In the whole country, to say that coffee feelings Shanghai ranked second, I really did not dare to say the first. According to the data, Shanghai is the city with the largest number of cafes in the world, and in Shanghai, although the number of Starbucks stores is the largest in the world, the mainstream position is still dominated by the unique independent cafes in the streets and alleys.
The first café in Shanghai opened in 1853, and the British ran a "Lao De Ji Pharmacy", which also sold coffee and pastries. At that time, the Chinese people were quite cold to this bitter brown liquid, called "cough potion".
As Shanghai gradually became the first city in the Far East, a large number of Westerners came to Shanghai to pan for gold. The west wind is gradually blowing in the east, and the "cough potion" has also been slowly accepted by Shanghai citizens, and coffee has begun to enter the ordinary life of Shanghainese. Old cafes such as Sullivan, Kangsheng, Sweet Silk (DDS), and Jimei also came into being. The Shanghai Left Alliance Writers Alliance was born in the Gongzhe Cafe near Sichuan Road, and Mr. Lu Xun, who has always rejected coffee as "something for foreigners to drink", finally stepped into the café.
In the mid-1930s, the first Chinese-invested Desheng Coffee Shop opened with the registered trademark C.P.C. Chinese finally had its own coffee products, this C.P.C was the predecessor of the famous Shanghai Coffee Factory.
The canned coffee produced by the Shanghai Coffee Factory in that year was once popular for a generation. The red tank reflects the full sense of age. The finely ground coffee is sealed with thin tin foil. Tearing off the tin foil is the unique aroma of coffee that is familiar to old Shanghainese. The best-selling "Le" brand malt milk extract is also produced by Shanghai Coffee Factory.
That era of scarcity. Shanghainese still maintain the atmosphere of drinking coffee. Ordinary citizens buy coffee powder wrapped in bags made of gauze, put it in a steel cup pot and boil it with boiling water, the whole room smells of coffee, and then filters the brewed coffee, and a cup of aromatic and hot coffee becomes. oh! It's still so warm to think about. People with a family base use the old home Shi - coffee pot, generally made of copper or stainless steel, there is a glass ball on the lid, used to observe the state of coffee. When brewing coffee, accompanied by a "grunt, grunt" sound is a burst of enchanting coffee aroma.
Shanghainese also use coffee tea from Shanghai coffee factories to replace coffee to relieve hunger. However, the taste is sweet, the taste of coffee is to be slowly found in the mouth, a little anxious to fall directly into the stomach. His good thing is that it's convenient, and it's cheap. Like instant coffee, use boiling water to adjust it, and you can drink it with a tao.
Previously, cafes in Shanghai were mainly concentrated in the downtown area. Shanghai café on Tongren Road, Nanjing Road, a cup of clear coffee, copper tenant four corners. However, there is a reason for the expensive, the all-white coffee cup is served with a plate, and a small spoon and two sugar cubes are placed obliquely in the plate, which was a rarity in those days. The coffee should be blended by the old mage in the shop with Hainan and Yunnan beans, and it tastes great. Shanghai cafes once creatively sold "erpu coffee", and the shop processed the used coffee for secondary sale, and it is said that the business is still good. This coffee also has a resounding name "Roosevelt coffee", and legend has it that US President Roosevelt especially liked to drink this "two-shop coffee" (this is heard from friends, and I don't know whether it is true or not).
At that time, most of the more famous cafes in Shanghai were on Nanjing Road, Feida Coffee (Ping An Cinema), Haiyan (near Huangpi Road), Kaisling (its chestnut cake was absolutely the first in the hearts of old Shanghainese), Xi Lai Lai (formerly it should have been Cheeselin), Donghai and Deda. The price of a cup of clear coffee is about two dimes and seven cents.
Almost all older Shanghainese have fallen in love, drunk coffee, and chopped emotions in cafes. Order two cups of clear coffee or milk coffee, and then a cake, as long as it is the right person, it is not talking, and the air is sweet. In the summer, the coffee is replaced by ice cream coffee, the cake is replaced by a banana boat, the banana is divided into two sides, the ice cream ball is sprinkled with some chocolate in the middle, and some canned fruits are placed around. Couples talk about love, chat about movie gossip, occasionally interspersed with some literary and artistic topics, and the warm time flows so quietly.
A good place to drink coffee on Shanghai's Huaihai Road is Lao Da Chang (it seems to be in the current 200 Yongxin), where Italian sorbets and whipped cream are also a must, and the Huaihai Western Restaurant near Songshan Road also has coffee supply. There is also a "Jinzhong Restaurant" in the Eight Immortals Bridge, where their raw fried steamed buns and field snails are particularly delicious, and they usually serve chicken and duck blood soup and small wontons. Interestingly, they also make coffee, and it is still a small pot of coffee that is freshly brewed, and even during the special ten years, it has not stopped. The price of clear coffee seems to be more than a dime. Coffee drinkers will sit in the innermost part of the wall, I drink my coffee, you eat your raw fried. The two are irrelevant, but also harmonious.
Similar coffee shops, the original central shopping mall also has a, often there are some Shanghai temperament elderly people there sizzling coffee, lazily incubating the sun, coffee is also served in the ordinary po glass cup, leisurely. Hungry, Shashi Road raw fried steamed buns, plum blossom cakes, beef fried buns and everything, with coffee, can also be regarded as a fusion of Chinese and Western cultures.
In Shanghai, the most worrying thing is that you can't find a coffee shop, even if you ask those uncles and aunts who are old in the alley, they can accurately tell you the coffee drinking places nearby, it will not be Starbucks or the like.
In the historic alleys of Shanghai. The brick wall window sills of each house seem to be wafting with the strong aroma of coffee, which is a way of life and a feeling chosen by Shanghainese.
Whether it's sitting alone, watching the view from the window, or a friend of three or two, chatting quietly. Whether it's turbulent or bustling. Holding up the coffee, Shanghainese people have the calm and reserved attitude of Shanghainese.