Ridiculously Badass in ShanghaiLife experiences as a foreigner in Shanghai and how you can learn from them – including my shortcut techniques for studying Chinese.

So it was my birthday yesterday and after a tastey Korean bbq dinner and Dairy Queen ice cream cake, it was “present time” and the gf got me a shiny new coffee maker along with some freshly ground coffee from Starbucks. Even though it was 9:30 at night I couldn’t wait to set it up and brew a cup.

The gf thought she’d take the lead and set it up for me. Even though there are only two parts (the coffee pot and the rest of the machine) she was a little confused as to how to set the thing up. It was then did I realize she, like many Chinese apparently, have never used or seen a household coffee maker.

The two of us managed to get it working and while it was dripping and grunting, the gf crouched down, closely analysed the coffee maker, and watched how the coffee amazingly dripped out into the pot. “How does the water get from the back to the front?” I opened up the mysterious device and showed her how the water goes through the white hot-water tube and then gets sprayed onto the coffee beans via the “shower head”.

Sometimes I forget that there are quite a few western appliances that Chinese people simply don’t use on a regular basis or not at all – like this coffee maker and stuff like blenders. I guess I would be amazed too if I saw some weird looking Chinese machine rumbling and grunting and then spitting out a delicious brew of Chinese goodness. But I guess they don’t need many machines to handle their hot drinks – a teapot will do just fine. However, serving Chinese tea properly can also be a science on it’s own  - each tea has their own water temperatures and brewing times, along with 3 different methods of preparing the tea (more on that here).

Tea and coffee. Yum.