What made an old instant coffee brand go viral in Nanjing?

An elderly woman in Nanjing draws crowds for a ten-yuan hand-brewed coffee made from three sticks of Nescafe instant coffee, hot water, and a sealed plastic cup. A video of her simple method spread on social media, and her small shop now sells over two hundred cups a day, prompting Nescafe's official livestream to launch a matching product.

She says she has always used Nescafe and will not cut corners as business grows. Similar low-priced drinks are popular with students in a small alley in Guangdong. Such drinks may not match specialty coffee, but old instant coffee brands carry many people's earliest coffee memories, which helps explain the steady stream of visitors.

Recently, an elderly woman in Nanjing has quickly become an internet sensation on social media with her ten-yuan "hand-brewed coffee," drawing many netizens to make special trips to visit her shop. Her storefront is small, but her method is remarkably simple—she takes out three sticks of Nescafé instant coffee, cuts them open, pours them into a plastic cup, adds hot water, seals and shakes it, and a cup of coffee is handed to the customer. After the video went viral, her business exploded, selling over two hundred cups a day, and even Nescafé's official livestream jumped on the trend, launching a "Nanjing Auntie's Same Style" product. The elderly woman frankly stated that she has always sold Nescafé and won't cut corners just because more customers are coming. Meanwhile, in a small alley in Guangdong, similar low-priced drinks are also popular among students. These simply made beverages may not taste as good as specialty coffee, but they carry many people's fondest early memories of coffee.

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Recently, a ten-yuan hand-brewed coffee sold by an elderly woman in Nanjing has spread widely on social platforms, becoming a popular drink that many netizens have recently made special trips to buy.

The elderly woman's shop is not large, located at the corner of a street in a bustling city. The glass door displays several drinks for sale and their prices, among which the coffee that has drawn the most attention from netizens is priced at ten yuan a cup.

When a visiting customer walks up and casually asks, the elderly woman warmly greets them. Hearing that the person is there to buy coffee, she finds that the stock in the cabinet has run out, so she directly takes out a brand-new box of Nescafé instant coffee. She tears open the packaging, takes out three sticks, snips them open briskly with scissors, pours them into a plastic takeaway cup, adds plenty of hot water, seals it with a sealing machine, picks up the cup and gives it a shake, and after confirming the coffee powder has fully dissolved, hands it to the customer with a straw, not forgetting to remind them, "Careful, it's hot."

According to the elderly woman herself, the coffee she sells never uses off-brands—it has always been Nescafé. Each cup gets three sticks of instant coffee plus plenty of hot water, ensuring every cup has a rich aroma.

Unlike the common understanding among coffee enthusiasts, what the elderly woman understands as "coffee" is simply a drink made by mixing instant coffee powder. Combined with the sincere smile on her face when explaining to customers, this ten-yuan "hand-brewed coffee" quickly went viral online, and many people became interested and rushed to the scene to check it out.

It is understood that after the video went viral, the elderly woman's business grew significantly, selling over two hundred cups of coffee a day. The popularity was so high that it even caught Nescafé's attention. This afternoon, Nescafé's livestream followed the trend, with its main featured product being the "Nanjing Auntie's Same Style," placed as the number one link.

Someone asked the elderly woman whether she knew her coffee had sparked widespread discussion. The elderly lady said she was aware and acknowledged that many more people had indeed come to buy coffee recently. But she has not slacked off just because there are more customers and she is busier—she does things exactly as before, and the entire making process is fully visible to customers, clean and transparent.

According to local netizens in Nanjing, the signature drink at the elderly woman's shop is actually sugarcane juice, which is quite famous locally and used to require queuing up to buy. Perhaps because she has had the experience of being treated as an "internet celebrity," the elderly woman is not particularly surprised by this wave of traffic brought by the hand-brewed coffee, and she still treats every customer who comes to the shop seriously, skillfully making each cup of coffee right on the counter without any hesitation.

Similarly, in a small alley in Guangdong, "Boyajuexian for 5 yuan, cheese milk cap strawberry ice for 6 yuan"—plain and unadorned low-priced milk tea is popular among students, and the small shop entrance is packed with students who want to buy a budget alternative to trendy milk tea after class.

Some people believe that these coffees and milk teas use simple ingredients and don't taste as good as drinks blended with specific proportions, but they are cheap, and the making process is openly displayed in front of customers, clearly showing them where their few yuan goes—honest to all, free buying and selling.

At the same time, these low-priced drinks taste ordinary—either fragrant and mellow or sweet and cloying—and may contain ingredients like non-dairy creamer that are generally considered unhealthy. But with just one sip, memories of the past when people didn't fuss over ingredient ratios and just wanted a sweet drink may come flooding back. For some people, ten yuan buys not the elderly woman's back-to-basics coffee, but their own fondest early feelings about coffee.

Video and images from: Internet

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