For Firat Sahin from Turkiye, to have a cup of specially tailored coffee in the greenland of Shanghai's financial zone is a comfortable yet homesick experience. 

The special combination of coffee and tea made him feel completely natural.

"In my country, we drink unsweetened black tea, and we also drink coffee regularly, so pairing coffee and tea is not strange to us at all."

"Tea, coffee, and other types of drinks should be mixed together," Sahin says during the opening day of the Lujiazui Coffee Festival in Shanghai. "Overall, the festival is really great."

Held from May 29 to 31 at Lujiazui Central Green, the Lujiazui festival has gathered more than 150 brands, creating an elegant integration of Western coffee and traditional Chinese culture, which is the festival's theme this year.

Mingzhishan Coffee, which operates stores in historical cities of Luoyang, Henan province, and Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, attracted visitors with its iconic gourd porcelain cups.

By midday on opening day, Guo Daren, founder of Mingzhishan Coffee, had sold nearly 300 cups of his signature gourd-shaped porcelain cold brew coffee.

"It completely exceeded our expectations. We didn't expect Shanghai people to love the new Chinese-style gourd coffee so much."

In Chinese tradition, the gourd, or hulu, is usually associated with wishes for prosperity.

"We also combine Jingdezhen's local Fuliang black tea with coffee and serve it in gourds, creating a Chinese-style coffee-drinking experience that feels like ancient people drinking wine," he adds.

The brand's best-selling product at the festival is Osmanthus cold brew, made by steeping Osmanthus flowers in coffee overnight to infuse a natural floral aroma. "We also paired it with the poem: 'I wanted to buy Osmanthus and wine with you, yet it is no longer like our youth days'," Guo says. "Many people came to buy a cup specifically because of this line."

Spring Morning on Mishan, a tea and pastry brand making its Lujiazui Coffee Festival debut, demonstrated the perfect compatibility between traditional Chinese snacks and coffee.

"We divided our products into three series: 'Meal Buddies', for pairing with toast and other staples; 'Tea Buddies', for various teas; and a dedicated 'Coffee Buddies' series," said Xiao Yuanwu, the brand's founder. "Our Coffee Buddies focus on salty and sour flavors, which effectively neutralize the coffee's bitterness and deliver a richer tasting experience."

Also drawing long queues is the beef noodle-flavored specialty coffee from Hebei-based Coffix Coffee. "Lujiazui invited us to bring our hometown's urban flavors to Shanghai as specialty blends," says founder Chen Xixi. "We extracted the aroma of chili oil — the soul of beef noodles — and infused it into coffee."

This seemingly unconventional combination has received unexpected acclaim. "Shanghai residents love it, surprisingly. Ethiopian coffee beans naturally have a hint of spice, which unexpectedly complements the flavors of the noodles," Chen says.

The unique blend has even gained international recognition."We took beef noodle coffee to a Melbourne coffee festival, and many foreign guests loved it. Here at the festival, we sell out every morning."

The most groundbreaking collaboration this year is the deep integration between Kunshan Contemporary Kunqu Theater and coffee culture. The theater has launched two limited-edition specialty drinks named after classic Kunqu tunes, inspired by the ink-wash new-style works of Kunqu master Zhang Jun and infused with traditional Chinese cultural elements.

Shi Zhiyuan, a member of the festival's operations team, says,"The signature of Lazy Eyebrow Tune is that we outline eyebrow shapes in the milk foam with indigo powder, and it has a refreshing taste that is perfect for summer. Ever Lasting Love Aria evokes the pink imagery of love, so we used summer watermelon to create a sparkling Americano specialty."

Beyond beverages, Kunqu Opera also comes alive at the festival in more vivid forms, with Zhang leading a group of musicians to perform on the Lujiazui Central Green lake with the water body as the stage and neon lights illuminating the skyscrapers, bringing traditional art to the heart of the city's vibrant coffee culture.

Many industry insiders agreed that integrating Chinese elements into coffee is not a passing fad but an inevitable industry trend.

"Previously, most coffee creativity focused on fruits, and combining coffee with tea and traditional culture was relatively rare," Guo says. "In the future, there will definitely be more tea-coffee blends, and people will explore clever ways to integrate tea and coffee to create new flavors."