TORONTO, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Canada's iconic coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons has made headlines with the recent opening of its first restaurant in China, the world's fastest growing coffee market.

　　The new restaurant, which opened on Feb. 26 in central Shanghai, marks the first step of the company's new initiative to launch more than 1,500 Timmies in China over the next ten years.

　　ATTRACTIVE GROWTH MARKET

　　Every detail in the Shanghai restaurant is meant to elevate the experience of visiting Canada's favorite coffee shop, according to the chain, run by Burger King-owner Restaurant Brands International Inc.

　　The restaurant features a lot of red and plaids, art work featuring the maple leaf and there is even a hockey stick door handle to pay tribute to its hockey heritage and well known love of the game. The design of the floor tiles is inspired by the image of maple leaves scattered on the ground in autumn.

　　"China is an attractive growth market and we can't wait for guests to try our classic favorites and some new offerings crafted specifically to the Chinese market," said Alex Macedo, president of Tim Hortons, which is named after the National Hockey League and Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Tim Horton, in a press release.

　　Tim Hortons is following the steps of international coffee chains such as Starbucks and Costa Coffee which are already well established in China. The second-largest world economy is becoming the most promising market for coffee consumption from traditionally a tea-drinking country.

　　While China still ranks relatively low in coffee consumption on a per-capita basis, at three cups a year versus 250 cups in the UK and 363 cups in the United States, total consumption grew at an average annual rate of 16 percent in the last decade, significantly outpacing the world average of 2 percent, according to figures from the International Coffee Organization.

　　Starbucks tripled its store count in China to 3,300 in 2018 from 1,017 in 2013. The company has plans to enter 100 new Chinese cities by 2022 while Costa Coffee is aiming for 1,200 stores over the same period, up from the 449 at present, according to Jing Wang, a San Francisco-based business intelligence manager at Alibaba Group.