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Chinese coffee has nothing to do with the coffee itself.

Published: 2026-04-30 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/04/30, As can be seen from the Wechat index, since

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Recently, tea cafes, which have been "keeping a low profile" for a hundred years, have become popular!

As can be seen from the Wechat index, since the coffee brand "Yuanyang Coffee" was launched in August last year, the combination of tea and coffee has successfully attracted the attention of public consumers. Compared with all kinds of dairy products + coffee / juice + coffee, the collision of cultural differences between the East and the West has aroused a new round of Chinese coffee craze.

What is a mandarin duck?

Mandarin ducks first appeared in Hong Kong, China. According to records, people in Hong Kong had no habit of drinking coffee and milk tea before the mid-19th century, both of which were introduced by the British who began to rule Hong Kong in the mid-19th century. At first, milk tea culture was only popular in British upper-class society, but because tea and milk were too expensive, it was difficult for ordinary workers to enjoy "real" milk tea. Therefore, it developed a tea gall made of local broken tea and other tea, and made with cheaper fresh milk at that time.

The origin of Yuanyang can no longer be tested. There is a saying that Yuanyang milk tea was invented by coolies working at the dock. Because cranes were not popular in the past, many porters were needed to work at the dock to load and unload goods for cargo ships. When taking a short break, these porters drank bitter and irritating coffee and tea together in order to relieve hunger and thirst, replenish their physical strength and refresh themselves.

Later, the mandarin duck began to expand from the grassroots to different societies. In order to make the mandarin duck products more palatable, different tea restaurants gradually added light milk to adjust the taste and taste. Mandarin duck has gradually gained popularity, becoming one of the drinks that can represent the Hong Kong region, and a tea coffee drink that represents the Chinese. Mandarin duck has a history of a hundred years, why is it so popular now? Yuanyang coffee has been popular only in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao for many years. Compared with the nationwide milk tea drinks, Hot Tea, HK Style / Yuanyangzhong tea has a higher concentration and is usually accompanied by a sense of astringency, so it is not a product that can be easily accepted by consumers all over the country.

Coupled with the continuous popularity of pearl milk tea shops for many years, people's preference for milk tea lies more in small ingredients and milk taste, and pays little attention to the taste of tea. However, with the revival of Chinese traditional culture and the rise of national tide culture, people hope that Chinese tea can be known and understood by more people, so there began to be the formation of a new tea culture. Mass consumers began to pay attention to the "tea" in milk tea. However, compared with the taste of Hong Kong-style tea, the new tea will be closer to the taste requirements of contemporary young people-refreshing.

Over the years, coffee innovation has been based on the addition of dairy products. From the past to the present, no matter where the category and taste of coffee is actually very single, either black coffee or milk coffee, spread to China is no exception. However, with the Chinese consumers' curiosity and pursuit of new flavors in the past decade, the change of milk coffee is obviously unable to satisfy consumers, so juice coffee began to appear.

The emergence of fruit juice coffee can be said to change the impression of Chinese consumers on coffee, but also attracted more public consumers' attention to coffee. Coffee is no longer the usual bitter black coffee and greasy milk coffee, coffee can also be very refreshing. Coffee with refreshing taste has also become the love of Chinese consumers, and consumers' demand for fresh taste is becoming more and more prominent.

Compared with the traditional mandarin duck drink, the new mandarin duck taste will be more refreshing. The base is no longer made of strong tea, milk is no longer mellow milk, consumers' acceptance of products will be higher, but also have a more ceremonial sense of support for local culture. Yuanyang Tea Cafe, is it Chinese coffee? Compared with espresso and Japanese coffee culture, the development of coffee culture in China today does not seem to be recorded in the classic annals, because rootless and passive are all kinds of strange coffee practices, not coffee itself. But in fact, whether it is Italian-style or Japanese-style, their concern is not coffee, but a way to make coffee more acceptable to mass consumers.

Espresso culture can become a national tradition, such as "thinking about the source of drinking water". The strong taste of coffee makes it easy for future generations to remember its ancestors, and the flavor of coffee itself is not the point. Japanese coffee culture can be recognized by so many people because they have changed the impression that coffee has only a strong taste, become balanced and mellow, and let more people accept coffee.

So adding different materials to reconcile the taste of coffee, so that more local consumers accept coffee, in fact, it is not that it can not become a new culture. In Europe and America, people mention that Hot Tea, HK Style / Yuanyang can think of Chinese and China, while people in Southeast Asia think of Nanyang coffee as well as Chinese and think of China.

After that, the mainstream innovative way of domestic coffee has been taken abroad, and when it can be welcomed by consumers in different regions, the reputation of Chinese coffee is really not weaker than that of Italian and Japanese coffee culture.

After all, there is tradition, there is inheritance, there is innovation, only innovation can constantly attract a new generation of people to understand and pay attention to the same thing.

Photo Source: Internet

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