A Sichuan coffee shop's latte, made with broth from stewed pig intestines, has gone viral, quadrupling sales and sparking debate across Chinese social media with its savory-sweet flavor.
Located in Jiangyou City, Sichuan Province, the café offers an unusual drink: a latte mixed with broth from stewed pig intestines. It is priced at 32 yuan (US$4.47) per cup and is served with a skewer of stewed intestines, according to Chinese publication Cover News .
Shop owner Zhang Yuchi told the South China Morning Post : "Red-braised pork intestine is a popular cuisine in Jiangyou. I thought of combining it with coffee to promote both my shop as well as this delicious food of our city."
The café sources cooked intestines from a local restaurant and extracts the broth to mix into the coffee. After experiments, they settled on adding 6 grams of broth per cup.
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A photo shared on Weibo shows a cup of coffee in China served with a skewer of stewed intestines. |
As noted by SCMP , the drink has three taste levels: beginning, middle, and end. The intestine flavor gets stronger as you go through each level.
Zhang described the flavor as salty and sweet, somewhat like salty cheese.
Since the drink went viral on social media in early June, the café's sales have quadrupled, with about 80% of customers coming to try this coffee.
Customers' reactions vary. A woman from Chengdu said, "I am a coffee lover. When I saw someone recommending this pig intestine coffee, I was curious and decided to try it," according to Cover News .
Another customer from northern China, where pig intestines are less commonly eaten, said the drink tasted "just fine" and added, "Many people in northern China don't eat pork intestines, but I think they could accept this kind of coffee."
This is not the first unusual coffee in China. Before, a café in Jiangxi added fried chili and spicy pepper powder to lattes, and another in Yunnan became known for coffee with fried crispy worms.