Pu’er Coffee

 As an offline “third space,” a café builds a kind of invisible boundary—a bubble—through visuals, sound, taste, and atmosphere. I often feel myself pulled into a specific mood the moment I lay eyes on a café. It’s a strange but intimate connection I have with these places. Today’s café is a bit special: STEAM ESPRESSO , located at No. 67 Huilong Temple Front, Chaoming Subdistrict, Gongshu District, Hangzhou. I call it special because, honestly, it doesn’t feel very Hangzhou at first glance—haha. The storefront is narrow, but the interior stretches deep inside. There’s a generous semi-outdoor seating area up front that feels relaxed and unrestrained. Step inside and you’re hit with a full-on concrete industrial aesthetic, paired with wild, untamed music. The whole thing leans heavily into a steampunk vibe—well, the name is “Steam,” after all… so that tracks. Orders are placed by scanning a QR code at the bar. Besides the house “Steam Blend,” the menu offers six different SOE (S...

 Walk into a café nowadays and the menu might surprise you: “Kale Light Coffee,” “Provence Tomato Americano,” “Beetroot & Purple Cabbage Americano”—ingredients that sound more like a salad than part of a coffee drink. What started as a jokingly labeled “dark cuisine” has now gone mainstream: Guming’s kale Americano sells over 50,000 cups per day, Tims’ tomato coffee has repeatedly sold out, and this “add-some-veggies-to-your-coffee” revolution has spread from social media hype to every corner of the street, quickly becoming a trend embraced by young consumers. From Niche Experiment to Mass Phenomenon: The Rise of Vegetable Coffee Vegetable coffee simply refers to mixing the juices or extracts of “super vegetables” such as kale, beetroot, tomato, or carrot into coffee. Its popularity didn’t happen overnight. Instead, it evolved through several stages: Early Experiments: Independent cafés pioneered the movement with extremely bold ideas—cilantro sparkling Americano, Sichuan...

 “ The flicker of the traffic lights at the crossroads feels like a message never delivered. Watching neon, watching the crowd— at this moment, every brake light becomes a slow heartbeat. And those who wait tap lightly with their toes, guarding a small flame inside them that never goes out… ” It’s been a long time since I last explored a café in the city. Thanks to a friend, the main purpose today was simply to catch up after not seeing each other for ages. So we headed to Dengdeng , located at 132 Zhongshan Middle Road, Hangzhou , to drink the coffee he made for me—a different kind of experience altogether. In recent years, café-hopping has changed me the most. It feels as though my life has gradually woven itself together with these visits. The emotional projection isn’t just about caring more about the stories behind the owners—their struggles, joys, setbacks, and perseverance. It’s also because, as my life moves toward a slower pace, my state of mind pays more attention...