Capital Caff: In High Spirits with A Cup of Moutai Latte

Don't talk to me until I've read Capital Caff: Your guide to the latest in coffee happenings around Beijing.

I’m an ambivert, an extrovert who benefits from the right dosage of solitude every now and then. Sometimes, I ditch the socials and just… take myself on a coffee date.

Yeah, I know. How convenient for my article! But I really do, and of course it’s not really just about the coffee. The coffee, dear reader, is the means to an end.

Well, in this exciting episode of Capital Caff, I paid a visit to C+咖啡, a spiffy establishment in the 798/Dashanzi area. Their patio screams “café” with their large sculptures and décor, while their indoors whisper “bar”. The duality shows in their English name, C+ Café and Bar.

If you do want to chill outside, their heated igloos are the way to go at this time of the year. I stayed inside, beckoned by the swish of the cocktail shaker and the jazzy tunes. Clean lines, round arches, subdued green and orange lights, artfully displayed cherry blossoms twigs make the spot's interior a nice place to be.

Wanna know how fancy this place is? Even drinking water came in a repurposed Citadelle Gin bottle. C+ Café & Bar has a VIP membership to make the most of their drink menu, with deals on alcoholic and non-alcoholic options alike. My choice was highlighted in a separate card on the counter -- their Moutai Latte (茅台拿铁, Máotái nátiě, RMB 88).

New to Chinese culture? Moutai is a style of baijiu (白酒, literally “white clear liquor”), produced in the town of Maotai (Guizhou province). The origins of Moutai trace back to the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) and reach the Chinese Civil War (1927-1949), when the People’s Liberation Army partook in the spirit rather joyfully on a regular basis.

After the conflict, the government merged the local distilleries into one state-owned company, Kweichow Moutai. This move consolidated the status of this drink as the country’s boozy darling. Fast forward to the present time, and C+ Café & Bar is using the 53 percent ABV variant for their drink. Nobody’s playing games here!

Indeed, this is not a cheap cup of coffee. However, I will say that C+ Café & Bar gets an A+ for their service and attention to detail. My Moutai Latte was served in a neat hexagonal tray containing a series of items — a small descriptive card, a beautifully cut shot glass with a frothy white potion, the latte itself and even the bottle of Moutai. The kind waitress dutifully explained the whole tasting experience to me, and here is how it goes.

The shot glass is a mix of Moutai and milk, meant to serve as a primer for your taste buds. The latte, a trinity of coffee, milk and of course the liquor, is to be enjoyed in two stages. Sample it hot and the flavour of the coffee beans shall prevail. Wait for the latte to cool and the Moutai will ring in beautifully.

I’m sure it will come as no revelation that liquor fiends will be the true fans of this Moutai Latte. Honestly, I am not that big into spirits. The intense flavour of a full cup plus shot glass of this drink repeated on me a bit too much. That being said, I don’t regret taking a risk with my order. You’re going to find the whole concept pretty delectable if you drool with its western cousins —think an Irish Coffee or, for my fellow Spaniards, the old school carajillo.

I paired my Moutai Latte with some simple pleasures: a stroll down the guts of the industrial estate-cum-commercial area where C+ Café & Bar is located, a wonderful podcast (seriously, go listen to Poetry Off the Shelf) and my current read (if you must know, it’s Nazifa Islam’s Forlorn Light). I’d already told you before, hadn’t I? This was never just about the coffee.

C+ Café & Bar (C+ 咖啡)
Cheng Xindong Intl. Contemporary Art Space III, Qixing Road, Chaoyang District
朝阳区七星路程昕东国际当代艺术空间III

READ: Capital Caff: A Cup of Sea Salt Coffee at M Stand

Images: Ana Padilla Fornieles