Greybox Coffee

Overview

Greybox opened its first store in late December 2016 on the ground floor of the Beijing Kerry Centre in Chaoyang's Central Business District. It was founded by Perry Pu, who had previously built the high-end rose and jewelry brand Roseonly, and Greybox launched as a Roseonly subsidiary positioning itself against TWG of Singapore and Cova of Milan rather than against other Beijing specialty operators. The brand only purchases beans scoring 80+ on the SCA grading scale, runs roasteries in Shanghai and Wuhan, and by 2019 operated 30 stores across China with planned expansion into Hong Kong and Singapore. Their Australian blend won Silver at the 2019 Australian International Coffee Awards — the only Chinese brand to win — and scored 95 on Coffee Review.

Known for

• Beijing's first major luxury-positioned specialty coffee brand, founded December 2016
• Founded by Perry Pu, also creator of luxury rose brand Roseonly
• Only purchases beans scoring SCA 80+; expensive Panama Geisha pour-overs at flagship
• Australian blend — 95-point Coffee Review score, 2019 AICA Silver Award
• Roasteries in Shanghai and Wuhan, expanded to ~30 stores across China

Why it matters

Greybox showed that the Chinese luxury-consumption playbook — premium materials, high price point, mall flagship positioning — could be applied to specialty coffee without immediately collapsing into commodity. While Shanghai's Seesaw and Manner were busy democratizing specialty downward, Greybox was the operator that proved a Chinese consumer would pay ¥108 for a Geisha pour-over in a Beijing CBD mall, opening a whole tier of the market that didn't previously exist.

Production

destoning

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head roaster

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color sorting

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roaster machine

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filter equipment

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cupping frequency

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roastery location

Shanghai and Wuhan (production roasteries)

espresso equipment

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annual volume tonnes

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Café

1/F, Kerry Center, 1 Guanghua Lu, Chaoyang District, Beijing

Recognitions

• Australian International Coffee Awards — Silver, Australian blend (2019)
• Coffee Review — 95 points, highest score for any Chinese espresso (2019)

Sources

• http://www.greyboxcoffee.com/pinpaigushi.html
• http://www.greyboxcoffee.com/GBjingdian.html
• https://allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/blog/2019/01/10/member-spotlight-greybox-coffee/
• http://en.luxe.co/post/62
• https://retaildesignblog.net/2017/03/03/greybox-coffee-cafe-beijing-china/
• https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2017/10/13/unboxing-speciality-coffee-greybox-hopes-educate-new-generation-consumers-art-coffee