you bring your own cup.
Coffee prices in China, 2026
| Type of place | Example drinks | Price per cup | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discount chains | Americano, latte | 8 to 15 RMB | Luckin, Cotti with promotions |
| Mainstream chains | Latte, mocha, seasonal drinks | 15 to 30 RMB | Manner, Luckin regular menu |
| Premium chains | Espresso drinks, cold brew | 30 to 45 RMB | Starbucks, Tims |
| Independent specialty | Hand drip, seasonal espresso | 35 to 70 RMB | Best beans; usually Yunnan or Ethiopia |
Quick facts
- Starbucks opened its first mainland store in Beijing in January 1999
- Luckin, founded in 2017, was reported to pass Starbucks in China store count by 2023
- A 2022 price war between Luckin and Cotti pulled chain drinks below 10 RMB
- Yunnan grows about 98 percent of China’s coffee
- Shanghai is reported to have more coffee shops than any city in the world
- Dirty coffee, espresso over iced milk, is a Shanghai-born style
- Payment runs through WeChat and Alipay; cards work only at larger shops
Frequently asked questions
Is it easy to find good coffee in China as a visitor?
In the big cities, yes, and it is easier than it was five years ago. Shanghai has the depth, Beijing and Chengdu have strong independent scenes, and every city of a million people or more now has specialty shops. Small towns still run on instant coffee and milk tea.
How much should I expect to pay?
Chain coffee with discounts runs 8 to 15 RMB, mainstream 15 to 30 RMB, and specialty 35 to 70 RMB. Even at the top end, Chinese specialty coffee is cheaper than the same drink in London or New York.
Do Chinese people actually drink coffee, or is it just tea?
Both. Tea remains the default for older generations and formal occasions, but coffee has become a daily habit among urban workers and students, and the growth has been fastest in the last decade. In Shanghai and Beijing, morning coffee queues are unremarkable.
Can I use a foreign credit card?
At Starbucks and some larger independent shops, yes. At Luckin, Cotti, and the small roasters, the discount apps require WeChat Pay or Alipay, which can be linked to foreign cards with some effort. Set this up before your trip.
What should I buy as a coffee souvenir?
A bag of Yunnan single-origin beans from a specialty roaster, ideally bought at the farm or a city shop that names the valley and the processing method. Check the roast date, and carry the beans in your checked luggage, because whole beans attract questions at security in some airports.
Is decaf or non-dairy milk available?
Both, at the specialty shops and the premium chains. Oat milk is the default non-dairy option and costs 3 to 5 RMB extra. Decaf exists but is less common outside the biggest cities, and the small shops often run out.
If you want us to build a trip around the coffee shops and the farms, we can help you plan a custom food-and-travel route through the contact page. A coffee itinerary works best as a city-and-countryside pairing: a few days in Shanghai’s roasters, then a farm stay in Yunnan, and our coffee culture guide fills in the rest.
Written by the ChinaTravelFood editorial team.
