Mini coffee shops proving popular
LAST year, 2-square-meter Manner Coffee became an icon in local coffee industry, bringing good coffee to more customers as a daily drink. Today, we’ve got more mini coffee shops around us, only offering good yet affordable coffee.
Forty Two Coffee Brewers
The cool black container-style décor catches the eye as soon as you walk past Forty Two Coffee Brewers’ first outlet on Changhshu Road. It has a long narrow window, wide enough for the barista to receive orders and hand out freshly made coffee to customers.
The take-away coffee shop has earned instant fame on the Internet for its chic cup sleeves designed by its owner, who works in the advertising industry. There are two different designs for 8oz (227g) and 12oz cups, both in a bling bling style.
Its second store on Nanjing Road W. is located next door to a popular traditional Chinese breakfast store. It’s stylish yet delicious coffee means you just want to keep coming back for more. Try its new salted cheese cream coffee. It has two options, Americano (20 yuan/US$2.92) and latte (30 yuan). The house blend uses more than five different single original beans as the nutty chocolaty flavor well balances the heavy cream.
The shop doesn’t accept cash or card payment at all.
Opening hours: 8am-9pm
Address: 993 Nanjing Rd W.
View Coffee
With summer here, almost every coffee shop is offering the cold brew, also known as Dutch coffee. This year, more shops are offering ice-dripped coffee in beer bottles and keep them chilled in the fridge.
View Coffee is one of them. The mini coffee shop just celebrated its first anniversary last month. It offers two cold coffees, the traditional one and the rum-inspired one for 35 yuan.
Opening hours: 7:30am-6:30pm (Monday-Friday); 10am-5:30pm (Saturday and Sunday)
Address: 1383 Beijing Rd W.
Tel: 183-2181-9508 (Delivery available)
Bonabird Coffee
Bonabird Coffee is a small shop on Nanyang Road, offering a wide range of coffee at reasonable prices. Espresso-based coffee costs between 15 yuan and 30 yuan each. The cup has three different sizes: small to large with one shot to three shots of espresso, respectively.
The shop bottles its Dutch coffee (30 yuan) and liquor-inspired coffee (40 yuan) in beer bottles. The latter is in fact cold brew plus liquor. Four different “flavors” are used — Tennessee whiskey, dry gin, vodka, and plum wine, respectively.
Its second shop in Pudong shares the location with a crayfish restaurant. Hmm, yummy!
Opening hours: 8am-6pm (Monday-Friday); 8am-5pm (Saturday and Sunday)
Address: 90-4 Nanyang Rd
Tel: 182-2154-3530 (Delivery available)
Formula Café
Located on Nanchang Road, Formula Coffee just opened 10 months ago. Customers can sit down outdoors to enjoy the heat and wind of early summer, right at the entrance of an old residential community by the shop. The coffee shop uses a house blend featuring beans mainly from Yirgacheffe. Thus, its Americano (17 yuan) tastes much brighter than those blends using more beans from Indonesia or Colombia. Three new tea drinks with cheese cream on top are just launched. Try to visit in the mornings to enjoy a quiet moment on a backstreet to busy Huaihai Road.
Opening hours: 10am-6:30pm (Monday-Friday); 8am-6:30pm (Saturday and Sunday)
Address: 205 Lane, Nanchang Rd
Tel: 158-2136-2780 (Delivery available)
Post Café
The 1-square-meter Post Café actually shares the address with a popular fruit bowl shop. Its red post-box-inspired décor is eye-catching but it is very easy for you to walk past the shop without noticing it. You would like its latte (13 yuan/US$1.9 for regular or 16 for large) if you like acidity detectable in your coffee.
Although the shop is tiny, there is a wall decorating with postcards written by its customers in the past year. The owner also helps tourists to post their postcards.
Opening hours: 8am-7pm
Address: 248 Nanchang Rd
Tel: 173-1727-8125 (Delivery available)
