Today, I'm taking everyone on a visit to a pretty well known coffee shop in Xi'an. Actually, this coffee shop has made the rounds on the internet in China and most people who enjoy a good dessert and happen to be in Xi'an will most likely make a visit. My friend actually brought my attention to this coffee shop, prior to that, I hadn't heard of it, but let's see why it's starting to make a name for itself!

[píng zè] actually refers to the tonality of the words in poetry or verse. Ping means flat or smooth, and Ze means winding. In ancient classical Chinese, there are four tonalities : ping (平), shang (上), qu (去) and ru (入) - they are denoted as [ˉ、ˊ、ˇ、ˋ] in short form respectively. Aside from the flat tone, ping (平), the other three tones have tonalities that range from down to up as well as the contrary top to down. This is why they are called oblique tones or uneven tones. In modern Chinese mandarin, the ru (入) tone is no longer used, leaving the other three in use. This actually results in difficulty differentiating the verses and their tonalities and thus meaning.

There are however dialects across China that retain the use of the 4th tone, such as Cantonese. These are just some interesting little insights and clues as to why the Coffee shop is named ping ze. Let's move on and see what's on offer!

Inside, the coffee shop's walls are mostly Japanese styled snow white. In Xi'an, a centre of historical heritage and culture of China, this stands out somewhat. Decorations are all very simplistic and resemble line art, it also feels a little bit like the inside of a factory.

I really like the irregular placements of liquor above the counter.

The coffee shop's black, white and grey colour theme has it's own name in China, it's called Frigidity.

I guess I can understand this nomenclature because after all, the colours are mostly dull grey and murky.

This book shelf like cabinet is actually one of the shop's focal points. Here you'll find a lot of their peripherals and other items for sale. In my opinion, it serves as decoration very well, probably better than an item shop.

Usually, there is a queue to come into the coffee shop, so to avoid it, we came slightly later. The only problem is, there weren't many cakes left to choose from.

The store has three levels, and on each level, in each corner, the lighting is very good. It has a pan Asian feel to it.

Me and my friend chose a few of our favourite cakes and ordered our drinks then headed up stairs to sit down.

My choices are these four different coloured cakes. They're all French style cakes.

Here we have Matcha Coffee and Chocolate Milk Tea.

This is the stores signature cake. Vanilla Bavaria. Deep red, and heart shaped. Doesn't it look sweet?

The outer layer of this cake is slightly flaky. When you cut into it, you'll see there are a few more layers inside. You'll find white chocolate, coconut flakes, vanilla seeds and even jasmine. Together, it has a very diverse and layered texture but all perfectly complementary of each other.

This is the pineapple cake. It tastes slightly sweet as well as sour. Inside there are actual pieces of pineapple!

This is a berry mousse cake. It's actually lighter in both complexion as well taste. It has a slight hint of milk taste as well. More of a refreshing tasting cake than anything else. It too is both sweet and sour.

Matcha Mousse Cake. It has a strong milk and matcha taste but is also soft and silky on the inside. The outer layer is slightly crunchy. For matcha lovers, it's just heaven.

After a good binge on desserts, me and my friend just can't hold back our sweet smiles!

Just like that, the two of us finished four cakes! A testament to how good they taste!

And that's it for the Ping Ze coffee shop in Xi'an, it's definitely highly recommended for dessert lovers, but if you're also looking for something offset from the rest of the city, then this really is a lovely place to visit.

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今天带大家去一家很有文化气息的咖啡馆----平仄咖啡馆。这是西安一家很有人气的网红咖啡馆，许多游客来西安玩都会慕名而来，但是我初次听说这家咖啡馆，则是对它的名字很感兴趣。平仄[píng zè]是中国诗词中用字的声调。平指平直，仄指曲折。古代汉语有四种声调，分别是平、上、去、入[ˉ、ˊ、ˇ、ˋ] 除了平声，其余三种声调都会有高低的变化，所以统称为仄声。不过现在的普通话里入声已经消失， 只有三个声调了，这导致普通话在判别诗词平仄韵律的时候会出现误差。不过中国的一些方言，例如粤语还保留着四声。这些是由咖啡馆名字联想到的一些小故事，现在就请大家赶快和我一起走进咖啡店看看吧。咖啡馆的整栋楼是雪白的日式墙壁的风格，在整体古色古香的西安城里显得非常突出。装潢都是以简约的黑白线条为主，有种艺术工厂的风格。我很喜欢柜台上方的不规则酒柜，非常个性。咖啡馆这种黑白灰色系的冷色调在中国有了个新的名字，叫做性冷淡风格。

我有一些能够理解这个起名字的想法，大概是因为颜色很灰暗。这个像书架一样的柜子是店里的一大亮点，上面摆着很多咖啡馆的周边产品，可以供顾客选购，但是更像是给店里很好的装饰。这家咖啡店经常要排队等位，所以我们特地来的晚一些，不过蛋糕就没有剩下太多了。咖啡店一共由3层，每一个角落光线都调的很好，很有亚洲的风格。我和朋友挑了喜欢的几个口味的蛋糕和咖啡，就到楼上坐下了。我们选择了这四种不同颜色的蛋糕，都是法式蛋糕。还有抹茶咖啡和巧克力牛奶。这个是店里的招牌蛋糕，香草巴伐利亚。大红色爱心型，看着很甜蜜。它的外层酥皮，如果你切下一小勺，会发现里层夹杂着香甜的奶油，入口即化。香草慕斯和抹茶是我甜品里的最爱，蛋糕里面有四层夹心，有白巧克力，椰蓉，香草籽和茉莉，口感丝滑醇正，吃起来很有层次。 凤梨蛋糕，酸酸甜甜的很好吃，里面还有凤梨馅。莓果白巧募斯是比较清淡的口味，淡淡的奶香味，里面有莓果夹心，吃起来酸酸甜甜。抹茶慕斯蛋糕奶味香浓，吃起来口感好新鲜又很绵柔，外面还有一层脆皮，抹茶的味道浓郁。吃着好吃的甜品，我们的笑容都更甜蜜了。所以我们两个人竟然一口气吃掉四块蛋糕，可见味道不差哟。今天的甜品分享就到这里了，希望你们喜欢我的文章，之后还有更多美食要和大家分享。