THE video of a customer buying a cup of coffee for 10 yuan (US$1.38) from a street-side shop in Nanjing is the latest unlikely trending topic on Chinese social media.

In the clip, the elderly owner can be seen opening three small packages of instant coffee and dissolving them in a cup of hot water before serving it to the man filming her. Despite its mundane nature, the video clip has been trending among the top topics on Twitter-style Sina Weibo and the lifestyle app Xiaohongshu.

The gap between the owner’s understanding of “handmade” coffee and that of netizens, who usually associate the term with the intricate processes of high-end cafes or branded products, has led coffee drinkers and netizens to find humor in the situation, watching and sharing the video clip repeatedly.

Many customers visit this roadside shop to taste the coffee, with some even traveling via high-speed railway to experience it in person. This sudden surge in interest has escalated the shop’s daily sales to over 400 cups, placing additional strain on the owner.

Han Suzhen, a 74-year-old native of Nanjing, has operated the shop for more than three decades, primarily selling freshly pressed sugarcane juice, with daily sales amounting to 500 kilograms of sugarcane.

She introduced coffee to her menu about 20 years ago, initially pricing a cup at 6 yuan, which contained two packages of Nestle instant coffee. Two years ago, after receiving complaints about the coffee’s strength, she adjusted her recipe to three bags of instant coffee per cup, raising the price to 10 yuan.

The sudden limelight and increased sales has left Han both happy and exhausted. She was too occupied to even take a lunch break, with customers forming a long line in front of her modest shop, the local Yangtze Evening Post reported.

“I have no idea why people suddenly got interested in my shop,” Han was quoted by the Post as saying. “I always make sure that the drinks I sell are hygienic and freshly made, as you can see with your own eyes.”

Some netizens view Han’s business as evoking nostalgia for China’s simpler past, where life was uncomplicated, and authenticity was valued.

(Global Times)