Named after both the acronym for the four primary colors used in the printing process – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black – and the hangout’s tagline “Countless Memories You Keep”, CMYK’s origins in 2021 sprouted from the idea that “the superposition of four shades can create countless new colors”, says owner Ethan Liu. When applied to cocktails, the theory is a celebration of the myriad of flavor combinations that a creative street-style bar team, like CMYK, can conjure. 

Liu – an award-winning bartender in his own right, and co-founder of Hope and Sesame bar in Shenzhen in 2020 and founder of Happy Go Lucky in Wuhan in 2023 – drew inspiration from years of global travel, culminating in a high-energy, multi-room cosmopolitan bar built inside an old house along the historical Chaozong Street, dating back to the Song Dynasty. Here, guests can expect to sip technically-advanced cocktails delivered with colorful pizazz.

The menu is curated to offer libations that are “easy to love but not too complicated to enjoy” all in the name of fun, with a sustainably-focused backdrop. Case in point, the Not Exactly 50:50 employs fermented tomato juice three ways – clarified, distilled with gin and dehydrated into a savory powder garnish. Any remaining purée is reduced and baked into a tomato chip for the Best One Yet bevvie.

By innovatively extracting diverse flavor profiles from the same ingredient while simultaneously reducing wastage, the team earned itself the 2022 Best Cocktail Menu and Best New Bar awards by DRiNK Magazine, and continued its reign as China’s Best Bar Team 2023. For fashionable Changsha – one of China’s happiest cities, recognized for its vibrant nightlife and spicy Hunan cuisine – there is no better place for young, adventurous drinkers to mix and mingle.

CMYK, 388 Zhongshan West Road, Changsha, Hunan, 452370

This article was originally written for and published on the Asia's 50 Best Bars website here. 

[Images courtesy of CMYK]