Hougu Coffee Enters Ready-to-Drink Coffee Market_Is Authentic Hougu Coffee of Good Quality_How to Make Hougu Instant Black Coffee

In 2017, Hougu Coffee, a leading domestic coffee company in China, officially launched its "Rich Latte" ready-to-drink coffee, produced using original bean-extraction technology, announcing its entry into the ready-to-drink coffee market.

The Rise of Ready-to-Drink Coffee

Rapid industry growth and unwavering corporate enthusiasm - that is the current state of China's coffee consumption market. As China's economy grows and integrates further with the world, tens of millions of Chinese tourists travel abroad each year. The widespread coffee consumption and coffee culture they encounter is spreading quickly back home, and coffee drinking is gradually becoming a normalized part of Chinese life. While global coffee consumption grows at around 1.5% annually, China's is growing at ten times the global average. A diversified, varied pattern of coffee consumption is taking shape. From Nestlé to Maxwell, from Starbucks to Mann Coffee, and then to domestic Chinese brands like Hougu Coffee, the rise of domestic coffee consumption is changing at an astonishing pace.

Looking at how people drink coffee, instant coffee introduced the category, coffee shops gave everyone a more direct understanding of it, and now ready-to-drink coffee has brought convenience. Within today's fast-growing coffee market, the ready-to-drink segment is expanding fastest, at a rate as high as 34.2%. The mainstream price range for ready-to-drink coffee sits between 4-7 yuan, and a clearly competitive landscape has formed. Competition can only be expected to intensify.

A Cup of Coffee for Nationwide Stress Relief

To date, the domestic ready-to-drink coffee market has shown a rapidly rising trend. Alongside foreign brands, domestic ready-to-drink brands are entering the consumer market quickly. There are currently around 50 ready-to-drink coffee brands on the market. Hu Lu, Vice President of the Yunnan Coffee Industry Association, told reporters: "The rapid rise of the ready-to-drink market is tied to domestic beverage consumption habits. On the current trend, new ready-to-drink brands are born almost every month, and places like gas stations and large supermarkets will have new brands on their shelves monthly. Ready-to-drink coffee is on the rise."

Hougu Coffee's Accumulated Strength

According to statistics, by the end of 2016 Yunnan's coffee cultivation area exceeded 1.8 million mu. In the 2016/2017 production season, Yunnan's coffee output was expected to reach about 150,000 tons. Yunnan's cultivation area and production both account for over 98% of China's total. In that season, world coffee output was approximately 8.879 million tons, with Yunnan accounting for about 1.7% of the global total. Among Chinese coffee companies, Hougu Coffee is undoubtedly the most typical representative. Among global coffee companies, Hougu is one of the few with a full industry chain, from cultivation to processing and from trade to brand. Hougu Coffee owns 270,000 mu of cultivation area and has 33,000 tons of intensive coffee-processing capacity, making it Asia's largest intensive coffee-processing enterprise. In 2016, Hougu Coffee became a Chinese intelligent-manufacturing demonstration enterprise, and in 2016 it achieved sales revenue of 5.078 billion yuan.

Relying on its raw-material and intensive-processing advantages, Hougu Coffee broke through bean-extraction technology to enter the ready-to-drink market. "This is the pride of 'China Smart Manufacturing.' By breaking through bean-extraction technology, Hougu Coffee will provide Chinese people with high-quality coffee planted and produced by Chinese people themselves," said Zhao Jun, General Manager of Kunming Hougu Coffee Sales Co., Ltd.

A person in charge of Hougu Coffee's marketing department put it vividly: Hougu's breakthrough in ready-to-drink bean extraction is like giving everyone fresh milk instead of milk reconstituted from powder. The same person revealed that Hougu's bean-extracted "Rich Latte," in a 280ml package, has a retail price of around 6 yuan. Bean extraction costs more, but out of consideration for market competition, it was launched at almost the same price as similar products on the market.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If ready-to-drink coffee has you reaching for milk-based drinks at home, a good blend makes all the difference. FrontStreet Classic Blend is our first recommendation for espresso and moka pot: a traditional Mamba-style recipe with rich, rounded body and outstanding crema, so even a non-professional home machine pulls a dense, silky shot. It is the backbone of everyday lattes, cappuccinos and Dirty. For a value-focused option, FrontStreet Black Cocoa Blend uses 100% Arabica for full crema and a mellow body at a friendlier price, while FrontStreet Strawberry Candy - a fruit-forward blend of Arabica from three origins - brings strawberry-gummy sweetness to milk drinks without any bitterness.