Quite by chance, Ye Huanxiong – an overseas Chinese from Qingtian county in Lishui city, in East China's Zhejiang province – tasted a cup of rich, mellow coffee while in Italy and delighted, he decided to bring the coffee beans back to his hometown.

Qingtian has been committed to developing itself as a coffee town since 2018 and by 2020, preliminary statistics showed that annual coffee consumption per capita there was 50 cups – 25 times higher than the national level.

There are about 300 coffee bars in the county, including nearly 200 in the urban area. The number of employees in the coffee industry currently stands at around 7,000 in Qingtian.

Coffee complex operators – like Qingtian Coffee Window and Chenglei – are constantly emerging. Coffee system service providers that can supply coffee beans and coffee machines have also come into being. Ye Huanxiong and other overseas Chinese businesspeople even run coffee schools and coffee museums to continuously train professional baristas.

The first Qingtian Coffee Expo was successfully held on Nov 14-16, 2020. The expo set up 17 special booths and eight corporate pavilions for top names – including Nestle – attracting nearly 100 coffee companies to participate and invited nearly 1,000 coffee purchasers to appraise and elect the first batch of 25 "well-known cafes in Lishui".

Qingtian now combines coffee with shopping, leisure, sports and even homestays, striving to make Qingtian coffee culture a "golden name card".