The air over Jiangmen, a coastal city in Guangdong province, has traditionally been filled with the fresh scent of dried tangerine peel, a culinary and medicinal favorite among the Cantonese.
However, for a long time, this has also been fused with the aroma of a more Western remedy to ease the daily trials of modern life — roasting coffee beans.
It is believed that the first coffee beans arrived in a suitcase, brought from overseas by Chinese expatriates as early as the 1860s, when Jiangmen people who had ventured overseas returned from Southeast Asia and North America with their suitcases filled with coffee beans and brewing equipment.
The aroma has lingered over the city ever since, thanks to the booming coffee industry of the past few decades. Over the years, Jiangmen, the hometown of more than 4 million overseas Chinese, has developed into one of China's major industrial bases for coffee, even though no coffee beans were originally produced there.
While it is estimated that there are now more than 2,000 cafes in Jiangmen, the city stands out amid China's coffee landscape for much more than that.
Building on its strong manufacturing capabilities and the open-mindedness inherent in the globe-trotting history of its people, the city has developed a comprehensive industrial chain.
The thriving coffee business, covering everything from bean trading and intelligent roasting to precision manufacturing in Jiangmen, has received strong support.
More than 300 varieties of specialty coffee beans, imported from major producing countries and regions including Brazil, Ethiopia and Colombia, with an annual import value exceeding 30 million yuan ($4.4 million), pass through Jiangmen. The city has also developed over 350 coffee equipment and accessory companies.
According to a white paper released earlier this year by local commerce and industrial authorities, approximately 40 percent of China's stainless steel coffee-making equipment and one in five exported coffee machines are produced in Jiangmen.
Liu Youliang, founder of Guangdong Cino Technology, a leading manufacturer in the capsule coffee machines industry, has witnessed firsthand the rapid growth of Jiangmen's coffee industry.
When Liu started his coffee machine business, the demand for coffee in commercial settings, such as office buildings and hotels, was rapidly increasing.
At that time, the domestic market for capsule coffee machines was virtually nonexistent. However, such machines were already well-established in international markets.
Starting with imitation and developing the country's first homegrown commercial capsule coffee machine, Liu's company, after 18 years, now holds over 300 patents and exports products to more than 90 countries and regions. "Making coffee machines is not just about creating electrical appliances — fundamentally, it's about brewing great coffee," said Liu.
The company has already established a production base of more than 20,000 square meters in Jiangmen, where over 500,000 capsule coffee machines are developed and produced annually.
According to Liu, investment from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, due to their geographic proximity, has greatly helped advance the development of Jiangmen's coffee industry.
"Coffee brands from Hong Kong and Macao have brought not only capital, technology and an international perspective, but also the first cohort of professional talent," he said.
According to Liang Fan, world latte art champion and a promoter of Jiangmen coffee culture, the city does not shy away from tradition.
"Almost every coffee shop here has its own signature coffee drink. They usually incorporate traditional ingredients, such as dried tangerine peel, in a modern way," said Liang.
Now, in a bold move, Jiangmen is exploring the possibility of producing its own coffee from scratch.
The local government plan released earlier this year revealed that coffee plantations have been established on nearby Tianlu Mountain, where more than 90,000 coffee plants have been cultivated as part of a trial.
