Pu’er Coffee

 It’s been quite a while since I last wandered around Chengbei. I’ve always felt that this area was something of a coffee desert. But as the city continues to grow and more people live and work here, it’s clear that Chengbei, too, needs the kind of human warmth and care that only neighborhood cafés can offer. I’ve always believed that every community café is like a tiny star in the night sky—its light may be subtle, but it’s enough to illuminate your inner world. That feeling when a cup of coffee goes down and everything instantly feels brighter… who really understands that better than us? The café I want to talk about today is Retracing Coffee, located at No. 120 Huayuangang Street, Gongshu District, Hangzhou. It had been sitting in my saved list for quite some time, and I finally found a moment to come here just for a proper cup of coffee. As soon as I drove onto Huayuangang Street, I spotted it. The quiet, understated storefront immediately draws your eye—exactly the kind of pr...

 “Almost” is a word that carries a familiar life attitude in Chinese culture. It reflects a way of thinking rooted in balance—a practical philosophy for living. Not too much, not too little. Go with the flow. Stay tolerant of imperfection. Avoid the exhaustion that comes from obsessive precision. I think this is the state many young people today are trying to explore—or hoping to become. “Almost” is no longer the numbed indifference produced by social conditioning; instead, it has become a resilient survival strategy for ordinary people navigating life with limited resources. I don’t know whether the café I’m talking about today consciously embraces this philosophy, but the moment you read its name, you feel a sense of release—like pressure quietly lifting off your chest. As Little Snake Gary once said, “My family doesn’t expect me to shoulder all the responsibility, because I don’t have shoulders!” Located at 540 Wener West Road in Hangzhou’s Xihu District, Almost Relax Café giv...

 When people talk about coffee culture, Italy inevitably comes up. To me, Italy has always felt like a somewhat special place—and that sense of “specialness” largely comes from its almost obsessive devotion to food traditions, or rather, an uncompromising loyalty to them. I once came across a discussion on Quora about this very topic, and one highly upvoted response perfectly captured the Italian mindset when it comes to protecting tradition and cuisine. In Italy, the highest compliment you can give a dish isn’t “This tastes like something from a fine-dining restaurant,” but rather, “This tastes like my mom made it.” Yes—Italians are deeply committed to what they call “the taste of mamma,” a form of emotional loyalty rooted in culture and memory. So when it comes to adding hot water to espresso to make an Americano, many Italians see it the same way you might react to someone putting durian or pineapple on a pizza: simply unbearable. It’s viewed as a kind of cultural sacrilege. In...

 This question is something I’ve noticed quite frequently over the past year while café hopping. Of course, it’s not a new topic for me—I’ve already touched on it multiple times in previous articles. Personally, I’ve encountered it so often that I’ve almost become “desensitized” to the idea of filtering crema from an Americano. But if we take a more rational step back, the reason many cafés now promote over-extraction–style Americanos is fairly clear: they’re chasing a cleaner, more stable, and smoother mouthfeel, while trying to avoid unpleasant flavors. From my point of view, over-extraction–based Americanos and traditional “espresso + water” Americanos follow fundamentally different extraction and brewing logics. In that context, removing the crema can be a 1 + 1 > 2 kind of optimization. However, if it’s just a standard espresso shot that’s brewed normally, then filtered for crema, and only afterward diluted with water, I personally feel it would be better to leave the cr...

 I’ve shared before that “black coffee” is a general term referring to any coffee made without adding anything besides coffee and water. Drinks like Americanos, pour-overs, cold brew, and drip coffee all fall under the black-coffee category. Among these, Americano and pour-over are the two most common black coffee options in cafés. Because they belong to the same category, many people can’t resist comparing them. Customers in my offline shop often bring this up as well. Usually, pour-over wins in these comparisons—and even in the famous “coffee snob hierarchy” chart circulating online, pour-over sits on a higher tier. But is that really true? Obviously not. First, there shouldn’t be a “snob hierarchy” in the first place. Second, although both drinks are black coffee, I don’t think they’re comparable at all. Their brewing methods and purposes are completely different—they’re not even on the same racetrack. So naturally, there’s no need to compare them. Many people assume pour-over...

 An Americano is one of the simplest black coffees you can make—just add a certain amount of water to a shot of espresso. No rare ingredients, no complicated steps. It’s so easy that many people think there’s nothing to it. And honestly… they’re not wrong. But if you want your Americano to taste good —balanced, flavorful, and enjoyable—then there are a few things that matter. Everything from your ingredients, to how you brew, to how you mix them affects the final cup. Each choice may look small, but it can make or break the taste. Today, let’s break down the three key things you need to pay attention to when making a great Americano. 1. Choose the Right Ingredients Most people assume that the only thing that matters is the coffee beans. And yes, beans are incredibly important. But when it comes to an Americano, water matters just as much . Water may look and taste neutral, but not all water is created equal. You’ve probably noticed that different bottled water brands have diff...