What to Expect at Blue Bottle's Zhangyuan Coffee Store

Blue Bottle Coffee opened its third mainland China store in Shanghai's Zhangyuan, again in Jing'an District, following the former Yutong Flour Mill dormitory in February and Jing'an Kerry Centre in August. The new shop uses Shikumen architecture, with distressed brick walls, original wooden lattice doors and windows, and outdoor side alleys.

The menu adds East-meets-West scallion oil waffles, limited-edition blended coffee beans, woven merchandise, a honey sea-salt latte, and caramel jujube cake. A vintage Oji cold drip coffee maker sits on the bar as a focal point. Blue Bottle began as a roaster and retailer in Oakland in 2002 and was acquired by Nestlé in 2017; the company expects faster expansion in China than in other markets.

Blue Bottle Coffee's third store in mainland China has officially opened in Zhangyuan, Shanghai, continuing its presence in Jing'an District. The new store draws on Shikumen architectural style, blending distressed brick walls, original wooden lattice doors and windows, and outdoor side-alley spaces into one. In addition to continuing its localized design, the Zhangyuan store has also launched East-meets-West "scallion oil waffles," limited-edition blended coffee beans, woven merchandise, and debut items including honey sea-salt latte and caramel jujube cake. A vintage Oji cold drip coffee maker on the bar has become a highlight. Since Blue Bottle Coffee entered the mainland China market in February this year, its pace of opening stores has been steady, and the brand expects its future expansion in China to be faster than in other international markets it has already entered.

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As a brand of great interest within the coffee circle, Blue Bottle Coffee attracts attention with every move it makes in the Chinese market. In February this year, the brand opened its first mainland store in the former Yutong Flour Mill dormitory; in August, its second store entered Jing'an Kerry Centre; now its third store has chosen Zhangyuan, known as the "No. 1 garden of Shanghai." At this point, all three Blue Bottle Coffee stores in Shanghai are located in Jing'an District.

At 8 a.m. today, Blue Bottle's third store officially opened its doors to customers. The store design adopts the Shikumen style, continuing Blue Bottle's long-standing approach of localization. While preserving the original building facade, distressed-style brick walls extend indoors and, combined with the building's original wooden lattice doors and windows and the outdoor side alleys, form a space that extends in all directions .

Known as the "Apple of the coffee world," Blue Bottle Coffee began as a coffee roaster and retailer and was headquartered in Oakland, California, in 2002. It is one of the representative brands in the "specialty coffee" niche. After multiple rounds of financing, it was acquired by Nestlé in 2017. It currently has more than 100 stores worldwide, including in the United States, South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong, China.

When the first store opened in February this year, although it was not in the core commercial area and was some distance from the subway station, many fans still made special trips there on opening day. Before the 8 a.m. opening, the queue had already stretched more than a dozen meters. Netizens left comments such as "There were really so many people on the first day" and "I really can't stand in line anymore..." Blue Bottle's second store also saw another queue surge on its opening day. This time, however, judging from the response on various social platforms so far, no similar grand queuing scene has yet been seen.

Every time Blue Bottle Coffee opens a new store, it launches limited-edition products inspired by local culture. This time is naturally no exception. You have seen scallion pancakes, and you have seen waffles, but have you seen the two combined into a "scallion oil waffle"? Blue Bottle Coffee's Shanghai Zhangyuan store has launched this East-meets-West "scallion oil waffle." According to netizens who visited, one light bite reveals a texture that is both crisp and chewy.

In the "scallion oil waffle," the aroma of scallions dominates, with the level of fragrance, saltiness, and oiliness all handled just right. Paired with a sweet, fragrant, and soft latte, or a slightly bitter iced cold brew, it takes on a distinctly different flavor.

In addition to the scallion oil waffle, Blue Bottle Coffee has also created limited-edition and debut products for the Zhangyuan store. Among them, the limited-edition blend uses rare specialty Robusta beans, Ethiopian beans with floral and berry notes, and Latin American beans with dark chocolate flavor, producing a deep, mellow taste with a slight bitterness.

In addition, the store's woven bucket bag and woven cup sleeve merchandise, inspired by the woven elements of traditional household objects, also belong to the Zhangyuan store limited-edition merchandise series. There are also two drinks and desserts making their debut at the Zhangyuan store: honey sea-salt latte and caramel jujube cake.

The vintage Oji cold drip coffee maker on the bar at the Zhangyuan store can be called the store's signature treasure. Sit down and order a cup, savor the mellow and gentle Japanese-style cold drip coffee with the richness of old times, and slowly feel, through the extreme extraction, the simple yet uncompromising lane life of those years.

Blue Bottle Coffee said it hopes to look back on Shanghai's past in a unique way and commemorate the mark coffee has left on this city. As a pioneering brand in specialty coffee, Blue Bottle Coffee has never stopped pursuing architectural aesthetics and product rigor in every store, and each store brings a different surprise.

Blue Bottle Coffee entered the mainland China market relatively late, and its pace of opening stores has also been relatively slow. When it entered, especially in Shanghai's coffee market, brands were already numerous and competition was increasingly fierce. But Blue Bottle Coffee said: "Although China's specialty coffee market started late, its development speed far exceeds that of other international markets. It is expected that Blue Bottle's pace of opening stores in mainland China will be faster than in other international markets it has already entered."

As the trend of breakfast + coffee continues to spread across the country, many brands have already tried pairing and creating collisions between local specialty foods and coffee. The emergence of East-meets-West coffee pairings also shows that China's coffee market is gradually maturing.

Image source: Internet

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.