A drink that tastes like stinky feet and rotten milk is taking Beijing by storm
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Beijing: In the back alleys of the city’s ancient hutong alleyways, an enterprising Beijinger will sell you perhaps the most unpleasant drink you’ve ever tasted.
In Beijing, it is called douzhi, a traditional drink made from fermented mung beans.
It tastes a bit like it smells, which means it smells strongly. And Pan Xianhua’s mixture is the most evil of them all.
At least that’s his marketing pitch.
Pan, 60, has been selling douzhi for years outside his home in hutongs, old inner-city neighborhoods populated by Beijingers whose tastes were trained in the fermented drink as children.
Earlier this year, Pan put up a sign advertising his drink as “the worst-tasting Old Beijing douzhi.”
Someone saw it, posted it on social media, and soon Pan and his douzhi became a viral sensation, capitalizing on a surprising renaissance in drinking among the Douyin (Chinese TikTok) generation.
“When I first started selling it, I noticed that most non-locals kept spitting it out as soon as they took a sip. Then I thought, if so, why don’t I write that this is the worst-tasting douzhi in Beijing,” he says.
Regular consumers of douzhi, once a staple of the diets of working-class Beijingers, tend to gravitate towards older generations. The drink’s origins date back several hundred years and grew to magnificent sizes, said to have been enjoyed by court royalty during the Qing Dynasty.
‘It’s a bit sour, even a bit spoiled and smelly. It doesn’t taste good, but it’s still acceptable.’
Song Kenan, manager of a douzhi store
Pale army green in color, Pan’s douzhi tastes like a cross between stinky feet and rotten milk, launching a full-on assault on the taste buds about half a second after it passes the lips.
Some people love this. Many rebel against this. Chinese social media is full of videos of people trying this, only to make a theatrical joke and spit it out on the street.
Pan was not taken.
“This is a normal reaction because my douzhi is original. It is sour and smelly. But after drinking it a few times, people will find that they can get used to it. It helps digestion,” he says.
As we talk outside his house, a steady stream of young people arrive to take photos with Pan and film themselves trying on his douzhi. At the height of his fame, he was selling hundreds of boxes a day. But today he gives them away for free.
Pan briefly moved his business to a nearby store, but it was closed by authorities. It’s unclear what happened or when he’ll be allowed to sell again, but he hints that he’s fallen out with a business partner.
You don’t have to go far to find more douzhi options. A short walk away is the busy Nanluoguxiang shopping street, where snack shop Yin San Douzhi sells small bottles for 10 yuan ($2) along with treats including douzhi ice cream.
This is a more commercialized process using mung beans fermented outside the city (the store has franchises throughout Beijing). However, boiling and packaging processes are carried out in-house on a daily basis.
In the kitchen, cooks pour freshly brewed juice from large steaming vats into bottles. This particular store will sell up to 1000 bottles on a good day.
Outside on the crowded street, people crack bottles and grimace as they take their first sips.
“It tastes like pickled soup,” said Lucy Liu, a 23-year-old student from Inner Mongolia province who visited Beijing with her friend Panzi Xuan for the May Day holiday.
They saw the trend on social media and wanted to try it themselves.
“No, no, no, no, no,” he says when I ask if they will finish the bottle.
Song Kenan, manager of Yin San Douzhi, says his staff has fun watching the daily parade of first-time tasters and influencers exaggerating their reactions for online attention.
“Some people drink two to three bottles at once for the first time, while others spit them out at the first sip,” says Song.
“Many people have never tried this before. It’s a bit sour, even a bit spoiled and smelly. It doesn’t taste good, but it’s still acceptable.”
‘As a child this was an everyday food because there wasn’t much other food available. ‘Not anymore.’
Zhang, 64
He says Beijingers don’t bother with fanfare or vials. They quietly bring their own large containers and fill them directly from the barrels.
On my way home, I pass two elderly Beijingers sitting in front of their house, letting the wind blow. Do they drink?
“It’s nice to drink hot douzhi in winter to keep your body warm,” says Man Guoyu, 75, who keeps the faith and drinks a bottle every few days.
But the men say commercialization means the drink is no longer as cheap as it once was, or as bitter as locals love it. Its taste is now milder to increase its appeal.
“When I was a child, this was an everyday food because there wasn’t much other food. Not anymore,” says Zhang, 64.
“I never thought this would be popular. It won’t last long.”
Back at my apartment, I try Pan’s version again, along with a bottle of Yin San Douzhi. Pan’s is definitely “worse”; more sour and sulfurous than the store’s cream version.
My palate is not up to the task and I pour the rest down the sink before dashing out the door. I’m going to Shanghai for a few days, leaving the noise of fermented mung beans behind.
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Lisa Visentin is the North Asia correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Beijing. He was previously a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
