A Hidden Specialty Coffee Gem in Hangzhou | Endless Lamp Coffee Review

 Every year, quite a few new neighborhood cafés open in Hangzhou. As someone who’s constantly exploring new coffee spots, there are moments when I feel caught in the fleeting cycle of café-hopping and chasing the next “new thing.” Still, I always try to find something memorable — those subtle details that continue to shine through the ordinary. I suppose that’s become one of my deeper expectations for specialty coffee shops these days.

Today, I want to talk about a café called Endless Lamp Coffee, located at 22-1 Hefang Street in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou. It’s just a short walk from Jiangcheng Road subway station, and I happened to visit on its very first official day of business.

Before I even reached the shop, I could already see several customers gathered outside. Inside, there were opening flower arrangements sent by the owner’s friends. Even on day one, the café already carried a strong sense of community. Friends from all over had come together here, which says a lot about the owner’s personal charm. I can easily imagine this place becoming a warm neighborhood hub for nearby residents and office workers alike. To me, that community connection is the soul of a café, and the owner is often its best expression.

All of the beans served here are roasted in-house under the “Endless Lamp” label. Even during the soft opening, the coffee lineup was already impressively diverse, and sales seemed strong. The handwritten menu carried a warmth that digital displays simply can’t replicate. Holding the thick, textured paper instantly made the experience feel more personal and inviting.

The shop offers three espresso options alongside an even larger pour-over selection, with both categories receiving equal attention. Beyond the expected traditional espresso blend, there’s also a clean and straightforward Ethiopian washed SOE, as well as a more experimentally processed blend that immediately stands out from its flavor description alone. It’s clear that the bean selection was thoughtfully curated to appeal to different types of coffee drinkers.

For me, though, there wasn’t much hesitation — I naturally went with the Ethiopian washed SOE. Whether you prefer black coffee or milk-based drinks, beans like this rarely disappoint. I also liked how the menu simply categorized drinks as “black” or “white.” What made it even more interesting was the shop’s custom-designed cup size for milk drinks. Most cafés that use this menu style default to a standard latte ratio and volume, but Endless Lamp uses a cup that falls somewhere between an Australian flat white and a latte. That flexibility creates a very balanced milk coffee experience regardless of your preferred milk-to-coffee ratio.

The Ethiopian washed SOE worked beautifully as a milk drink. Visually alone, it was already incredibly pleasing. Honestly, cafés don’t always need heavy promotion. Sometimes, just posting a single photo of a beautiful milk coffee on social media is enough. Several friends immediately asked me where I got it. That alone says a lot about the quality of the presentation. Even through a screen, you could almost sense the silky texture and delicate microfoam.

Flavor-wise, it was wonderfully creamy, layered with citrus notes and hints of malt candy — a very classic Ethiopian profile overall, incredibly clean from start to finish. Coincidentally, the owner had just bought some fresh fruit and shared a small piece of pineapple with me. After finishing the milk coffee, taking a bite of sweet pineapple felt like a hidden post-credit scene at the end of a movie.

As I mentioned earlier, the pour-over selection here is equally impressive, and the pricing is remarkably approachable. Most of the beans lean toward traditional processing methods, and I was even surprised to spot a classic wet-hulled Mandheling on the menu — something I honestly haven’t seen in cafés for quite a while.

If I had to summarize my experience at Endless Lamp in one sentence, it would probably be: traditional coffee, unexpected surprises.

After some thought, I decided to order the cheapest pour-over on the menu — just 30 RMB. But affordable pricing should never make people underestimate flavor quality. In fact, when both quality and price align, it feels like a genuine win as a customer.

The coffee was an Ethiopian JERA Estate Washed 74110. I even looked up the green bean pricing online afterward: roughly 29 RMB for 200 grams, which works out to about 0.14 RMB per gram. But low green bean cost doesn’t automatically mean mediocre flavor. JERA Estate, located in Ethiopia’s Oromia coffee-growing region, benefits from an ideal microclimate and fertile environment for cultivating coffee trees. The farmers carefully harvest only ripe cherries and handle every processing step with great attention to detail.

Coffees from JERA Estate are known for their distinctive flavor profile: delicate white floral aromas, lingering sweetness across the palate, and an exceptionally soft mouthfeel. Those characteristics have become part of the estate’s signature identity.

