Celebrity-owned shops seem to be the rise than ever before, since the opening of Jay Chou’s overhyped bubble tea shop in late September this year. This time, it’s JJ Lin, the mandopop singer and songwriter, who has opened his Miracle Coffee shop in Shanghai, the first in mainland China. Naturally, it’s upstairs from his fashion store, Smudge.

We heard that loyal fans waited four hours to get in. And scalpers swooped in to get their hands on anything possible: not just coffees, but T-shirts, shoes, hats and coffee mugs, to resell for many times their retail price. They were reportedly lining up overnight before it opened this week. We went this afternoon, the second day, to find about a hundred people queueing and big flower stands sent by fans. I followed the tail of the queue to the end of a dead-end lane. "Any chance we could just have a quick look upstairs?", I asked. "Get in line and wait," said the misanthropic-looking receptionist. No! Discouraged but relieved, we left. I wasn’t waiting four hours in line for a brush with a celebrity coffee; Shanghai has plenty of excellent coffee choices. But maybe you want to? Click here for details.