欢迎光临85度！(Welcome to 85°!) Those are such happy words!
So, you are thinking, just what is 85°? Cafe 85° or as it is referred to in Chinese: 八十五度 (pinyin: bāshíwŭ dù) is a Taiwanese chain with coffee and a bakery. I so enjoy coffee, but for various reasons don't drink it very often in China. One reason is that until recently coffee is not as much of a Chinese thing. Tea, yes. Coffee, not so much. This is changing with the emerging middle class in China loving all kinds of things from the West. But still for many places their idea of coffee is Nescafe. I am truly a coffee snob. If I am going to drink it, I want it to be good. We bring beans from the states, but every now and then I enjoy a yummy, girly, fru-fru coffee drink. But those drinks here in China are just too expensive. Starbucks is readily available, but so expensive. Granted it is not that much different than US prices, but compared to many things in China it is crazy expensive. For example, a mocha at Starbucks is 30 RMB (or $4.50) for a medium-size. Black coffee is 25 RMB (almost $4). Our entire family can eat at a Chinese restaurant and have a ton of food with leftovers for another day and spend only 120 RMB ($18.20). So it is hard to justify spending that much on just COFFEE. So maybe I am not the hard-core coffee lover. In a battle between wanting coffee and my inner-frugal-self, I cannot bring myself to spend that on a regular basis.
But at 85°, you can buy a cup of coffee for 9 RMB ($1.40) or a mocha for 12 RMB ($1.85). Now that is more like it! There were 85° all over Suzhou, but none near us. But just this week, one opened a block or so away from us.
My only question is: is this a good thing? or a seriously dangerous thing?
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