Getting a pour-over for the price of a milk coffee already felt like incredible value. And despite being a very traditional washed coffee, the dry aroma was surprisingly sweet, filled with stone-fruit-like sweetness. The barista brewed it beautifully. From the very first sip, the acidity immediately came alive. The temperature control was spot-on, allowing the flavors to unfold with precision.

I have absolutely no resistance to coffees that open with vibrant acidity like this. It reminded me of a combination of lemon and citrus, with a slight astringency on the tongue that quickly transformed into intense salivation. Honestly… the flavor expression was fantastic.

What impressed me even more was how rounded and clean the entire cup felt. It’s exactly the kind of coffee you could keep drinking every day without ever getting tired of it. Truly excellent.

A Hidden Coffee Gem on Hangzhou’s Famous Haier Lane | Inside Entrance Coffee Laboratory

 Mention “Haier Lane” in Hangzhou, and almost everyone will recognize it as one of the city’s most iconic coffee streets. Over the years, as people have come and gone and cafés have opened and closed, the coffee shops may change, but Haier Lane itself remains — along with its loyal crowd of coffee devotees. To be honest, my own feelings toward this street have changed quite a bit too. Many of the cafés that once felt like irreplaceable “white moonlight” memories have gradually disappeared, and when it comes to the newer wave of shops, it’s been hard for me to feel the same excitement again. Maybe because of that emotional baggage, I’ve found myself viewing many of the newer openings with a certain distance and skepticism, never quite stepping inside.

Not long ago, though, I noticed another new café had quietly opened on Haier Lane. Judging purely from the drinks and the bean selection, it immediately felt refreshing and different. At the very least, I sensed a level of professionalism that didn’t rely on the usual trendy, social-media-driven aesthetics this street has become known for. So for once, I decided to let go of my preconceived judgments and give both the café — and myself — a chance. The place is called Entrance Coffee Laboratory.

Apparently, the absence of a bold storefront sign has become its own kind of anti-mainstream attraction these days, and Entrance Coffee fits right into that category. I arrived by taxi and was greeted by a huge glass-fronted space: bright, spotless, minimal. In that moment, it felt as if the entire café itself was the signboard. It had been a long time since I’d seen such a classic island-bar layout — a large square coffee bar positioned in the center, with guests seated all around it, while the rest of the room was intentionally left open. It instantly communicated that coffee was the main character here, and conversation was part of the ritual. The openness and visual clarity of the space made it incredibly immersive from the very first second.

Then I looked at the menu.

Honestly, my internal reaction was: Who picked these beans? This lineup is absolutely insane.
And when I flipped to the pour-over menu, it became even more shocking.

Auction lots. Fresh harvests. Legendary growing regions. Traditional processing methods carefully preserved. Instantly, I could sense the philosophy behind their sourcing. Combined with the seating arrangement around the central bar, it created the feeling that every guest was somehow part of the café’s inner circle. It was almost as if Entrance Coffee was saying to everyone who walked in:

Don’t be a stranger. Come closer. Sit around the bar. Watch how we make coffee. Let’s talk about whether it tastes good together.

That’s confidence in coffee, but also trust in the customer.

Entrance Coffee updates its bean lineup every month or month and a half, which is honestly an impressive pace. But somehow, it also perfectly matches the identity of a place calling itself a “Laboratory.” Coffee beans are vessels for flavor perception, and constantly changing flavors are what create the spirit of experimentation. Of course, maintaining a rotation like this also says a lot about the café’s sourcing capabilities and access to green coffee resources. After all, not every café can convincingly call itself a laboratory.

Sometimes we assume the highlight of a café’s menu lies entirely in its pour-over offerings, but here, I honestly think no matter what you order — and no matter how many coffee origins you’ve already tasted — you’re likely to discover something new. And that, truly, feels like a rare kind of luck.

The first bean that caught my eye was a fresh harvest washed 74158 from Ethiopia Sidama called Masincho. Masincho is actually the name of a massive tree growing at the center of the Yaye washing station, and naming the coffee after it symbolizes the deep roots and foundation of the station itself. I ordered it as a hot Americano. Don’t ask why I can never resist Ethiopian Sidama coffees. Sometimes, when a profile becomes so familiar and approachable that it almost feels “everyday,” that’s exactly when you can quietly judge the true quality of a café’s green beans.

