How to Make Coffee at Home? Popular Coffee Drink Recipes from Xiaohongshu

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The Rise of DIY Coffee Culture in 2022

Do you know what the most popular coffee was in 2022? That's right - it's all the various homemade coffees shared on Xiaohongshu!

In the past, when we browsed social media, most coffee-related posts featured various beautifully decorated coffee shops accompanied by artistic and fresh sentences. Today, when we browse social media, coffee-related content has divided into three categories: homemade coffee sharing, professional coffee knowledge sharing, and coffee shop check-ins. Among these, homemade coffee topics have reached over 600,000+ posts.

Since Luckin launched its raw coconut latte, various social platforms have seen a surge in homemade coffee trends. It started with relatively conventional coffee drinks, then evolved into various layered fruit coffees and specialty coffees, before the style completely changed!

From various lazy iced coffees to creative coffees that are both beautiful and entertaining - from Saturn coffee and "waterfall" iced americano to "quicksand" iced americano (where coffee is frothed into a fine foam before being poured into the cup) - netizens' creativity has truly expanded.

Later, things became even more outrageous, starting a "life-risking" trend. For example, there was iced Guangdong-style (iced herbal tea) with similar color and bitterness to coffee, adding heat-clearing granules during coffee extraction, Huoxiang Zhengqi iced americano... And then there was the coffee + fresh produce mentioned a few days ago... Well, perhaps we should be more cautious.

The emergence of homemade coffee has not only driven sales of various coffee products but also brought many traffic strategies to coffee shops. A coffee shop owner jokingly remarked when chatting with a writer: "Selling a ¥60 Finca Soledad red label is no easier than selling ¥60 popular coffees that are trending on Xiaohongshu/Douyin..."

Why Homemade Coffee Is Gaining Popularity

Homemade coffee is gaining attention from more and more netizens for several reasons. First, the pandemic has changed people's consumption habits, with more people inclined to order materials online and make things themselves at home.

Second, homemade coffee is low-cost. For most consumers, whether they can taste the flavor notes isn't important - what matters is having a cup of coffee. Most homemade coffees cost between 5-10 yuan, and the taste is not inferior to those bought from coffee shops. For many workers, nothing is better than "coffee freedom."

Third, those who enjoy DIY have grown up! A friend from Guangdong shared: "When I used to go to tea houses, I always liked to order a plate of fried mantou, not for the mantou itself, but just to add the accompanying condensed milk to my tea, adjusting the sweetness according to my preference. Now I enjoy making homemade coffee because I can control the ingredients, amounts, and flavors completely to my liking."

Additionally, with the increasing availability of convenient materials like ready-to-drink coffee liquids, freeze-dried coffee that dissolves in cold water, cold brew coffee bags, hanging ear coffee bags, as well as coffee shop-style raw coconut milk, ice blog, etc., all these have made homemade coffee more convenient.

DIY Coffee Culture and Professional Standards

The popularity of homemade coffee is a positive phenomenon. To attract more consumers to pay attention to and understand coffee, compared to the atmosphere of all professional terminology in the past, today's homemade coffee might be the real way to open up coffee culture, but this doesn't mean professionalism should be abandoned.

Folk culture has its down-to-earth appeal, but coffee shops should still maintain their professionalism. Homemade coffee and coffee shop consumption are two completely different models. People who make homemade coffee will still choose to consume at coffee shops, hoping to taste products different from their homemade versions, experience the barista's professionalism, and gain deeper understanding about coffee.

Image source: Various masters from Xiaohongshu

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