Why Is It So Hard to Find Good Coffee in China’s Scenic Areas? | Travel & Coffee Culture Insights

 Perhaps it was my off-season, three-day leisurely trip to Qiandao Lake that sparked these reflections. In a place so heavily dependent on tourism—one that essentially “works for half the year and rests for the other half”—the quiet of the low season leaves plenty of room to think. Even before I arrived, one question kept bothering me: why is it so hard to find a café around the entire Qiandao Lake area that genuinely cares about quality and tries to build a specialty coffee community?

Beyond the obvious issue of young people leaving the area, the more fundamental reason lies in the nature of the place itself. Qiandao Lake is a nationally rated 5A scenic destination, famous for its natural landscapes. Along roads like “Sunshine Road,” what you mostly see are scenic attractions and hotels. Why is it that scenic areas in China usually don’t have good coffee? This isn’t just a personal bias—it’s a fairly common and accurate observation. In most tourist areas, it’s genuinely difficult to find a cup of specialty coffee that offers both high quality and reasonable pricing.

There’s an important underlying factor behind this phenomenon: scenic areas typically operate on a “traffic economy.” The hotel I stayed at costs around 300 RMB per night during the off-season, but in peak season, the same room can go for over 2,000 RMB. Unsurprisingly, commercial rents in the core scenic zones are often astronomical. Under this kind of cost pressure, businesses naturally chase high margins, fast turnover, and quick cash flow. From a purely commercial perspective, cost control is everything. Specialty coffee, however, requires higher-quality green beans, careful roasting, and meticulous preparation cup by cup. Compared to selling bottled water, instant milk tea, or a grilled sausage, specialty coffee simply isn’t as efficient in terms of profit per square meter or per minute.

Another key factor is the customer base. The main consumers in scenic areas are tourists from all over the country. When I visited Qiandao Lake in the off-season, there were barely any locals walking around—it was eerily quiet. Some local restaurants even had to step outside their shops to actively solicit passersby. In the low season, seeing someone pulling a suitcase almost feels like spotting a rare treasure. Tourists, as a target audience, consume for very specific reasons: they’re tired, thirsty, or looking for a place that looks good for photos. Most people aren’t there for a serious coffee-tasting experience. For the majority, a sweet milk tea or an ice-cold drink delivers faster, more immediate satisfaction during a tiring journey.

Tourists also share another distinct consumption trait: it’s usually a one-off transaction. Repeat visits are rare, which means businesses lack incentive to build long-term customer relationships. Specialty coffee shops, on the other hand, are often community-oriented—they focus on cultivating taste, sharing coffee knowledge, and creating a “living room” atmosphere. Their business model depends on repeat customers and loyal regulars. Scenic-area cafés don’t really need high-quality products to attract customers; they’re driven by a more pragmatic commercial strategy, favoring low-cost, high-margin, standardized fast-moving goods.

Then there are the practical constraints. Making good coffee requires fresh beans, quality milk, reasonably high-end machines, and clean, well-filtered water. Not every scenic area can meet these conditions. In more remote destinations, these challenges are even greater, making quality coffee all the more difficult to achieve.

Beyond hardware, talent is another major bottleneck. Good baristas require training, practice, and time. Scenic areas aren’t particularly attractive for such roles, and staff turnover is high. It’s hard to train and retain people who are willing to truly commit to coffee quality. That said, I did have a small, pleasant surprise this time. The lobby bar at the voco Sunshine Hotel where I stayed offered a welcome drink, and for once, I chose a latte. After a brief chat, I got the sense that the barista actually had “barista vibes.” The result? Honestly—not bad at all. Forget the bean flavor profile for a second; the milk and espresso integration alone deserved a thumbs-up. Clean, balanced, and genuinely better than expected. To be fair, it was better than the coffee at some hotels in downtown Hangzhou.

There’s also a broader cultural reality to consider. Specialty coffee culture in China is still largely concentrated among younger consumers in coastal regions like the Yangtze River Delta and Guangdong. While coffee consumption in Chinese cities is growing rapidly, for the wider tourist population—especially older generations or visitors from non–first-tier cities—coffee itself isn’t even a daily necessity, let alone specialty coffee. Many people still prefer familiar tea drinks or soft beverages. On top of that, tourists have already spent heavily on tickets, transportation, and accommodation, which makes them more price-sensitive toward the already inflated prices inside scenic areas. A 30–40 RMB cup of specialty coffee simply doesn’t feel worth it to many.

Another issue lies in how scenic areas招商 (tenant selection) is handled. There’s often little effort to differentiate categories or protect diversity. You end up seeing the same homogenized businesses everywhere. From a planning perspective, there’s a lack of originality, with a strong preference for proven, well-known chain brands. As a result, commercial streets in scenic areas across the country all start to look the same. Some operators may think that bringing in international chains like Starbucks or Costa signals “taste” or “quality,” but these brands rely on standardized flavors, lack local character, and don’t necessarily integrate with the cultural context of the destination. In Qiandao Lake alone, there are four Starbucks locations, basically covering every major tourist or prime commercial area. Given that coffee demand isn’t especially concentrated to begin with, whatever demand does exist often gets fully absorbed by Starbucks.

So, in the end, the general lack of good coffee in Chinese scenic areas is essentially a rational market outcome under a specific business model. When the dominant consumer mindset is about resting, grabbing a quick drink, or checking in for photos, insisting on high-quality coffee becomes both idealistic and economically inefficient. That said, nothing is static. Specialty coffee in China still has enormous growth potential. As consumption upgrades and tourism increasingly shifts toward experience-oriented travel, the idea of enjoying genuinely good coffee in scenic areas may not be so far-fetched after all. And honestly, I do hope more destinations start taking consumer experience seriously and offer better-quality products. After all, breathtaking scenery paired with a surprisingly good pour-over? That’s pretty close to paradise.