For Firat Sahin from Turkiye, to have a cup of specially tailored coffee in the greenland of Shanghai's financial zone is a comfortable yet homesick experience.
The special combination of coffee and tea made him feel completely natural.
"In my country, we drink unsweetened black tea, and we also drink coffee regularly, so pairing coffee and tea is not strange to us at all."
"Tea, coffee, and other types of drinks should be mixed together," Sahin says during the opening day of the Lujiazui Coffee Festival in Shanghai. "Overall, the festival is really great."
Held from May 29 to 31 at Lujiazui Central Green, the Lujiazui festival has gathered more than 150 brands, creating an elegant integration of Western coffee and traditional Chinese culture, which is the festival's theme this year.
Mingzhishan Coffee, which operates stores in historical cities of Luoyang, Henan province, and Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, attracted visitors with its iconic gourd porcelain cups.
By midday on opening day, Guo Daren, founder of Mingzhishan Coffee, had sold nearly 300 cups of his signature gourd-shaped porcelain cold brew coffee.
"It completely exceeded our expectations. We didn't expect Shanghai people to love the new Chinese-style gourd coffee so much."
In Chinese tradition, the gourd, or hulu, is usually associated with wishes for prosperity.
"We also combine Jingdezhen's local Fuliang black tea with coffee and serve it in gourds, creating a Chinese-style coffee-drinking experience that feels like ancient people drinking wine," he adds.
The brand's best-selling product at the festival is Osmanthus cold brew, made by steeping Osmanthus flowers in coffee overnight to infuse a natural floral aroma. "We also paired it with the poem: 'I wanted to buy Osmanthus and wine with you, yet it is no longer like our youth days'," Guo says. "Many people came to buy a cup specifically because of this line."
