【星巴克在哥倫比亞】種咖啡，卻不喝咖啡

Starbucks in Colombia

哥倫比亞的星巴克咖啡店

In the land of coffee, but not coffee drinkers

種咖啡，卻不喝咖啡

Sep 2nd 2013, 22:58 by S.B. | BOGOTá of The Economist Blog

譯者：denis2587

COLOMBIA is renowned the world over for is fine Arabica coffee beans. Oddly, few Colombians appear keen on the stuff. Each consumes just 1.5kg of coffee per year on average. A typical Brazilian, by comparison, glugs 6kg-worth. Americans knock back less—around 4kg—but a lot of it comes from Colombia, which is the world"s fourth-biggest producer. The bulk of the country"s yearly production of 462,000 tonnes is destined for export. Lesser-quality imports from Ecuador and Peru account for 90% of internal consumption. But for the past decade coffee shops, owned by the powerful National Coffee Federation, which represents growers, have tried to convert Colombians to the pleasures of high-end coffee.

哥倫比亞因生產全球最高品質的阿拉比卡（小果）咖啡豆而聞名於世。奇怪的是，似乎很少哥倫比亞人熱衷於喝咖啡。平均每位消費者每年僅消費一點五公斤咖啡豆。比較起來，通常每位巴西人平均每年要喝掉六公斤咖啡豆。美國人喝的比較少——四公斤左右——但其中大多數來自哥倫比亞，全球第四大咖啡生產國。哥倫比亞每年生產四十六萬二千噸咖啡豆，大部分用於出口。品質較差，進口自厄瓜多和秘魯的咖啡豆，反而占哥倫比亞國內消費的九成。但過去十年，由全國咖啡公會（代表咖啡農）經營的Juan Valdez咖啡店，試圖轉變哥倫比亞人民成為高檔咖啡豆的愛好者。

Modelled on Starbucks, the Seattle-based barista giant, Juan Valdez is now bracing for direct competition from it. Last week the American firm announced that it will open its first store in Colombia next year. "The arrival of Starbucks is no surprise for us," says Alejandra Londo?o, an executive at Juan Valdez. "We paved the way for them by introducing Colombians to the coffee store experience." Before Juan Valdez began opening stores throughout Colombia a decade ago "the custom of drinking coffee outside the home didn"t really exist."

仿效位於西雅圖的咖啡連鎖店巨人星巴克（Starbucks），Juan Valdez咖啡店現在正準備與星巴克直接競爭。八月底，美國星巴克總公司宣布明年將在哥倫比亞開設第一家分店。「星巴克來這裡開店，我們並不感到意外」，Juan Valdez咖啡店執行長Alejandra Londo?o表示，「我們已經讓哥倫比亞人民有了在店裡喝咖啡的經驗，替他們做好了準備。」十年前，Juan Valdez開始在哥倫比亞全國開設分店之前，「當地人根本沒有在外面喝咖啡的習慣。」

Starbucks" entry into Colombia follows Juan Valdez"s own foray into the American company"s home turf in Seattle, where it opened three shops in 2005. These have since closed but the federation still runs outlets in New York and Miami, as well as Spain, Chile, Peru, Panama and Mexico. "We weren"t trying to intrude on their turf but wanted to take advantage of the coffee culture that Starbucks had created," Ms Londo?o explains.

早在星巴克打算進入哥倫比亞之前，Juan Valdez本身就已經闖入這家美國公司的大本營西雅圖，在2005年設立三家分店。這些分店後來關門大吉，但咖啡公會仍跑去紐約、邁阿密，以及西班牙、智利、秘魯、巴拿馬和墨西哥另謀生路」。「我們並不想要闖入他們的大本營，而是想利用星巴克已經建立的咖啡文化」，Alejandra Londo?o解釋。

Indeed, Juan Valdez thinks it has learned so much from Starbucks that it does not fear looming competition. And it believes stressing its local roots give it an edge—though it remains to be seen whether invoking tradition will work in a country traditionally uninterested in coffee. Starbucks isn"t taking any chances. The American chain says it will serve only locally grown beans at the 50 stores it hopes to open in the next five years. This is good news for coffee growers, who have been hurt by low international coffee prices and an overvalued peso. Increased domestic sales, even to an international chain, would be a better pick-me-up even than a cup of Colombia"s choicest blend.

的確，Juan Valdez認為自己從星巴克那裡學到了很多，因此並不懼怕預期出現的競爭。並且Juan Valdez強調自己在地的草根性給了自已一些優勢——但外界仍在觀望創造時尚是否會在一個傳統上不喝咖啡的國家大行其道。星巴克沒帶任何機會。這家美國咖啡連鎖店表示，只會供應本地種植的咖啡豆，希望在今後五年內開設五十家分店。這對於咖啡農來說是個好消息，他們過去一直因國際咖啡價格偏低和披索幣值高估而蒙受損害。增加內銷，甚至進入國際供應鏈，將會是最好的興奮劑，甚至超越了一杯精選咖啡豆沖泡的哥倫比亞咖啡。