Shake It Up With: Best Bartender Nominee Jeff Ji of Parlor

Shake It Up profiles the eight Beijing mixologists that are up for the title of Beijing's Best Bartender in the Beijinger's 2015 Reader Bar and Club Awards (vote here through May 17). Today we talk with Jeff Ji of Parlor.

Why did you want to become a bartender?
I wanted to be a bartender so that I could make a lot of new friends and meet a lot of new people, especially girls [laughs].

What was the first cocktail you ever drank, and what did you like about it right away?
The first drink that I had was a mojito. I thought it was very fresh, very summery.

What's the secret to being a great bartender?
I think the first thing is communication and listening. If you are a customer and you broke up with your girlfriend, normally you'd go to a bar and get a drink, and you want someone to be a good listener then. Another important thing for bartenders to do is be service conscious, and knowledgeable about good drink making techniques. All these things are connected.

What's your best selling drink?
Our 'Alice in Wonderland', is very popular. It's made with rum, lemon juice, passion fruit, and egg whites. People also love our 'Lost in Thailand'. It has good imported rum and a culinary herb from Thailand. It's fresh, complicated, and a little bit spicy.

How has cocktail culture changed in recent years? What's hot now?
Society is changing, more and more bars have opened, more foreigners came here and they brought cocktail culture with them. There's more of a demand and more options. Two years ago most of the cocktails here were mixed cocktails. Now we have more molecular cocktails.

How do you come up with new drinks?
Actually, I got a lot of inspiration from food. I think drinks and foods are all about taste, and they have many things in common. Sometimes when I'm having a delicious dish, I think about its various components then I can get more information about them to use in our drinks. I will also go to the market sometimes and check for fresh seasonal fruit and culinary herbs to see if can combine them to make new drinks.

Want another round? Follow the Shake It Up series here ... and don't forget to honor your favorite Beijing watering hole before May 17 here.

Photo: Ken