Cutting back on Starbucks…and making your bank manager happy.

So many Starbucks, so little time: it’s easy to fall into the trap – especially if you’re an exhausted teacher - of constant visits to the purveyors of that wonderful, jitter-inducing nectar of the gods but is it so good for your bank balance?

The crisp RMBs you hand over for coffee and cake at Starbucks or indeed at Costa or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf or Jamaica Blue or.. you get the point.. could feed you and a few friends to bursting point at a local street stall. Moreover, take a friend for said frothy caffeine confection and baked treat, and before you know it you’ve dropped a 100 or more – roughly the amount that could take you across the country on a slow train or buy you four or five nights in a hostel (well, maybe two nights in Shanghai or Beijing).      

So, what to do? Don’t give up coffee or sweets - that would be boring. Buy a Moka and a cheap milk frother and discover the ritualistic delights of making your own fancy coffee. Haven’t heard of a Moka? It’s a wonderful piece of Italian domestic design that has the advantages of being long-lasting and easily portable. You simply fill the bottom container with water, the middle basket with ground coffee, and place the Moka on the hob (or on the cursed electric hot plate) until the coffee has filtered up into the top basin. The original model is the Bialetti Moka Express: for example, there are a good range of designs and sizes available at www.coffeepotshop.co.uk or on Amazon but purchasing from international sellers such as these can be prohibitive, particularly when you factor in the high delivery charges. You could try your luck on Ebay or Taobao of course, but there is another option and it’s only a metro ride away...

City Life at Zhongshan Park sell stovetop coffee pots. There are two brands – the first series is made by Taiwan manufacturer Tiamo: these are stylish, stainless steel coffee pots available in sizes for 2 cups to 6 cups of coffee and ranging in price from 580-780 RMB on the website (however, I was quoted different prices at the store, the lowest being 420 RMB for a 2 cup coffee maker). The second brand is the more expensive ‘Sixty Six’ collection by British designer Oliver Hemming. These are undoubtedly sleeker and are also sold on the Illy USA website, which is certainly a mark in their favour. These were retailing at between 950-990 RMB at the Zhongshan Park store but they do not seem to be available on the website.

Store details:
City Life
Booth SPK-12, B2 Floor, Cloud Nine Shopping Mall,
No. 1018 Changning Road, Shanghai.
上海市长宁区长宁路1018号龙之梦B2层SPK-12号
http://www.citylife012.com (in Chinese only)
Tel: 021-62291211
Fax: 021-23025155
Order by Phone: 8009881051

Once you have the coffee pot, you need the beans: bigger supermarkets, such as Carrefour or City Shop, carry a good range of coffee including Illy and Lavazza. Online there’s www.v-coffee.com and www.fieldschina.com (both of whom participate in the Saturday morning organic market at El Willy’s) with a number of different blends as well as single origin Yunnan coffee. Espresso Nation is also quite popular amongst coffee lovers in the city and should be available direct from www.apezzani.com/ESPRESSO_NATION.htm. However, if you want to try this brand, you’ll need to get yourself a coffee grinder, as Espresso Nation only sells the beans. Prices for a 250g bag of coffee beans generally fall between 30 and 100 yuan, but this is certainly an investment that quickly pays off.

Do know you another retailer of stove top coffee pots? Got a better tip on where to get your coffee beans? Let us know.