Pu’er Coffee

  Do you remember the café-hopping trip I shared a while ago in Brisbane, Australia? Among those stops, one that I introduced with particular enthusiasm was the Australian roaster Elixir Coffee Roasters , a long-established brand founded in 2007. I even bought three bags of their coffee beans right in the shop—haha. In many Australian cafés, roasted coffee beans are displayed in glass cabinets almost like roasted snacks. You can browse and pick your favorite beans the way you might choose nuts or trail mix. It’s actually quite a unique shopping experience. Not only do you get exactly what you see, but once you place your order, the staff will pack the beans fresh for you on the spot, ensuring they’re within the optimal tasting window. You can basically take them home and start brewing immediately. While I was in the shop, I quickly became intrigued by their signature house espresso blend, Fratelli Blend , which has been a staple there for years. Fratelli means “brothers” in Itali...

 For me, making a trip to Xiaoshan is no small thing. A one-way subway ride costs 9 yuan, which somehow already feels like crossing city borders just to be here. Walking through the streets of Xiaoshan always stirs mixed emotions in me. I don’t really recognize anything anymore, yet at the same time, it all seems faintly connected to memories buried deep inside. Maybe in a past life I had some unfinished bond with Hangzhou. That must be why, in this life, I struggle my way here again and again, just to leave a mark in my own story. Xiaoshan was where my Hangzhou journey first began. Even as time passes and visits become rare, I still hope to find moments that move me or surprise me when I return. Today, I want to talk about a café called Muchun Coffee , located at No. 24 Baichilou Road, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou. It was recommended to me by a friend long ago, saved and bookmarked for ages, quietly waiting for the right moment of fate. Sometimes my encounters with cafés feel ver...

 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...

 Many baristas somehow reach the same consensus: if you want to judge the quality of a coffee shop, just order a flat white and you’ll know. If the flat white is good, the rest of the drinks are usually up to standard. When asked why, these baristas reply: because it is the milk coffee that is the easiest to “mess up.” The most controversial espresso-based coffee The flat white is a coffee with no definitive origin or agreed-upon method. Regarding the true birthplace of the flat white, the debate between Australia and New Zealand remains unresolved, but regardless of who invented it, we only need to know that it is a milk coffee from the Southern Hemisphere. As for its definition, the flat white likewise has no clear concept, so every coffee shop has its own “exclusive recipe,” but no matter how it changes, it usually sticks to three key points: less milk, thinner foam, and stronger coffee flavor. When making it, baristas reduce the milk and control the thinness of the microfoam ...