Coffee fever in border towns

A tourist is taking a photo of a cup of coffee in Yanji city, April 4th. (Yan Linyun/Xinhua)

In recent years, coffee has gradually become popular in Yanji city, Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture, Jilin province. Though this small northeastern border town has a permanent population of about 680,000, there are more than 540 registered cafes.

According to the data from the Meituan-Dianping platform, coffee consumption in Yanji ranked first in counties and county-level cities in China from January to February this year. Coffee has been developed as an industry in Yanji for over 10 years and has cultivated a large number of consumers.

Yanji's coffee culture and business model have been profundly influenced by Korean cafés. Young individuals who have learned to make exquisite Korean coffee are attempting to improve coffee quality and open their own boutique coffee shops.

Foreign coffee can also be found in the streets and alleys of south Yunnan’s Hekou Yao autonomous county. Hekou county and Vietnam are separated by a river, and the climate of the two places is similar.

Many Vietnamese come here to make a living and bring with them coffee culture. Vietnamese always set up street stalls, and drip iced coffee is especially popular. Walking in the streets and alleys, you can sit down, taste a cup of coffee, and look at the street view of Vietnam across the river to relieve the fatigue of travelling. 

Source: Xinhua; trans-editing by Guo Yao