2025 Trip to Beijing: Coffee

 

A strong brew would've fixed my jetlag-induced doldrum but it was hard to find

once I landed in PEK. The Coffetel I stayed at offered no fresh coffee and the

dark liquid United Airlines served mid-air in 4oz paper cups beat anything in

the shops for caffeine content. A Starbucks store here was still good for

sitting down to have a chat or reading a book for a couple of hours but its

stiff pricing turned many locals away. As a result, they cut drip coffee to

save cost, I was told, and the watered-down esspresso shots, aka the Americano,

simply could not hit the spot like a Pike Place Roast.

 

I didn't get lucky at Luckin, Starbucks's Chinese challenger. The latte tasted

like over-sugared pastuerized milk spiced with a dash of instant for flavor. A

store typically had a couple of small high-top bar tables and backless stools

lined up by the wall opposite to the counter with barely space inbetween for

people to file through. Most customers ordered and paid online and came in only

to grab their cheap drinks and go. Chatting felt out of place with the young

baristas behind the wide counter resembling workers on an assembly-line. In

short, a bee hive where music or mental repose had no chance.

 

I left clinging to some hope, however, after discovering late in my trip Tim

Hortons and Peet's Coffee in WangJing, a high-tech borough between the city and

the airport, and with a prayer: Lord, we have sinned, but please save us from

the sissy cloy efficient dairy swill and bring back the good old addicting

nectar, even at 30RMB a pop.