And honestly? This coffee completely surprised me.

The flavor was astonishingly delicate. Beyond the classic citrus notes, every sip carried hints of red florals, with bright, juicy fruit sweetness layered over an incredibly high sweetness level overall. Grown at 2300 meters above sea level, this coffee somehow tasted like it should have come from trees planted even higher up the mountain. Just one cup instantly made me feel like this café had set its baseline quality ridiculously high.

The extraction style for the Americano filtered out most of the crema, probably to avoid introducing bitterness or astringency. Personally, though, I still love Americanos with crema intact. Since this wasn’t an intentionally over-extracted profile, removing the oils also removed some body and roundness, leaving the flavors concentrated mostly in the front palate while the finish became comparatively lighter. Still, the barista mentioned the beans had only been roasted a few days earlier, which explained a lot. I could already imagine how much more refined it would taste once fully rested. Even so, the way those floral notes opened up the palate already felt incredibly elegant.

But the second coffee I tried was the moment I truly felt like I had “won” at this café.

A Colombian SL28 from the Origen Cooperative immediately grabbed my attention. Origen operates primarily in Tolima, Huila, Caldas, and Nariño — some of Colombia’s most legendary coffee-producing regions — partnering directly with farming families across these areas. One thing that makes Origen particularly impressive is its commitment to full traceability from farm to consumer. Knowing a coffee’s origin isn’t just about storytelling; it’s about guaranteeing authenticity and quality at every stage of the process.

At first, I simply thought: A classic washed Colombian from a cooperative I’ve never tried before? Sure, let’s see what it’s like.

Then the dry aroma completely short-circuited my brain.

Creamy strawberry. Tropical fruits. Gardenia blossoms. The fragrance was unbelievably intense.

I remember staring at the cup thinking: How is this washed coffee? Are you absolutely sure? And why is there basically zero silver skin left?

The barista immediately pulled out the importer’s information to show me. Later that night, I ended up deep-diving through the importer’s website at home. These days, so many Colombian coffees have become increasingly flashy and over-engineered, but seeing a producer applying advanced techniques with genuine restraint and integrity instead of gimmicks honestly made me admire them even more.

The reason this coffee develops such a unique dry aroma is because the cherries are first picked at peak ripeness, then floated and sorted before undergoing 24 hours of aerobic fermentation in sealed bags. After that, they’re soaked and fermented in sealed tanks for another 32 hours before being dried for 15 days and stabilized for 30 more days prior to milling.

In some ways, it almost resembles a semi-washed style. But regardless of the technical category, what impressed me most was how clean and transparent the complexity felt. I could tell immediately there were no “funky tricks” involved here. This coffee felt fundamentally different from the aggressively processed Colombians flooding the market right now. The idea that careful pre-fermentation alone could produce this kind of profile genuinely challenged my assumptions.

I chose this bean for a flat white.

At Entrance Coffee, you can actually choose your own cup, and one entire wall is dedicated to coffee cups. I pointed at a rounded cup with a narrowed rim and said, “This one. It’ll help with integration and latte art.”

The barista gave me a deeply approving look.

I laughed and said, “See? I get you.”

Because really, when the café cares this much about the experience, the customer naturally enjoys the experience even more.

The first sip of the flat white immediately gave me strong Ethiopian SOE vibes. The flavors weren’t quite as explosively aromatic as the dry fragrance had suggested, but the clarity was unbelievable — bright berry sweetness layered over an incredibly creamy texture. Honestly, I instantly regretted not ordering this bean as a hot Americano too. I probably would’ve been ecstatic.

This café. Seriously. Everyone needs to go.

At that point, I was fully prepared to forgive their expensive pricing. Honestly? Worth it.

I probably come across as the most extroverted person imaginable inside coffee shops. The barista himself was definitely more introverted, but once he realized I genuinely understood what we were talking about, he became incredibly open and willing to share everything. And I love that kind of transparency.

A café should be willing to openly discuss its sourcing and philosophy. That’s the right attitude for running a business built around consumer trust and perception, not some vague sense of self-satisfaction hidden behind secrecy. I genuinely admire cafés with an open-source mindset like this.

That confidence? That’s the real deal.