105-Year-Old Grandmother Has Been Drinking Coffee for Over 100 Years?! Netizens Respond: I Don't Believe It!

Yesterday, a news story about "Zhejiang's 105-year-old grandmother who has been drinking coffee for 100 years" sparked heated discussions among netizens. In a video interview, the elderly woman's son mentioned that his mother started drinking coffee with foreigners when she was just three years old. Foreigners found her adorable at such a young age and offered her coffee, which she immediately became addicted to. She said she has been drinking coffee for a hundred years and still insists on having a cup two hours after lunch every day. In the video, the grandmother also expressed her love for drinking coffee.

What was originally seen as a lovely story became a hot topic of discussion online due to the interview video's title "Zhejiang Lishui 105-year-old elderly woman drinks a cup of coffee every day" and the fact that the grandmother was drinking from a cup belonging to an instant coffee brand.

"Can someone really drink coffee every day for over a hundred years?" "A three-year-old drinking coffee daily? I'd never believe it?" "Someone who's drunk coffee for over 100 years is now drinking instant coffee?"...

Since neither the elderly woman nor her son indicated in the interview that she had been drinking a cup of coffee daily for over 100 years, this article won't discuss that aspect. However, it was quite normal for the grandmother to have access to coffee a hundred years ago. Coffee was introduced to China very early on, but at that time, it was only available to Westerners. Later, when Chinese people could drink coffee, it remained a niche consumption due to its high price.

The Chinese Translation of COFFEE

Regarding the Chinese transliteration of COFFEE, the earliest appearance was in 1866 in "Cooking Foreign Food" (《造洋饭书》) published by the American Presbyterian Mission Press (which had moved to Shanghai by then). This Western-written Chinese cookbook translated COFFEE as "磕肥" (kē féi). The book mainly taught Chinese people how to cook meals suitable for Western tastes. In newspapers and books during the late Qing Dynasty, there were numerous Chinese translations for COFFEE. Besides "磕肥," there were also "加非" (jiā fēi), "高馡" (gāo fēi), "考非" (kǎo fēi), and so on.

The First Coffee Shops in China

However, compared to the records of Chinese transliterations for the word "coffee," the establishment of coffee shops in China came even earlier. At that time, people didn't transliterate COFFEE but instead used the term "黑酒" (hēi jiǔ, black wine) to record it. According to "Yangzhou Pleasure Boats" (《扬州画舫录》) by Li Dou, a Qing Dynasty opera writer, in the sixteenth year of Daoguang (1836), Danes opened China's first coffee shop near the Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou. People called it "黑馆" (hēi guǎn, black establishment), and coffee was referred to as "黑酒" (hēi jiǔ, black wine). The "Guangdong Gazetteer" compiled during the Jiaqing period once mentioned, "Black wine, drunk by foreign devils after meals, is said to aid digestion."

The first shop in China actually identified with COFFEE appeared in Hongkou District, Shanghai, which was then part of the international concession, but it was mainly open to sailors. The earliest coffee shop open to Chinese people was "宝利咖啡店" (Baoli Coffee Shop), established on Fuzhou Road in Shanghai in 1906. To let more Chinese people know that there were coffee shops open to nationals, an advertisement was deliberately placed in the news press.

The Evolution of Coffee in China

At that time, coffee came in various forms. Besides brewed hot coffee, there were also compressed coffee candies, coffee juice, coffee syrup, and coffee paste, which could be mixed according to personal taste when consumed.

By 1917, more and more coffee shops appeared on the streets of Shanghai. Between 1917-1937, Shanghai's coffee industry flourished. Due to the high price of coffee at that time, which was a niche consumption, coffee shops were located in residential areas and bustling commercial districts where expatriates and wealthy merchants lived.

The Grandmother's Coffee Story

Although the grandmother now lives in Lishui, Zhejiang, her son mentioned during the interview that foreigners gave her coffee, so she might have lived abroad or in Shanghai in the past. The fact that she developed a coffee-drinking habit, coupled with her loving name and the statement "I just like drinking coffee," suggests that the grandmother's living conditions were relatively affluent, and her parents doted on her greatly.

Can Children Drink Coffee?

"Isn't it said that children shouldn't drink coffee? Is it possible that the elderly woman started drinking coffee at three years old?" The recommendation against children drinking coffee was only proposed after the development of modern medicine. At that time, people didn't have so many notions about unhealthy foods or what children shouldn't eat; everyone ate whatever was available.

So can children drink coffee? According to modern medical discussions and research, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children and adolescents not drink coffee and should control their caffeine intake. (Ah! If they don't drink coffee, where does the caffeine come from??) Children's daily exposure to soda, tea, chocolate, flavored milk, etc., all contain caffeine, so besides coffee, parents should pay more attention to their children's intake of other caffeine-containing foods.

Instant Coffee vs. Specialty Coffee

"Someone who's drunk coffee for over 100 years is now drinking instant coffee?" Perhaps the grandmother is simply using a coffee cup she's had for over ten years, which happens to be from an instant coffee brand. It's also possible that the elderly woman drinks coffee more out of habit and doesn't pursue whether it's specialty coffee.

In that era, there was no concept of specialty coffee beans. Everyone drank coffee beans that were various varieties mixed together and then deep-roasted, resulting in coffee with a rich flavor, which was then tasted after adding milk and sugar and stirring well. Therefore, for the grandmother, as long as it has the same effect, it doesn't matter what kind of coffee it is, as long as she finds it suitable to drink.

Longevity and Coffee

The fact that the elderly woman can live so long is certainly not because she has been drinking coffee for over 100 years, but more due to her physical constitution and optimistic mentality. Moderate coffee consumption may indeed have some disease-preventing effects, but not everyone can tolerate the stimulation brought by caffeine, so everyone should drink coffee according to their actual situation.

Image source: Internet, Weibo

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