Seeking High-End Cafés of the City Smelling the Time-flowing Scent of Coffee

□　Written by Yang Yan Photo by interviewee

Seeking High-End Cafésof the City Smelling the Time-flowingScent of Coffee

□Written by Yang Yan Photo by interviewee

There are a lot reasons that one falls in love with a city. It may be a line of scenery, a building, a story of the past, and even just a cup of coffee. A fine taster will search around using his tongue only to encounter a bud-pleasing café, while some other will fi nd what he love with his eyes and his senses—the fragrance of baked cocoa beans pervading in the air, the oak desk and chair, the soft lights or an old book. When the sun rays fall through the window to let you feel the warmth, it gives you every reason to relish in the cozy afternoon. Isn’t it wonderful to fi nd a tranquil café amid the hustle and bustle of the city, sitting there and watching the ever-changing city as time fl ows away. Oliver Brown: a full-bodied café on Zhongshan 4thRoad

The Zhongshan 4th Road is acknowledged by locals as the most beautiful road in Chongqing. So as a café tucked away in this street, Oliver Brown is endowed with the best geographical advantage and fame. The café from Australia is a professional vogue lifestyle gallery that specializes in coffee and combines book, fl oriculture, eco-food, cultural products and even travel plan. All the coffees and desserts here are made from scratch with exquisite cooking skill and low calories.

A step into the café will strike you with the British style of the decoration. The whole space appears to be fl uent and comfortable with unconventional configuration and hierarchical structure at some part of the house. And your soul will be refreshed by the quite tone, temporal and spatial sense rendered by the fragmented luminous light.

Oliver Brown is by no means a mere café. It is also a lifestyle gallery with an air of noble elegance. It pursues so fine the details that every small ornament in the house seems to be an artwork. Inside and outside, the café is basking in an ambience of European garden where a large number of green plants and fresh fl owers are used to build a leisure and natural atmosphere.

The signature coffee here, Belgian mocha, is carefully made of superior coffee beans, chocolate beans imported from Belgium and milk, which gives it an endlessly soft and mellow taste. The dessert here, by the way, is another thing that makes you fall in a love-hate relationship. With a spongy mouthfeel and tempting golden color, it shines attractive luster and just melts in your mouth before you hate to take too many of it. Combine the two together and you will be too eager to start your leisure afternoon.

Location: Zhongshan Cultural Industry Park, NO.15 Zhongshan 4thRoad, Shangqing Temple, Yuzhong District

Rare Garden: A place to enjoy your leisure time

Location: N18 LOFT Courtyard, NO. 18 Nanping East Road, Nan’an District, Chongqing

At the courtyard of N18 LOFT, a modestly renowned gathering place of young artists in Nan’an District of Chongqing, there is an inviting one-story blue house called Rare Garden. If you mistake it as a mere café, then you are wrong. It’s also a live house, and a fi eld of literature and arts under the “disguise” of a café.

It is a café open for readers, a utopia for a small group of people, and a garden full of plants and books where scents of books, coffees, fl owers and red wined permeate your nose. The traditional American coffee here tastes excellent with delicate latte art on it. Apart from a cup of coffee, there is more surprise awaiting each customer.

Here all kinds of cultural and artistic activities are occasionally held, including theme parties of cartoonist, writers, and people who love poetry, book exchange, and gentle mini concert with plug-in instruments as well as film shows organized by small crowd. Every week the place is patronized by famous writers, musicians, poets and artists from home and abroad to participate in such saloon activities as work appreciation, poem reading, and book club together with the customers. A large number of literature and art lovers from downtown are attracted to gather here just for any of these activities such as Hongying’s Book Club, food sharing session, Wangyu ’s meeting with his readers, Li Yuansheng ’s poetry reading presentation, Yu Xiaozhong’s poetry reading special show, and Director Xubei ’s behind-the-scene story-telling session.

More than that, the place is stationed by balladeer every night and thus becomes a base for Chongqing ballad without a clue. Take your time to drop in anytime for a cup of coffee, you will be chanced to meet a contract photographer of American National Geographic, members of the Traveler band, and the boss of the Nuts band who is known as, “the old man”. That’s the happy encounters, only in the Rare Garden.

InCoffee: Passing the time in Korean Romance

Recent years have marked the opening of Korean Café in Chongqing. The InCoffee is one of them with biologically authentic Korean “genes”. Here you can experience the contracted aroma of hand-grinding coffee by top barista as well as fi ve-star Korean-style service.

Stylish and bright glass curtain wall, terse and eye-catching board have made it a novel landmark. The door seems to separate the world into two. When you walk into the shop, you eyes and nose will fi rstly feel relaxed because at the moment the space and scent of coffee have kept the noise out of the door. The interior space layout gives it a sense of wideness. Nearly 10 thousand books are stored here to decorate the place with American style. Besides, charming crystal lamps surround by green plants add much fl avor to the romantic ambience and the texture of concrete and red bricks are set off by the combination of raw woods and iron art.

IngCoffee boasts international roast master with the credit of SCAE. The master will make coffee in person with coffee beans from the world’s top supply system and coffee roasting machine to ensure each product is in pure taste. No wonder the coffee is with diffusing scent and superb quality.

On a cool-breezed afternoon, as you can imagine infi nitely, you sit in a European-style sofa by the window, watching a silent movie over a cup of coffee. The small cup is shining with glazed white and the flavor naturally emits its charm which fills the house and your mouth as you look it, smell it and then taste it sip by sip. What a melting leisure time it would be with a piece of toothsome muffi n and a rich cup of coffee.

Location: 3rdfl oor of Dynamic Time Shopping Center, Longtousi, Yubei District