Results tagged “starbucks”

Hot on the heels of the dubious iTunes vouchers, it seems that less-than-kosher Starbucks vouchers have now hit the streets of Shanghai. This warning was spotted on the wall of the Starbucks in Metro City, XuJiaHui.

Starbucks has launched a new brand of coffee grown in Yunnan Province in southwest China called South of the Clouds, the meaning of Yunnan (云南) in Chinese. Martin Coles, president of Starbucks Coffee International, told AP that his goal is to bring Chinese coffee not just to China but to the world: "Ultimately I'd love to see our coffees from China feature on the shelves of every one of our stores in 49 countries around the world."

So you're walking down that much talked about half of Wujiang Lu that has been torn down and built back up as a blandclean and modern commercial pedestrian street. You notice this section between Shimen Lu and Maoming Lu is bookended by a Costa Coffee on one end and a Starbucks on the other. A Coffee Bean is located in between, just in case you simply do not have enough time to reach the other two places for your emergency corporate caffeine fix. You notice the more homegrown Il Panino has reserved a spot here, and regional chains Awfully Chocolate and Honeymoon Dessert have taken root as well.

There might be a recession on the way, but American culture is doing just fine. Although we've said nunca más to Taco Bell, but we got the MLB coming our way, Rambo's back in a way that Rocky Balboa could only dream of, and best of all is the surprising news that Dunkin' Donuts is on its way to Shanghai.

One of the things that makes being on the tube during rush hour even more miserable than we had previously imagined possible is the "film" made by Starbucks and Pepsi showing on the subway TV. Titled 晴天日记 (Qingtian riji), the film is about a young man and a young woman, blah blah blah. Of course the film takes place in Shanghai but most of the scenes take place in Starbucks. We think the whole rationale...

Though never a fan of Starbucks, more because of their bland-ardization of the world's greatest drug rather than due to any kind of deeply held anti-corporate leanings, Shanghaiist nevertheless enjoys supping the occasional hot chocolate from a Medusa-emblazoned mug. With this Monday being particularly harrowing, we were looking forward to a dose of sickly sweet cream-topped womb regression, only to have our fragile psyche strained to within an inch of another long, expensive course of...

Photo of the Mont Blanc superstore on Nanjing Lu from All Roads Lead to China

Still looking for something to do for Halloween? Here are a few parties that should be worth checking out. If you are stuck hanging around People's Square head over to the MOCA where you will find (besides interesting art) a wicked Halloween party featuring lots of killer tunes from Bananas Soundsystem. For those who aren't keen on going downtown, head out to Xujiahui where Harley's Bar will host Banana Monkey and more Banana DJ music. At Logo bar 3 bands are going to dress up as the Misfits, Sex Pistols and Ramones and churn out some gnarly tunes. Billed Punks for Monks, all proceeds from ticket sales will go to a charity helping the monks in Burma.

Starbucks Corporation, the world’s biggest coffee shop chain, recalled 250,000 children’s plastic cups made in China after receiving reports of the cups breaking and posing a choking hazard.

CCTV-9 news anchor Rui Chenggang should be happy now. Finally, a store that serves not just coffee but traditional Chinese beverages like tea too! After all, Rui was the wonderful guy who sparked it all off with a post on his blog which said that having a Starbucks in the Forbidden City, "is not globalising, but trampling Chinese culture". The coffee chain is "a symbol of low-end US food culture presence" which "undermines the Forbidden City's solemnity' and is 'an insult to Chinese civilisation". His vitriol attracted half a million hits within two days, and eventually led to the ousting of Starbucks from the Forbidden City.

One of the great things about living in China is the relatively low cost of courier services which means you can get just about anything delivered at next to nothing at all. China Herald informs us that now, you can even get fresh Yunnan coffee delivered to your house, for FREE (if you live within the French Concession and the Jing'an area, that is, or if you order over 100RMB). Otherwise, you pay just RMB10 if you live in Puxi and RMB15 if you're in Pudong. Very reasonable!

If you thought mooncakes were only for the old-fashioned, think again. Hoteliers, restaurateurs and even tech companies (yes, you heard that right!) have all jumped onto the bandwagon, creating a bewildering array of mooncakes in the market with ever bolder and imaginative fillings, all in the hopes of capturing a bigger slice of the market. For the sweet-toothed, check out these multi-coloured ice-cream moon cakes from Häagen-Dazs, which you can get now at the Parkson supermarket (at Shanxi Nanlu subway), but if you do decide to go, brace yourself for the crazy queues!

Photo by Anton Berkovich.

As we got up this morning, we were already delighted at the idea that we would have lunch at Paul. We could already hear the sweet sound of the bread crust of their baguette sandwiches, taste the rich butter of their viennoiseries, and see the wooden shelves, behind the counter, full of different kinds of bread. Just like home.

Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Simply post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos[at]shanghaiist.com.

With the amount of shame emanating from the pictured women's body language, you'd think the cop was busting a Shenzhen whorehouse. But no-- this is Nanjing Lu East, and the scam is overpriced tea.

This is a little old, but we have a feeling many of you haven't seen it yet. From what we have read and seen (front row last month at Yunfeng Theater) of ?uestlove, drummer for The Roots, we always thought the man also known as Ahmir-Khalib Thompson would be a pretty cool guy to hang out with. And then someone told us to check out his blog on MySpace and now our new goal in life is get invited to one of ?uestlove's cookouts should we ever leave Shanghai and move back to rockin' Conshohocken. His blog is an entertaining and honest glimpse into the life of a celebrity, although it seems as though he's not really sure if he feels like a celebrity yet.

A quick follow-up to last Friday's post, "Whisk whacks free Internet — a trend?." Sunday's New York Times ran a story that might be of interest to those of you who have interest in the topic of WiFi and its freeness. The piece, entitled "What Starbucks Can Learn From the Movie Palace," discusses how some American eateries are handling the WiFi issue — FYI, it ain't free at Starbucks or McDonald's (yes, McDonald's has WiFi) — thus, it is not 100 percent relatable to our Shanghai situation ... but what is?

We love WiFi — Shanghaiists are sociable folk, and this Shanghaiist in particular has fallen into an easy Sunday routine of catching up on news and email with a cappu and sandwich at local cafés. We like having a “third space” — a local hangout where we can meet up with friends, have the occasional coffee, and wile away the hours. We’ve already mentioned a few recent faves, and celebrate the expansion of free internet across our city as evidence of an emerging café culture beyond the ubiquitous Starbucks.

Despite stuff like Academy Hills and an in-house art museum, most of the descriptions that we've read so far make Roppongi Hills seem like a it's a playground for the gliterrati, i.e. the rich, influential, well-connected as well as tourists.

While we were "researching" information for this post, we came across an Answers.com entry about the Yangpu district which says that Wujiaochang was constructed in 1929, and the English name of it is "Pentagon Plaza." Maybe it's just because we're Americans, but we think that of all the English names we've heard for places, that's about the snazziest one. Well, not quite as snazzy as "Email Plaza" by Jing'an Park, but a close second.

As the world holds it's breath, teetering precariously on the cusp of the Super Bowl (well, at least in America), the wheels of the -ists keep on turning.

Even though we've long put our public relations days behind us, we can't help but think what a day in the life of a PR executive at Starbucks must be like. They must all have been working overtime lately with the Seattle-based coffee company hitting the headlines like crazy lately. First it was the landmark victory against Shanghai Xingbake, then there was the trans fat issue.