FDBusiness.com

Consumers in China will now be able to enjoy a smoother cup of coffee as Nestlé relaunches its popular Nescafé 1+2 Original to meet their changing tastes. The company has spent four years developing the new recipe, which is based on extensive research into consumer preferences.

Nestlé has found Chinese people now expect a richer, more aromatic coffee with more balanced, milky flavours than before. The company will roll the product out across China this month. It will be supported by a new communication campaign encouraging consumers to spend more time enjoying a cup of coffee together.

“People in China originally began drinking coffee as a ‘pick-me-up’,” says Adrian Ho, Nestlé’s senior vice president of Coffee and Beverages in the Greater China region. “Today, more and more consumers are regarding coffee as a social drink to enjoy in and out of home.”

Nestlé introduced Nescafé to China 25 years ago. It is now the leading coffee brand in the country.

A wide selection of other Nescafé coffee product lines is also available in China including Nescafé Premium, Nescafé Café Collection and Nescafé Classic.

Nestlé’s long-term commitment to help develop coffee culture in China were recognised in June with a World Business and Development Award. The international award acknowledged the efforts of Nestlé agronomists to provide more than 5,000 farmers inYunnan province with free agricultural training since the company started work in the region in 1988.

In 2011, Nestlé extended its support for local farmers inYunnan with the introduction of the Nescafé Plan. The ten-year, worldwide, SFr350 million (Eur290 million) initiative brings together Nestlé’s commitments on coffee farming, production and consumption. It will see the company double the amount of coffee it buys directly from farmers and their associations by 2015.