Coffee - China

The Coffee segment consists of Roast Coffee, that incorporates caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee in the form of ground coffee and whole beans, that is prepared with coffee machines or a French press, as well as Instant Coffee, that includes soluble coffee that does not need further equipment for preparation. The segment does not include Ready-to-Drink coffee beverages which are included in the Ready-to-Drink (RTD) Coffee segment of the Non-Alcoholic Drinks market instead. While Roast Coffee, or fresh coffee is especially popular in traditionally coffee-leaning countries like the U.S., Germany, Italy or Brazil, Instant Coffee is important in traditionally tea-leaning countries like the UK, Czechia or Asia in general as the method of preparation is very similar to that of tea.

In retail, the biggest player in the Coffee segment by a wide margin is Nestlé whose Nespresso and Nescafé brands are globally recognized household names. Other important players are Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE), Keurig Dr Pepper, Tchibo, J.M. Smucker and Lavazza. Out of home, Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Panera Bread, Costa Coffee, Peet’s Coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts and Caribou Coffee are the most important players. An important company in the background of both at-home and out-of-home coffee is the Luxembourg-based JAB Holding which has built a sizable portfolio in retail and coffee shop brands and owns at least partially both Jacobs Douwe Egberts and Keurig Dr Pepper as well as Panera Bread, Peet’s Coffee and Caribou Coffee among others.

The market for Hot Drinks is structured into retail sales for at home consumption and on-premise or foodservice sales for out-of-home consumption. The at-home market, also called off-trade market, covers all retail sales via super- and hypermarkets, convenience stores or similar sales channels. The out-of-home market, also called on-trade market, away-from-home market or HORECA encompasses all sales to hotels, restaurants, catering, cafés, bars and similar hospitality service establishments. Both the at-home and the out-of-home market are valued at retail selling prices including all sales and consumption taxes. The price per unit in the out-of-home market always references the total price over the kg amount of coffee consumed, regardless of the other components of the finished beverage. One cup of coffee (0.2 liters) is assumed to contain on average 11 grams of Roast or 2 grams of Instant Coffee. One kilogram therefore represents roughly 90 cups of Roast Coffee or 500 cups of Instant Coffee. The valuation of the out-of-home segment at retail prices means a significant change of the market definition in comparison to earlier iterations of the Consumer Market Outlook, as out-of-home consumption was valued at wholesale prices before. This means, market totals are not comparable to published data from prior years.