Russian Railway Legacy · Fermented Drink
Gewasi (格瓦斯) Kvass
📷 Closely related photo — Photo: N509FZ / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Harbin's best-known kvass comes from Qiulin, a company that grew out of the Russian trading house Churin & Co., which opened in the city in 1900.
Gewasi is Harbin's take on Russian kvass, a lightly sour, faintly fizzy fermented drink introduced by Russian railway workers and settlers over a century ago. It's sold from street carts and grocery coolers across the city, often alongside Harbin's Russian-influenced sausages and bread.
Why it's made this way: Heavy Russian influence from the China Eastern Railway era left Harbin with a kvass tradition shared by few other parts of China besides Xinjiang.
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