Coffee Mill opens first shop in China

by Charmaine N Clarke

SHANGHAI, China – With a US$250,000 (J$15.5M) investment in yet another of its trademark coffee shops, The Coffee Mill of Jamaica on March 31 brought a taste of Jamaica to China. The venture is the Caribbean island’s first totally foreign-owned investment in this Asian country.

The opening of the café, which serves up authentic Blue Mountain Coffee, has also been described by Jamaica’s ambassador to China as the “first shot across the bow at those who attempt to undermine Blue Mountain Coffee”.

(Foto) Patrick Sibbles (right), proprietor of the Coffee Mill, carries out last minute inspections ahead of the official opening in China on Friday.

“We want to frighten the imitators, the counterfeiters. We want to stop people from abusing a great gift to a great country,” said the ambassador, Wayne McCook, during the official ceremony. “This is the first fully-Jamaican enterprise in China… Today’s launch is an example of the promise and potential that lie before us. We offer to China today. nature’s great gift to Jamaica… the one and the only Blue Mountain Coffee.”

Coffee can only be accurately labelled “Blue Mountain” if it is grown in the 28-mile eastern mountain range, and in specific areas of St Thomas and Portland. Beans must be grown above 2,000 feet.

Under the Geographical Indicators (GI) Act of 2003, the Jamaican government moved to protect the intellectual property and integrity of a number of Jamaican products including the world-famous brew. Two years later, the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office’s new board was given a mandate to aggressively monitor the abuse of Jamaican brands.

On the same day that McCook placed counterfeiters of Blue Mountain coffee on notice, Chinese state media gave an update on the government’s efforts to curb similar infringements. According to Xinhua, over the last five years the Chinese police have smashed several international criminal networks and documented 6,700 cases of infringements of intellectual property rights. These were valued at US$437.5 million (3.5B RMB).

While Japan – which in 2004 consumed 75 per cent of all of Jamaica’s coffee exports – has long had a love affair with Jamaican coffee, the Chinese market is still relatively new.

Cups of the brew, marketed as authentic Blue Mountain Coffee, are available in some of China’s major cities. The Coffee Mill’s Pudong location, however, has gone one step further, transforming a cozy corner of a hotel lobby into a little piece of Jamaica. The scene is set by African-inspired art, reggae music playing softly in the background, shelves lined with Walkerswood spices and seasonings and, of course, the familiar brown bags of Blue Mountain Coffee.

Located on the first floor of the upscale Tong Mao Hotel, the Coffee Mill café opened its doors a little over a year after initial links were made during the February 2005 China Caribbean economic and trade fair.

Follow-up talks, facilitated through Jampro and various government ministries, culminated in last week Friday’s launch. The opening comes four months before The Coffee Mill’s three-decade anniversary.

“We’re not new kids on the block,” Coffee Mill proprietor Patrick Sibbles told a select group of Chinese officials, tourism industry players and Jamaicans living in Shanghai during the launch. “We have had this vision from the beginning, and after 30 years it has culminated into today.”

Undaunted by those who thought they were biting off more than they could chew, Sibbles and his wife Carol are confident that the café will be a success.

“Everyone said China was too far away,” said Carol Sibbles, from one of the café’s elegant yet rustic wooden stools, during an interview after the ceremony. “But that’s what being an entrepreneur is all about – we’re used to living on the edge.”

As with most new ventures, she said, she does not expect to see huge profit in the first year. The Sibbles have a clear idea, though, of exactly who will be their customers.

With one wall made of glass, residents of nearby upscale apartment buildings have a bird’s eye view of the café’s offerings. They, ostensibly, can comfortably afford 65RMB to 95 RMB (1RMB = J$7.72) to taste a cup of authentic Blue Mountain coffee, or shell out 100RMB to 120 RMB for a cup of coffee with a splash of Jamaican rum.

Caffeine-hungry traders at the nearby Shanghai Futures Exchange, employees from China Telecom’s nine floors of office space, and hotel guests, are also expected to be regulars at the coffee shop. With four Chinese already on staff, there are plans to hire two more natives to facilitate a shift system. Under the guidance of Jamaican trainer, Sasha – better known as dub poet Little Natural – the team will serve up Jamaican flavours from 7:30 am to 10:30 pm, seven days a week.

With the Pudong store now up and running, Coffee Mill is already looking to the future. Next stop, according to the Sibbles, is across the waters from Pudong to Puxi, then China’s capital, Beijing.