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(Starbucks Coffee, Shibuya Tokyo- Wikimedia)
If you asked people in other parts of the world what drink Asians favor most, the answer would probably be “tea.” And traditionally, that has been true. But coffee has been making inroads in Asia for more than 100 years. And these days coffee culture has spread across the region from Tokyo to Jakarta, to Seoul, and Sydney. The story these days is about Asians growing and consuming coffee in record amounts. In 2014 a unique situation exists, where supply approaches over-supply, yet demand continues to increase. By country, the Asian coffee scene looks like this.
Korea: Korea’s coffee industry has doubled over the last five years with an explosion in import and consumption, making it the largest coffee market in the world.
Vietnam: is ranked by Bloomberg as #2 world coffee producer by volume and #1 producer of the Robusta variety used for instant coffee beverages.
Indonesia: is the #4 world coffee producer after Vietnam. 10% of its crop is premium Arabica variety. Indonesian coffee has an excellent reputation.
India: is listed by Bloomberg as the #5 coffee producer. It now accounts for 25% of Asian coffee. 50% of its output is the Arabica variety.
Philippines: The Philippines produces mostly the Robusta variety and is now the third largest Asian producer and # 16 among world coffee providers.
China: While coffee drinking continues to increase in China among the young, coffee production in China remains limited to Yunan in southwest China and to areas along the Vietnam border.
Australia: Is said to import in excess of 50,000 tons of coffee, while it produces 600 tons, 50% of which is exported.
Japan: while Japan does not produce coffee, the coffee business is booming. Japan: has a mature coffee culture dating back to the end of WWII. Japanese are great consumers of instant coffee and single serving coffee.
(Sources: Costa Rica Gourmet Coffee, Bloomberg, Coffee Expo Seoul 2014)