China café offers coffee made with eggs brewed in child urine; considered nutritious delicacy
Maker of bizarre caffeine brew says it prevents sleepiness in spring and heatstroke in summer; experts say it is toxic and of no benefit at all
A coffee shop in China is offering a new type of Americano which includes eggs brewed in child urine, a drink believed to be of nutritional value.
The shop in Dongyang city in eastern China’s Zhejiang province recently began to offer the special brew, claiming it was popular.
Costing 28 yuan (US$4) per cup, the outlet sold more than 100 cups a day at weekends.
Eggs brewed in child urine are a speciality in Dongyang.
Locals believe that child urine, or urine from boys under the age of 10, can help people avoid feeling sleepy in spring and getting heatstroke in summer.
The history of the child urine egg is said to begin in the Song dynasty (960–1279), when an army troop bullied the people of Dongyang.
A general wanted to eat eggs and asked an old man to boil them. The man went to get the eggs but discovered that the jar they were in was filled with a child’s urine.
