"Chinese teenagers are now beginning to drink coffee as a new lifestyle compared to the previous generations who prefer to drink tea," Indonesian Consul General in Shanghai Siti Nugraha Mauludiah said here on Tuesday.
As drinking coffee becomes a new trend for the Chinese, the world`s largest coffee chain Starbucks recently opened a new outlet in Shanghai, which is touted as the largest outlet outside the United States.
Following the growing market of coffee in China, Indonesia is expected to export its roasted beans as the improvement of raw beens that have been exported for years.
From January to September 2017, China imported coffee from various countries with an overall value of US$567 million, including the US$34 million of imported coffee from Indonesia.
Both countries in fact have a long history of coffee trade. Over 1,000 years ago or during the Tang Dynasty, Chinese merchants landed in the archipelago offering ceramics and silk in exchange for various agricultural commodities, particularly coffee and pepper.
Most coffee enthusiasts in China are very familiar to civet coffee or "luwak kopi" in Indonesian language, as a specialty coffee from Indonesia that is very distinguished.
"When I got a chance to Indonesia some time ago, I bought luwak coffee," Wang Xiao Fei, a Beijing coffee enthusiast said.
Reported by M. Irfan Ilmie
(T.Y013/B/KR-BSR/A014)
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
