Why Blue Bottle's Beijing coffee store debut is only a pop-up

Blue Bottle Coffee entered Beijing for the first time on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd, not with a permanent coffee store but with a two-day specialty instant coffee station. The event, run with snowboard brand BURTON at THE BOX Chaowai Youth Energy Center, drew complaints from local netizens who called it insincere.

The brand founded in 2002 has moved slowly in mainland China, operating just 5 stores in Shanghai after opening its first mainland shop in Jing'an District about a year and a half ago. It also tested Shenzhen with a pop-up. A company has been registered for a formal Beijing store, but no permanent site has opened yet.

Specialty coffee brand Blue Bottle Coffee is about to make its first appearance in Beijing this weekend in the form of a limited-time instant coffee station, teaming up with snowboard brand BURTON to create a two-day event at THE BOX Chaowai Youth Energy Center. However, this Beijing debut is not a freshly ground coffee shop, but rather focuses on instant products, sparking collective complaints from Beijing netizens about a lack of sincerity. Since its founding in 2002, Blue Bottle Coffee has expanded slowly in mainland China, currently operating only 5 stores in Shanghai, and although a company has been registered for a formal Beijing store, it has yet to materialize. This article will review Blue Bottle Coffee's Beijing move, netizen reactions, and the brand's development history in China.

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About a year and a half ago, specialty coffee pioneer Blue Bottle Coffee opened its first store in mainland China in Jing'an District, Shanghai. At the time, even with a latte priced at 42 yuan, the queues during the opening period were still astonishing.

Today, Blue Bottle Coffee has been in the mainland market for nearly two years, operating a total of 5 formal stores in Shanghai, and previously tested the waters in Shenzhen through pop-up stores. Each time a new store opens, discussions surge on social platforms, and the popularity of offline check-ins remains undiminished. As the three-month Shenzhen limited-time store came to an end, rumors about Blue Bottle Coffee entering Beijing have attracted increasing attention.

Yesterday, Blue Bottle Coffee's official WeChat public account announced that it will collaborate with snowboard brand BURTON to create a limited-time specialty instant coffee station, appearing this weekend from the 21st to the 22nd at the southwest corner of THE BOX Chaowai Youth Energy Center in Beijing's commercial district.

Although the event lasts only two days, it marks Blue Bottle Coffee's first entry into the Beijing market, and fans quickly spread the word online: "Blue Bottle Coffee is finally coming to Beijing!" In response, some netizens speculated that this may be building momentum in advance for the opening of a subsequent formal brand store.

However, unlike the cheers Blue Bottle Coffee received when previous new stores opened, in the face of this "pop-up Beijing debut" news, Beijing netizens not only showed no anticipation, but collectively entered complaint mode. The main reason is that the coffee provided at the event is not freshly ground and extracted drinks, but rather instant products launched not long ago, covering Americano and latte flavors.

On social platforms, opening any post about "Blue Bottle Coffee's first entry into Beijing," the comment section is almost uniformly critical of Blue Bottle Coffee's lack of sincerity in this move.

"Who exactly are you looking down on? Giving Beijing instant coffee?" "Blue Bottle, wake up, Beijing no longer lacks internet-famous stores." "Does Beijing lack this one sip of instant? Really funny." "Blue Bottle had a proper pop-up store in Shenzhen, but in Beijing it opens an instant coffee shop? A bit insincere." "Finally coming to Beijing, and it turns out to be instant. Insulting people."... From these comments, it seems everyone is not inclined to buy into Blue Bottle Coffee entering Beijing with instant coffee.

Since its founding in 2002, Blue Bottle Coffee has gone through more than 20 years and is regarded as one of the important pioneers of the third wave of specialty coffee. Looking back at the brand's expansion pace in the mainland China market, it opened only 3 new stores last year, and in the first half of 2023 it opened 2 formal stores and 1 short-term limited store. Compared with peers , Blue Bottle's store opening speed can be described as quite slow. Moreover, because its formal stores are always located in the magic city, it was once joked by netizens that it could not leave Shanghai's Jing'an District.

The reason Blue Bottle Coffee opens stores so slowly is mainly that stores not only require controlling a suitable location, but also take a long time in design and construction. In addition, the experience and products of different stores need differentiated innovation. For this reason, Blue Bottle finds it difficult to achieve rapid replication in the domestic market.

In fact, many people have long heard news about Blue Bottle Coffee wanting to "leave Shanghai." Blue Bottle Coffee's Beijing company was registered as early as January last year, but no landing news has been released for a long time. Previously, it was also rumored online that Beijing's first Blue Bottle Coffee store would be located near the Jingshan Scenic Area, but as of now, the official side has still not disclosed specific information about that store. Therefore, if you want to check in at a formal Beijing store, you can only continue to wait patiently.

Image source: Blue Bottle Coffee

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.