Final preparations get underway for the Lishui Coffee Culture Festival. [Photo/Lishui Daily]

The 3rd Lishui Coffee Culture Festival is scheduled to be held on Nov 17-19 in Lishui, East China's Zhejiang province, to promote the city's coffee culture and its thriving urban development.

The three-day event will feature a variety of activities, such as coffee skills competitions, coffee brand exhibitions, a coffee market, a coffee forum and other activities, according to the municipal bureau of commerce.

The festival will attract national coffee champion baristas, leading coffee companies and fans to Lishui, where the professionals will showcase their coffee skills and brands and exchange views and experiences.

The festival aims to integrate food, cultural creativity, tourism and other elements into coffee culture – and to present the new experience of high-quality urban life created by Lishui in the name of coffee.

In fact, the city's rich coffee culture dates back to more than a century ago, when it was introduced by overseas Chinese from Qingtian, a county administered by the metropolis. Since then, the brew has firmly taken root, blending and forming a unique overseas Chinese coffee culture in Lishui.

Nowadays, Lishui has become the first city in China to create a distinctive customer base for its coffee, as well as being the first city to cultivate the core culture of a specialist town with coffee culture.

At present, there are more than 450 coffee shops with distinctive features in Lishui, while the annual per capita coffee consumption exceeds 20 cups.

In Lishui, you can not only taste coffee from all over the world, but also witness the constant innovation of coffee-making skills.

The city is currently home to an estimated 1,500 or so baristas, providing a steady stream of talent and innovation for the development of the industry.