Annual coffee festival returns to Lujiazui
Edited by Li Qian.
The coffee festival is popular among both locals and foreigners.
The annual coffee festival in Lujiazui has returned to a green oasis nestled among the skyscrapers near the Huangpu River.
The 7th Lujiazui Coffee Festival began yesterday at the Lujiazui Central Greenland, Shanghai's largest open lawn, and will run through Sunday.
After a one-year break, the event is back on a scale that has never been seen before. It is almost ten times bigger than its first year in 2016.
The festival was held at the Lujiazui Central Greenland.
This year, it had almost 260 coffee brands, including well-known ones like Lavazza and Nespresso as well as new ones like Café MUJI and Huazhu Café. Some of the shops were Instagram-friendly, like Café del Volcán and La Cher.
Linked Town in Hangzhou, Cenchi Coffee in Beijing, Piggy Bank in Chengdu, Daily Routine in Jingdezhen, and Encore Coffee in Kunming are among the 12 top coffee shops in 12 Chinese cities.
It was included in a recently launched project called "City Roaming," which aims to invite popular coffee shops with distinct local vibes to attend the annual festival in order to immerse visitors in a "virtual tour" of the country by sipping local flavor.
A woman poses for a photo.
This year, visitors can try coffee blended with Beijing's douzhi, a fermented bean drink, Suzhou's biluochun, a top Chinese green tea, and other local classical drinks.
The coffee brands will also offer 70 seasonal specialty coffee drinks for the event.
This year, "special" coffee shops like LiLi Time, which hires hearing-impaired baristas, and Menggongfang, which hires mentally-impaired Pudong Special School students, have set up stalls to add a personal touch to the festival.
World table tennis champion Xu Xin makes coffee
One of China's best-known table tennis players, Xu Xin, who has 20 world championship titles to his name, attended the festival with his Café Xuperman. Mini table tennis tables have been set up at the site where he plays with the baristas.
The event's organizer, Chen Bai, said that the festival will try to work more closely with the Pudong Ecology and Environment Bureau to set up a permanent, borderless "coffee culture experience platform" at the Lujiazui Central Greenland.
Every month, as part of the "City Roaming" project, a leading coffee shop will be invited to Greenland.
He also revealed that the eighth festival will take place in October of this year, with more international brands likely to participate.
This year's event attracted big crowds.
A barista shows off his latte art skills.
The scent of coffee
Camping coffee has emerged as a new trend.
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