Pu’er Coffee

 Toward the end of last year, I went to Shanghai for the CAFEEX exhibition. This edition was held at the Shanghai International Sourcing Exhibition Center, an area that, for me, was still an unexplored corner of the city. Before setting off, I did what I always do: opened my saved list of Shanghai cafés and searched for spots near my destination. Almost instantly, a café I’d bookmarked ages ago rose to the top— LE PARLOR , located at 629 Zhongjiang Road in Putuo District. With Changfeng Park as a reference point, it’s an easy walk away. One trip, two pleasures: the expo and a long-awaited café visit. Even thinking about it felt perfect. Sure enough, the saying “when the time is right, you’ll naturally arrive” felt more true than ever. On weekend mornings, the street where LE PARLOR sits is unusually quiet. What surprised me was that several neighboring shops all shared a distinctly American retro vibe. A nearby barber shop set the tone immediately, pulling me straight into a time ...

  Over the past decade, coffee consumption in China has grown by 150%, far outpacing the global average. As of 2024, Shanghai is home to 9,115 coffee shops—more than London, New York, or Tokyo. Local roasters, specialty chains, and tech-driven retail concepts now form a complete ecosystem. … If you search online for how China’s specialty coffee market has evolved in recent years, you’ll see plenty of statistics like these. And Shanghai, more than any other city, stands at the center of it all. Whether viewed through the lens of history and culture, or through sheer economic momentum and speed of development, Shanghai has delivered what may be the most convincing report card for specialty coffee in China. These numbers almost justify calling it a global coffee capital—perhaps “one of” them, at least. But numbers alone are never the full story. To understand their deeper economic meaning, one premise must be made clear: a city is not defined as a coffee capital simply by the num...