Unexpectly, the consumption of coffee was not exclusive to the foreign community. As it was also advertised in the Chinese newspaper Shenbao, this suggests that Chinese consumers too might drink coffee. Yet coffee was first advertised in the North China Daily News as early as 1914. It took ten years before coffee occasionally found its way on the advertising pages of the Shenbao, in 1924. Moreover, the Chinese newspaper advertised "coffee beans" only, rather than as a beverage. This product eventually disappeared from the pages of the Shenbao after 1924. These observations further support Sanger's report that the Chinese were not coffee drinkers.*

* Source: Sanger, 1921: 70