Chinese cocktails take local ingredients global

Going global

Among the impressive line-up at the festival, Guangzhou's Hope &Sesame bar emerged as the event's most iconic homegrown name.

When Ciocca opened his first Hope & Sesame bar in Guangzhou 10 years ago, most domestic cocktail bars simply replicated classic Western drink menus. "At first everyone was copying foreign recipes and styles, but we wanted to do something different," he said. Ciocca believes China's rich culinary heritage can nurture its own distinct cocktail identity. His team turned to familiar Cantonese staples — winter melon tea, Cantonese sweet soups and seasonal Lingnan fruits such as longan and lychee — reimagining them with Western mixology techniques to bottle the flavor memory of Chinese drinks into every glass.

The viral winter melon cocktail embodies this philosophy. Built on traditionally brewed winter melon tea and layered with balanced spirits, it retains the mellow sweetness of Chinese herbal drinks while delivering the structured flavor profile of a premium cocktail. Hope& Sesame claimed the top spot in the 2026 Asia's 50 Best Bars ranking at the awards ceremony in Macao on July 28.

Today, the brand that started in a small Guangzhou alley runs five domestic outlets across Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, and Chengdu, Sichuan province, and is set to open its first overseas location in Melbourne, Australia. "I've been in China for 13 years. When we first opened our bar, almost no top European or Asian bars came to China," said Ciocca, who has witnessed the industry grow from its infancy. "Now bars from so many places come to Shanghai. It makes me very happy."

Rising professionalism

The market's growth is underpinned by a steady rise in practitioners' professionalism.

"Cocktails are still a relatively new thing in China, but Shanghai has always been the first city with so many great bars," Ciocca said. "Now people travel to many countries to learn mixology. The professionalism is night and day compared to five or 10 years ago."

This progress has also won recognition from international peers. Kontorravdis noted that more and more Chinese bartenders are standing out and winning awards at global competitions. "It's not just about mixing skills, but also personal charisma. The return of the bartender's individual personality is something we find very appealing," she said.

As a high-value segment of the nighttime economy, the evolution of the cocktail market serves as a microcosm of China's consumption upgrade. The transformation of the cocktail sector mirrors the vitality of China's consumer market and the resilience of its industrial upgrading.

heqi@chinadaily.com.cn