What Sparked the Americano Coffee Drink Controversy?

A coffee shop in Dongyang, Zhejiang, briefly sold an Americano coffee drink paired with boy's urine eggs, a local preserved egg preparation, and it went viral on short video platforms, reaching more than a hundred cups on weekend days. The Dongyang Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center confirms the eggs hold city-level heritage status, but medical professionals say they carry no modern nutritional value and raise hygiene concerns. The shop has stopped selling the drink under public pressure.

The combination drew attention because it sits at the edge of coffee culture, where shops experiment with local flavors to stand out. Staff said customers who still want to try it must bring their own boy's urine eggs. Online reaction split between curiosity and rejection, with many calling the eggs dark cuisine and questioning whether such a pairing fits current food safety standards.

A coffee shop in Dongyang, Zhejiang, has combined the local traditional intangible cultural heritage food "boy's urine eggs" with Americano coffee to launch "boy's urine egg Americano," which quickly went viral on short video platforms, selling up to over a hundred cups a day on weekends. While this bizarre drink attracts curious people to check in, it has also sparked widespread controversy due to the特殊性 of its ingredients. The Dongyang Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center confirmed that boy's urine eggs are indeed a city-level intangible cultural heritage, but medical professionals point out that they have no value in modern nutrition science and pose hygiene risks. Currently, the shop has stopped selling this drink due to public pressure, and staff said customers who want to try it need to bring their own boy's urine eggs.

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Recently, a coffee shop in Dongyang, Zhejiang, became popular online because of a drink called "boy's urine egg Americano," attracting a large number of netizens to watch and discuss.

From buyer photos circulating online, this special concoction is actually just a regular Americano with a boy's urine egg that has been roasted over charcoal, and the coffee and egg can be consumed separately. Some customers also ask the staff to mash the egg and mix it directly into the coffee to drink together.

This drink is quite unconventional in both name and ingredients, and after spreading through short videos, it quickly attracted a large crowd of onlookers. Some curious customers made special trips to check in and order it to try. According to shop staff, "boy's urine egg Americano" sold quite well after launch, with more than a hundred cups sold in a single day during weekend peaks.

However, although this attention-grabbing "boy's urine egg Americano" was accepted by some consumers, more netizens said after learning about this drink that it was hard to accept, bluntly calling boy's urine eggs "dark cuisine" and believing that this kind of innovation by the shop is completely incompatible with modern food safety concepts.

Facing skepticism, coffee shop employees and local netizens from Dongyang explained that boy's urine eggs are a traditional custom that has been passed down locally for many years. Because there is a folk saying that "eating eggs in spring prevents heatstroke and fatigue in summer," locals eat eggs boiled in boy's urine every spring. Supporters feel that boy's urine eggs are part of Dongyang's local food culture, and by combining them with coffee, the shop may help more people learn about this Dongyang intangible cultural heritage.

Just as the online debate over this bizarre drink continued, a media reporter contacted the Dongyang Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center to verify the situation. Staff confirmed that boy's urine eggs are indeed a Dongyang city-level intangible cultural heritage.

The person introduced that boy's urine eggs have a history of at least several hundred years in Dongyang. In the past, when living conditions were poor, farmers had to work in the fields, and the only thing available to nourish the body was eggs. Locals believed that eggs boiled in boy's urine could strengthen the body and nourish yin to reduce internal heat. But because boy's urine eggs have always been controversial, they trigger a wave of discussion almost every spring. "Now we do not publicize it externally, because there are too many people seeking novelty."

Medical professionals interviewed by the media said that in ancient times boy's urine was often used as a medicinal guide, and in an era of scarce medical resources, there were indeed cases of using boy's urine to treat injuries such as falls and fractures. But from an ingredient analysis, boy's urine contains no special substances, and in modern medicine it is not considered to have nutritional value.

In addition, from a hygiene perspective, urine itself is waste excreted by the human body, and bacteria will grow after it is left standing. Although simmering eggs in boy's urine involves high-temperature treatment, using it to process food may still pose certain hygiene risks. At present, due to excessive public pressure, the shop has stopped selling this drink. Staff said that if customers want to try this combination, they need to prepare boy's urine eggs themselves.

Image source: Internet

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