Was the Shenzhen boiled coffee water price real?
A bill from a Shenzhen coffee shop showing a glass of plain water priced at 18 yuan circulated online and triggered widespread discussion. The shop's Xiaohongshu account replied "Yes" when asked whether anyone would order it, which led many people to believe the price was real. Staff later told media the image was only a joke and that the water was never sold.
The episode reflects how sensitive consumers have become to high prices on everyday goods, following earlier cases such as the so-called ice cream assassin. Coffee shops posting clearly marked prices can still draw scrutiny when a single item looks out of line. The shop clarified the matter after media verification, and no actual sale took place.
In recent years, various "consumer assassins" have repeatedly stung the wallets of office workers, from high-priced ice creams hidden in the corners of freezers to now a glass of plain water priced at 18 yuan. An image of a bill from a coffee shop in Shenzhen showing a glass of plain water priced at 18 yuan circulated online, quickly sparking heated discussion among netizens. Faced with the question "Would anyone actually order this?", the shop had responded on social media "Yes," making many people believe it was true. However, after media verification, the shop's staff said the image was just a joke and that it was never actually sold. Although this farce has ended without real incident, it also reflects consumers' high sensitivity to high-priced everyday goods. This article will recount the incident and review previous regulatory developments on curbing exorbitantly priced goods.
The income of office workers hasn't risen, but expenses keep increasing. The debut of the "ice cream assassin" left a deep impression—casually grabbing a bag of ice cream from the corner of a freezer, and before even opening it, your heart sinks halfway at the sight of the payment amount. If you think assassins only lurk in the ice cream world, you're being far too naive. A coffee shop actually had a glass of water priced at 18 yuan. Who would have thought that even a coffee shop with clearly marked prices could produce an "assassin"?
An image of a coffee shop in Shenzhen selling plain water for 18 yuan circulated online. In the picture, next to a disposable paper cup labeled "plain water" was a bill, clearly showing the order number and transaction number. "A glass of water priced at 18 yuan" immediately became the focus of discussion among netizens.
Coffee Workshop found the coffee shop's Xiaohongshu account from the image on the Xiaohongshu platform, and discovered the same image in its note sharing. A netizen commented asking "Would anyone actually order this?", and the coffee shop's Xiaohongshu account replied "Yes."
Some netizens commented, "Even plain water has an assassin now," "Why not just go to a convenience store," and others compared the price of this glass of plain water to juice at a bar, joking that drinking plain water at a coffee shop is equivalent to helping the owner pay rent.
A media outlet contacted the staff of the coffee shop in the image, who responded that the picture was just for fun and was not actually sold to the public—it was just a joke.
The staff member who replied also added that the image was posted on WeChat Moments at the time, and afterward many people forwarded the photo, some netizens shared it on Xiaohongshu, and others posted it on the Douyin short video platform, not only without citing the source but also claiming they had bought it themselves, leading many people to mistakenly believe they were really selling plain water at 18 yuan a glass.
Today's young people's wallets are already fragile, and the fact that a glass of water selling for 18 yuan could trigger such heated discussion among netizens is largely due to the "sky-high ice creams" costing a dozen or even dozens of yuan in recent years, leaving consumers dumbfounded at checkout, earning them the title "ice cream assassins" from netizens.
People are particularly sensitive to everyday goods being marked with exorbitant prices. In ordinary supermarkets, bottled water rarely exceeds 10 yuan, yet this was merely a glass of plain water priced at 18 yuan. Such a high price for plain water naturally sparked widespread discussion among netizens.
High-priced labeling is not uncommon. Coffee Workshop reported on June 11 that in order to curb phenomena such as "sky-high" mooncakes, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued a notice to stop "sky-high" mooncakes and other issues, implementing key supervision over boxed mooncakes priced above 500 yuan per unit.
A false alarm—the plain water assassin was just a joke. But faced with a glass of plain water at 18 yuan, what would you think?
Image source: Internet
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
