Drinks History & Culture Editor
Mei-Lin edits drinks history and culture for barsforKings. She is the writer who tells you why a drink exists, which bar first served it, and which room still makes it the way it was meant to be made.
Her work runs from the grand cafes of Vienna to the daiquiri counters of Havana and the Sazerac rooms of New Orleans. She treats a bar's history as part of the review, not a footnote, because the rooms that respect where a drink came from usually respect the guest too.
Mei-Lin edits the heritage and classic-bar entries on the site and writes its longer cultural features.
Where the classics were born, and the rooms that still pour them right.
The old rooms that have earned their reputation and kept it.
The longer reads on how a city's drinking habits came to be.
Where craft means restraint, and the standards are the whole point.
Mei-Lin Zhao has written and reviewed 24 guides for barsforKings. A selection of recent work: