Winter holidays... glühwein in a Chinese milk tea store

A delicious and warming glühwein (vin chaud or mulled wine) in the outskirts of Beijing during New Year's weekend...

No, not in a European restaurant or bar but in one of the most popular milk tea (bubble tea) chains in China who decided to include the hardly known glühwein on the menu for the Christmas and New Year festive season (at least in three shops which I came across this weekend).

CoCo, head-quartered in Taiwan has about 4,500 milk (bubble) tea shop locations worldwide including China, USA, Canada, Europe, South-East Asia. This figure is from 2019, so it should probably be many more today as new Coco stores have been popping up like sprouts in China since a few years. Started in 1997, Coco celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

It was a great encounter experiencing glühwein in CoCo China, a surprising familiar good taste (closing my eyes and I imagined myself in La Rosiere, the French Alps at the border of Italy during our many family ski holidays in the past) and certainly warming my body and feet comfortably as Beijing is cold and crispy these days.

While enjoying the mulled wine in the store, the Glühwein was popular among the customers.

An unexpected personal cross-cultural experience 😊 and another sign that the Chinese market and certainly Chinese consumers are up to new experiences and adventures.

𝘈 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘵é, 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘩, 干杯 𝘎ā𝘯𝘣ē𝘪, 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘴....

#crosscultural #winterholidays #chineseconsumers #happynewyear