Cafe culture

 China isn't a country associated with the term 'cafe culture', but rather a more Western concept in European countries such as Sweden with Fika and Italy and their coffee culture. When I visited my GP in the UK before coming to China to get medical advice he replied 'why would you go there, they have no milk in their tea', which is partially true, in the case of green tea, which the Chinese are most well-known for within this topic. 

Cafe culture was emerging in China with the rising 'openness' of its borders to Western influence. There's a Starbucks on every street corner with one shopping mall often having at least three shops, each selling the exact same products. Though in Hangzhou one that I really liked was known as 'Cash Miel', where I could buy a cappuccino, latte, or vanilla cappuccino and could choose from a range of, mostly Danish pastries. I liked this particular cafe because it was a smaller space than that of Starbucks, cheaper at only 15RMB for a coffee, in comparison to 25RMB at Starbucks, but also because it had a more 'European' vibe, and the pastries were all out on display to be seen and hand-picked. Another cafe that a student took me too, Karen, was known as MAAN cafe, which had Korean ownership, but architecturally took the form of a huge open plan space with at least two floors, with a 'rustic' style of purposeful looking 'old' wood decorated with various different lamps and mirrors, with an 'arabic' style. This was another favourite, selling coffees I've never heard of such as a white chocolate mocha topped with a huge amount of cream. Although expensive at 35RMB, it was delicious and the atmosphere was worth it. 

The cafe culture in China was certainly no comparison for the coffee and scone I would normally have at the Tesco's cafe-and cheaper. Every week I would see a new cafe I wanted to try, or have a colleague recommend one that recently opened. I was developing 'a list' of restaurant cafe's to try, with 'Mona Bros' being another one. They had a cinnamon latte I really wanted to try, but was saving it for a 'treat day'. This was my days off, spent exploring the cafe culture and soon, food culture.

During the summer, I even had a list of seasonal beverages, such as a cold 'tirimisu latte', and a 'Blueberry yoghurt frostino' added to the list from Starbucks. 

To my surprise, Cash Miel had closed after only a few months of going there regularly, a high turnover of cafes and restaurants is common in China, with the food and beverage industry being the most competitive. To make a profit, cafes and restaurants need to be busy all the time, from open till closing due to the ridiculously high rents charged by landlords-and increasing. 

Due to the closure, I decided to speed up my list, which included 'Ichido cafe',  'Tours le jours', the 'Hard Rock Cafe, (all of which had really good hot chocolate) were added to my list, with the 'GreyBox' coffee shop being my other favourite for a 'dirty mocha'. 

I use them as places to write in my diary, as well as a means of observing Chinese interactions, culture, and the language environment. Johnny, a British guy from my onboarding, who had a Chinese girlfriend in Yangshuo, was also working at the West lake EF centre in Hangzhou too. Our nature was similar with him spending most of his days off also in coffee shops, so we would often both meet up on the weekends in Costa coffee over a couple of cups and discuss everything from relationships, to work, to settling in, and to our futures. His father was a history lecturer at Edinburgh university, and was definitely one of the few expats who had a genuine interest in the language, food and culture of China, as opposed to simply 'being' for selfish reasons. It certainly showed that 'old habits die hard' among the Brits, Johnny pointed out that it was better to sit in a cafe and slowly sip coffee, enjoying the air conditioning rather than small apartments, with cafes taking on a more 'social' role rather than that solely about having a good cup of coffee. The coffee in China is actually mediocre in taste and quality, since they are known for lactose intolerance, the milk used was from a different cow, and many Chinese would opt for 'soy milk' latte instead.