A press conference to launch the "Coffee Together" carnival was held at the Zikawei Library in east China's Shanghai on Tuesday.
The coffee-themed event was jointly organized by the Shanghai headquarters of the China Media Group (CMG), China Global Television Network (CGTN) and CMG's 5G new media platform Yangshipin, with the aim of promoting coffee culture and bringing people together to share the joy of coffee.
The carnival is offering a wide variety of coffee-related activities and events over the coming months, including coffee tastings, brewing demonstrations and interactive workshops.
The carnival will also host a series of "coffee+" cross-platform media activities, including outdoor concerts, camping parties, recycling events, industry forums and holiday-themed activities. Yangshipin will invite internet users to vote for their favorite brews on their annual coffee list.
New media products such as a series of short videos under the theme of "Coffee Friends of the Magic City" are also being launched to attract international interest.
Leveraging CGTN's international media appeal, the series will offer a multidimensional view of the development and vitality of China’s coffee industry in the era of globalization.
Zheng Xinyao, chairman of the China Artists Association of Shanghai, talks about hand-painted coffee cup designs at a press conference to launch the "Coffee Together" carnival in Shanghai, on Tuesday, February 21, 2023. /CMG
During the event, a call for hand-painted coffee cup designs was launched. The chairman of the China Artists Association of Shanghai, Zheng Xinyao, initiated the call for international submissions after creating the first design.
Shanghai currently has over 7,800 coffee shops, making it the city with the highest number of coffee shops in the world. Annual average per-capita coffee consumption in China stands at around 4 to 5 cups, while in Shanghai it is over 20 cups.
Among Shanghai's coffee shops, around 56 percent of them are specialty or independent coffee outlets. As a carrier of local culture, coffee has become a way of life for the people of Shanghai and has fostered a consumer industry worth hundreds of billions of yuan.
A press conference for the "Coffee Together" carnival is held at the Zikawei Library in Shanghai on Tuesday, February 21, 2023. /CMG
The theme of the third annual Shanghai Coffee Culture Week was also unveiled at the event in tandem with the coffee carnival to help establish a global event brand rooted in Shanghai.
The "Coffee Together" carnival will run from February to June 2023.