Introduction:China Post has made another move into the coffee market. On February 14, 2022, it launched the trial operation of the nation’s first "Post Office Coffee" in Xiamen, Fujian, combining local postal culture with specialty coffee flavors. This article delves into its bean selection strategy, spatial design philosophy, and how the brand is leveraging its nationwide network to expand. It also reviews previous cross-industry attempts, offering insight into the innovative path of traditional enterprises undergoing transformation.

The trend of brand crossover has become increasingly prominent in recent years, with many traditional companies exploring emerging fields—and China Post is one of them. As early as 2021, its "Youyang's Tea" (Postal Oxygen Tea) sparked heated discussions on social media. Then, on February 14, 2022, China Post took an even bigger step by opening the country’s first trial store of "Post Office Coffee" in Xiamen, Fujian, officially announcing its entry into the coffee industry.

This Post Office Coffee focuses on the specialty coffee route,with all coffee beans sourced from Yunnan, China.By integrating classic postal elements with modern coffee culture, it creates a consumption space that blends nostalgia with contemporary flair. Moreover, the brand aims to offer young consumers a fresh retail experience through such cross-industry collaborations.

In fact, prior to this, some post offices had already attempted similar crossovers. For instance, a Post Office Coffee that opened at the end of 2020 on Xiamen University Road saw its staff not only handling postal services and utility bill payments but also taking on the roles of baristas and service personnel—demonstrating the adaptability of traditional service units in transformation.

By 2021, China Post went a step further in Shanghai—one of the cities with the highest density of cafés globally—launching a co-branded coffee shop. The store partnered with the innovative brand "Qiao Coffee" under Shanghai’s time-honored brand "Qiaojiashan," combining the characteristics of "Chinese pastries + Western coffee" to attract numerous consumers eager to try the new experience.

As China’s coffee consumption market continues to expand, more and more brands are choosing to enter through co-branding, investment, or launching their own new brands. For example, Heytea invested in SEESAW COFFEE, becoming one of its shareholders. In addition, many brands originally unrelated to coffee have started adding simple-to-make Americanos to their menus, or even launching coffee-tea fusion products, to attract more consumers.

Currently, numerous brands—including China Post’s "Post Office Coffee," Mixue Ice Cream & Tea’s "Lucky Cafe," and Qiaojiashan’s "Qiao Coffee"—have entered the coffee arena. With the growing number of coffee drinkers, market competition is intensifying, prompting many brands to extend their reach into lower-tier markets in search of new growth opportunities.

Leveraging its nationwide network of outlets, China Post plans to collaborate with "Zhongyu Ka Ye" to successively open a number of distinctive Post Office Coffee stores in first- and second-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. This will allow consumers across different regions to personally experience this innovative consumption model that fuses postal culture with the flavor of coffee.

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