Portuguese coffee maker Delta Cafés has launched a new Internet sales platform in China, Portuguese newspaper Público reported.

In three weeks, Delta sold 700 coffee machines via its online platform in China. The platform is operated by a local partner.

“We did not see that coming,” Delta Cafés’s Administrator Rui Miguel Nabeiro told reporters last week.

Mr Nabeiro said Delta Cafés expects to sell 1,500 more coffee machines in China by the end of the year.

Mr Nabeiro explained that 100 percent of the group’s business in China is now done online, in contrast with what the company does in other countries.

Delta Cafés also operates in Macao, where sales have doubled so far this year, the newspaper reported.

Delta Cafés expects revenue turnover to reach 340 million euros (US$386 million) in 2015, with around 30 percent coming from international sales. From January to September, turnover was up 4.5 percent in year-on-year terms.