Renewed joy for coffee lovers at weekend bazaar
Coffee on the go.
Cafes took center stage during a weekend bazaar at the Bund Financial Center as part of the ongoing Shanghai Coffee Culture Week.
Shanghai's first Coffee Lifestyle Festival is bringing together coffee lovers and industry insiders to sample limited edition coffee drinks, explore new tastes and discover tailor-made coffee cup sleeves, specialty items and souvenirs.
Flavored coffees.
Shanghai now hosts the most innovative Starbucks store formats that blend different elements and tastes together.
Cold brew coffee using whiskey barrel aged Guatemala coffee beans are being offered at Starbucks Reserve stores across the city to meet more sophisticated demands.
Two specialty drinks from Starbucks using the whiskey barrel aged Guatemala coffee beans are offered at the weekend event.
Ant Group's Inclusion Cafe program has worked with local boutique cafe Elefanco to offer three specialty drinks. It also allows customers to track the coffee beans' product of origin using blockchain technologies.
The weekend event showcases new possibilities when coffee meets different cultural elements and formats such as offline exhibitions, innovative handicraft and even eSports.
Many coffee and gourmet lovers said they see much vitality in Shanghai's coffee culture and a more inclusive attitude especially among young coffee lovers.
A speciality product.
On social media site Xiaohongshu, the number of searches for fancy coffee tastes which means coffee with seasonal fruit, regional tastes and even alcohol has increased more than three times in the first half this year.
Corentin Delcroix, a French food blogger and culinary consultant who has lived in Shanghai for more than a decade, said coffee has taken various shapes and tastes whereas in the West most people take it for granted as a routine daily drink.
"There's clearly more vitality in Shanghai's coffee culture because it has not taken a fixed format," he said. "A lot of people are pouring their ideas to suit different demands."
After trying to make coffee-flavored caramel pudding, he said he might consider using coffee as an ingredient for braised pork belly, a famous Shanghai-style dish well known for its strong sauce flavor.
The festival.
Roxy Lu who works at a nearby office building and is a frequent visitor to a local boutique cafe, said she hopes this kind of event would be hosted regularly to allow people to discover new flavors.
"It's a nice way to enjoy leisure time and treat myself with specialty drinks and discover all the coffee related souvenirs," she said.
A list of the city's top 100 coffee shops compiled by Shanghai Food Association, local industry bodies and Alibaba's lifestyle services unit Ele.me was unveiled to promote popular destinations for coffee lovers.
Jiefang Daily and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Literature Studies have also put together a list with movie, theater and literature works that bond coffee culture closely with the city.
