具有中国特色的咖啡
　　Chinese start to acquire taste for coffee

　　Coffee in China used to be tarred with the same brush as capitalism. But as capitalism has caught on in China, so has coffee: the mainland market for retail packaged coffee has grown at a compound rate of 18 per cent a year since 2007, and could rise another 75 per cent to Rmb16bn ($2.5bn) by 2017, according to research group Mintel.
　　在中国，喝咖啡曾被视为“资本主义的尾巴”。但随着资本主义在中国变得流行，咖啡也流行起来了。调查公司Mintel数据显示，自2007年以来，大陆市场袋装咖啡零售额每年以18%的复合增长率增长，到2017年，销售额可能在目前水平的基础上再增长75%，达到160亿元人民币（25万亿美元）。
　　It must be the marketing coup of all time: the transformation of China from a tea leaf nation to a country of coffee drinkers – in spite of the fact that most Chinese still abhor the taste of the bitter brew.
　　这势必是一场空前绝后的营销壮举：将中国从茶叶之国转变为咖啡之国——尽管大多数中国人仍然讨厌咖啡的苦味。
　　Western coffeehouse chains are stumbling over each other to open up in China, and Starbucks– which has a shop on every major street in China’s biggest cities – expects the mainland to be its second-largest global market by 2014.
　　西方咖啡连锁店正争相在中国开店。星巴克(Starbucks)在中国一线城市的每一条主要街道上都设有连锁店。星巴克预计，到2014年，中国大陆将成为其全球第二大市场。
　　Nestlé, the food group, already sells two out of three cups of soluble coffee on the mainland. Last week, the Swiss company chose China to release its nine-month global sales – announcing organic growth in emerging markets of 11.7 per cent for the first nine months year-on-year, compared with 2.4 per cent in developed markets and a full-year global forecast of 5-6 per cent.
　　食品集团雀巢(Nestlé)在中国大陆的速溶咖啡销量已占到其全球总销量的三分之二。上周，这家瑞士公司选择在中国开发布会，宣布新兴市场今年头九个月销量同比增长11.7%，而发达国家市场销量只增长了2.4%，并预计该公司今年全球销量将实现5%至6%的增长。
　　Nestlé China’s food and beverage sales have risen by a 16 per cent compound annual growth rate since 2008, and coffee sales have grown faster than that, says Roland Decorvet, head of Nestlé China. With China’s per capita coffee consumption only four cups per year compared with 400 in Japan, the potential is obvious, he says. “Contrary to what you might expect, the biggest instant coffee cultures in the world are all tea cultures” like Japan and the UK.
　　雀巢大中华区总裁狄可为(Roland Decorvet)指出，自2008年以来，雀巢中国(Nestlé China)的食品和饮料销售额每年以16%的增长率增长，咖啡销售额增长速度更快。狄可为说，中国人均咖啡年消费量仅4杯，远低于日本的400杯，因此增长潜力巨大。他说，“大家可能想不到，世界速溶咖啡消费大户都是传统上的饮茶大户”，比如日本和英国。
　　So how did Nestlé and Starbucks persuade the Chinese to buy a product the taste of which they dislike? “The short answer is that when the Chinese drink Nescafé, they are not drinking coffee but a sweet concoction of water, milk powder and sugar,” says Torsten Stocker, partner at Monitor Group consultants.
　　那么，雀巢和星巴克是如何说服中国人购买一种不合他们口味的饮品的呢？摩立特集团(Monitor Group)合伙人唐仕德(Torsten Stocker)说：“简单说就是，中国人喝雀巢咖啡的时候，不是在喝咖啡，而是在喝一种由水、奶粉、糖调成的糖水。”
　　Rebecca Lian, head of Nestlé R and D in China, says: “Coffee is an alien taste for the Chinese. They don’t like the bitter taste because it reminds them of traditional Chinese medicine.”
　　雀巢驻中国研发中心负责人Rebecca Lian说：“咖啡不符合中国人的传统口味。他们不喜欢咖啡的苦味，像中药的味道。”
　　Black coffee may not be a hit, but coffee drinks are. Starbucks, one of the most successful western brands in China, has adjusted its products to deal with the Chinese distaste for coffee. “There is very little pure coffee sold at Starbucks,” says Shaun Rein, of China Market Research in Shanghai. Many mainland Starbucks customers prefer milkshake-type drinks, teas, juices and localised flavours like the green tea latte. Chinese go to Starbucks for the culture, not the coffee.
　　黑咖啡在中国或许谈不上流行，但咖啡饮料是很受欢迎的。在中国最成功的西方品牌之一星巴克对其产品进行了改良，以迎合中国人的口味（中国人讨厌咖啡味）。位于上海的中国市场研究集团(China Market Research)董事总经理雷小山(Shaun Rein)说：“在星巴克，纯咖啡卖得很少。”在中国大陆的星巴克里，许多顾客偏爱奶昔类饮料、茶、果汁、以及一些改良过的饮品，比如绿茶味拿铁。中国人去星巴克，图的是气氛，而非咖啡。
　　In China, Starbucks is a dine-in, not a take-out destination. Customers are invited to linger, log into the free WiFi and use its coffee houses the same way that earlier generations used tea houses: to socialise and do business.
　　在中国，人们来星巴克是为了在店内停留，而非买咖啡带走。星巴克鼓励顾客在店里呆着、使用店里的免费WiFi，把星巴克当做从前的茶馆，在这里社交、谈生意。
　　Xu Lu, general manager of the Cocoa and Coffee Division of China Tea Co, says she felt “drunk” when she tasted her first cup of coffee. Now she thinks more people are “enjoying the coffee in Starbucks, as well as the culture”.
　　中国茶叶股份有限公司可可咖啡部总经理徐路说，她第一次喝咖啡的时候，觉得“醉了”。她认为现在越来越多的人去“星巴克不仅是为了喝咖啡，也是为了感受一种文化。”
　　But when Nestlé recently changed the recipe for Nescafé in China for the first time in 15 years, it made it taste less like coffee rather than more. The end result was a drink closer to chocolate milk. Mr Decorvet says Nestlé does not believe in “food neo-colonialism”. “Why should we tell the world what coffee should taste like?” he asks.
　　然而，雀巢最近改变了其在中国销售的咖啡配方（这是15年来第一次），淡化（而非增强）了咖啡的味道。改变配方后的雀巢咖啡变得更像巧克力牛奶。狄可为表示，雀巢对“食品新殖民主义”不以为然。他问：“为什么我们要告诉世人咖啡应该是什么味道呢？”
　　Coffee drinks are more and more popular all the time in China – as long as they do not taste too much like coffee.
　　在中国，咖啡饮料一天比一天火，但前提是这些饮料的咖啡味不能太浓。