Reflections on Coffee Culture in China and Australia

Having lived in Australia for many years, I have come to regard coffee as part of everyday life. I often visit different cafés, partly for the coffee and partly to enjoy their different settings and atmospheres. I also have a coffee machine at home, where I grind my own beans and make coffee. I would hardly call myself an expert, but I have developed a few preferences.

On visits to China, two small things have struck me as interesting.

Sometimes, on walking into a café, I am immediately asked, “An Americano or a latte?” At first, that sounded a little odd. In the Australian cafés I know, cappuccino, flat white, latte and long black are all ordinary choices, and staff generally let customers place their own orders.

Thinking about it later, though, there is nothing really wrong with the question. Meishi is the Chinese name for an Americano, a particular coffee rather than a general term for all black coffee. It makes perfect sense to offer it alongside a latte. The staff member is simply mentioning two familiar drinks, without suggesting that these are the only options. It is rather like being greeted at an old-style Chinese eatery with “Tofu pudding or corn porridge?” That does not mean customers cannot order something else.

There is another difference in Australia. Coffee is often a settled habit, and regular customers and staff can develop an unspoken understanding. I usually drink cappuccino, choosing a large or a small depending on the time of day and how long it is until my next meal. At a familiar café, staff sometimes greet me with just, “Large or small today?” We both know what that means. Someone who has never served me before would naturally not know any of this, and would usually start by asking what I would like.

The other thing I have noticed is that some cafés in China seem fairly quiet during the day but become lively in the evening. This differs from my experience in Australia. Coffee keeps people alert, and drinking it too late can interfere with sleep. So I sometimes joke with friends, “I strongly suspect the coffee in China is fake.” Of course, “fake” is entirely a joke.

Looking back, that impression may also reflect the limits of what I happened to observe. Some Chinese cities are so densely populated that even a small proportion of people going out in the evening can fill quite a few cafés. Besides, people sitting in a café are not necessarily drinking coffee the whole time; some care more about having somewhere to chat and relax. The places I happened to visit may not have been the sort of cafés that mainly serve morning takeaway coffee. A busy café in the evening therefore does not mean that most people drink coffee at night.

Still, the joke does point to an interesting local development: in some places, cafés have become evening social spaces.

Another change in China’s coffee market is the constant introduction of new flavours. One example is the “sauce-aroma latte” developed by Luckin Coffee in collaboration with Moutai. It uses a rich, baijiu-flavoured milk ingredient containing Moutai liquor, and public descriptions put the finished drink’s alcohol content below 0.5%. It is certainly a novel combination, and one that may surprise people accustomed to more traditional coffee flavours.

Australia has specific licensing requirements for the sale of alcoholic drinks as legally defined, so the regulatory setting differs from China’s. However, the sauce-aroma latte contains very little alcohol. That alone does not establish that selling it in Australia would require a liquor licence, or that it could not be sold here at all.

I have no objection to new ways of making coffee. I simply think it is a drink closely tied to habit. Novelty may persuade someone to try it once; whether it becomes a lasting favourite is something only time can tell.

Cafés can take all sorts of forms. Some have bookshelves and lend themselves to quiet reading. Others are bright and lively places for friends to meet. Some provide little corners for two people to talk, as well as tables for groups of three or five, and even spaces where children can play. There is room for all of these variations.

My own preference is for quiet, old-fashioned cafés with a touch of tradition. I also enjoy knowing what to expect from a familiar cup of coffee.

For me, coffee is more than an everyday drink. It is something that shapes a mood and an atmosphere, and carries a culture with it.

China and Australia can have different coffee habits, each reflecting its own way of life. Wherever I go, though, I still enjoy that familiar taste, and the feeling of walking into a café with a fair idea of what awaits me.