Beijing: China may be synonymous with tea. But coffee is the global hipster's brew of choice - and Chinese cities are teeming with this demographic. Coffee shops are now standard urban accoutrement. Consumption has grown at more than 20% annually since 2010, compared with a global average of under 2%.
High priests of the Kingdom of Caffeine in the Sinosphere are Starbucks, an early mover that entered China in 1999, and its domestic challenger, Luckin, the coffee goliath you've likely never heard of.
I remember being bemused by the incongruity of finding a Starbucks cafe inside Beijing's historic Forbidden City in 2002. The symbolism of a US franchise planting its flag inside hallowed imperial Chinese ground was not lost on the Chinese either. Following online protests, the outlet closed in 2007.
