咖啡成为中国时尚

China'scoffee culture was just started to percolate when I arrived in Beijing in 2005.

2005年我刚到北京时，咖啡还只是小众饮品。

Thenearest place to where I lived to get a real (not instant) cuppa was a roughly20-minute cab ride to the city's Sanlitun area. And the only place I could findgrounds was the Friendship Store.

如果想喝到真正的咖啡，就要从我家打车20分钟到三里屯的友谊商店去。

Today,there are at least a dozen spots selling a host of coffee drinks near my homeand place of work.

现在，我家和单位附近都有好多家咖啡馆。

ButI don't even need to leave my apartment or office.

我甚至都不用离开家和办公室就能喝到咖啡。

Severalyears ago, a coffee stand opened in our company's lobby, which has since beenreplaced with an automatic vending machine that uses mobile payments. And I canget steaming cups or capsules delivered to my apartment door while still in mypajamas.

多年前，中国日报大厅里有个咖啡售卖柜台，后来被咖啡机取代。我还能叫外卖咖啡到家。

Thatwould've seemed unimaginable in 2007, when I wrote a story in China Daily, entitledIs coffee the new black? examining if the beverage's nascent popularity was afad or an emerging norm.

2007年时这种情况还不能想象。当时我写了一篇题为《咖啡是新时尚吗？》的报道，讨论咖啡究竟是昙花一现，还是会成为常态。

Today,the answer is clear.

如今答案很明显。

Chinesedemand for coffee has continued to grow at around 10 percent annually since2000, the International Coffee Organization reports.

国际咖啡组织称，中国人对咖啡的需求量从2000年开始，每年都增加大约10%。

Thecountry's coffee market currently exceeds $10 billion and is expected to reach$43 billion by 2020.

目前中国的咖啡市场价值已超过100亿美元，到2020年有望超过430亿美元。

Theexpansion is due to a confluence of commerce and culture.

这种扩张的源头来自商业和文化影响。

Nestlewas a first mover, making inroads in the Chinese market in the 1990s. Itcontrolled 90 percent of the market by 2007.

雀巢在上世纪九十年代就进入中国，成为先驱者。截至2007年，雀巢公司控制着90%的中国咖啡市场。

Starbuckshad 250 outlets that year, including a controversial store in the ForbiddenCity that'd opened in 2000 and was replaced by Forbidden City Cafe shortly aftermy article was published.

那一年星巴克在中国有250家咖啡店，还在2000年开了故宫分店。不过我的文章见报后，故宫星巴克店被故宫咖啡店取代。

Adecade later, the company told media it was opening a new store on the Chinesemainland every 15 hours and was serving 5 million Chinese a week.

十年后，星巴克称每15秒就在大陆开设一家分店，一周服务500万中国顾客。

Lastyear, Starbucks announced plans to build 3,000 new outlets in China in thefollowing five years to nearly double the number at the time.

去年，星巴克宣布，计划在未来五年，在中国开设3000家新店，让店铺数量翻倍。

Butbeyond corporate brand-development strategies, one of reasons coffee startedbecoming extra hot around 2007 was the US sitcom, Friends.

不过除了品牌策略外，中国在2007年出现咖啡热的原因之一是美国连续剧《老友记》的热播。

Somuch so, in fact, that an entrepreneur opened a replica of the fictitiousCentral Perk cafe featured in the series in Beijing in 2010, followed byanother in Shanghai.

北京和上海在2010年都开了模仿剧中场景的咖啡馆。

TheFriends craze has since died down. But the coffee culture it introduced toyouth has steeped into Chinese society.

《老友记》的热潮已经消退，但它带来的咖啡文化已经渗入中国社会。

Indeed,the beverage is no longer merely a status symbol enjoyed in sit-down cafes.

咖啡也不再是咖啡馆的象征了。

LuckinCoffee, founded in Beijing in late 2017 and recently valued at nearly $3billion, focuses on a delivery and takeaway model. It operated around 3,000outlets — more like stalls than cafes — as of this July, after going public inMay.

专注于外卖和外带模式的瑞幸咖啡创立于2017年底的北京，最近市值已将近30亿美元。五月到七月之间，瑞幸咖啡已有大约3000家店面。

Ordersmust be made through its app, rather than third-party apps like Meituan.

外卖只限于瑞幸咖啡自己的APP，而不是美团之类的第三方平台。

Ithopes to outnumber Starbuck stores by the end of the year, with 4,500 outletsnationwide.

瑞幸咖啡希望到今年底在全国开设4500家店面，超越星巴克。

Seeminglysymbolically, Luckin became the Forbidden City's only coffee shop last fall,replacing the store that replaced Starbucks over a decade ago.

瑞幸咖啡从去年秋天开始，成为故宫唯一一家咖啡店，取代了之前那家咖啡馆。

Indeed,coffee consumption has undergone incredible transformation, not merely fromwhen I first arrived 14 years ago but also from when coffee first entered Chinain 1892, the year a French missionary planted coffee trees in the remotevillage of Zhukela in Yunnan province.

咖啡消费确实历经巨变，不仅包括我14年前初到中国的情况，也包括1892年法国传教士在云南朱苦拉村种下第一批咖啡树。

Ivisited the settlement's coffee forest in 2010, when reaching the villagerequired hiking at least 5 kilometers along a narrow mountainside trail. Only24 of the original trees still stood, but villagers had planted millions more.

我在2010年到访过这个村子。当时我在山间的羊肠小道上走了至少五公里。当年的咖啡树只剩下24棵，不过村民已经种植了上百万棵新树。

Yunnanstill grows about 98 percent of domestically produced coffee, and home-breweddemand is growing in pace with its plantations.

中国有98%的咖啡豆来自云南。随着产量增加，中国人也越来越喜欢在家煮咖啡。

Indeed,it seems, today, coffee is the old black in the land of tea.

在这个茶的国度，咖啡确实成为了时尚。