Shanghai becomes world's most cafe-crowded city

Boom in China prompts youths to open their own shops and realize dreams

Han Yulong started with a tiny cafe in a back alley of a shopping area in Shanghai and succeeded in expanding the business across the country. (Photo by Noriyuki Doi)

NORIYUKI DOI, Nikkei staff writer

September 4, 2022 10:00 JST

SHANGHAI -- A cafe boom is sweeping China, a country long dominated by a tea culture. A survey by a private company in 2021 showed Shanghai was the world's No. 1 for the total of coffee shops: 6,913, beating Tokyo and London.

Starbucks opened a Reserve Roastery, a large coffee shop complete with its own roasting equipment, in Shanghai in 2017, and Blue Bottle Coffee opened its first store in mainland China earlier this year.