Miss the coffee shop 20 years ago

Twenty years ago, coffee shops were called "coffee shops", usually in hotel lobbies, or small street doors, dark during the day, train seats, coffee is instant, no freshly ground coffee beans. Most of the guests are couples, some young, some not too young, passionate, affectionate, coffee is not authentic, but second.

In the late 1990s, I worked as a reporter for a magazine and often went to Beijing to cover stories. Some "celebrities" asked me to a coffee house for an interview. For example, Yang Erche Namu of the Mosuo nationality once asked me to a coffee house in Sanlitun to talk about her love story with a Norway diplomat. Of course, this love, which was more romantic than coffee, had already come to an end. But Yang Erji's unrestrained alternative temperament, and Sanlitun's romantic atmosphere, let me deeply impressed.

Later, the first Starbucks in COFCO Square near Beijing Railway Station opened to a full house. Almost every time I go to Beijing, I have to go to Starbucks for a short ride and then get on the train back to Tianjin. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this "Starbucks" is like a mobile stage, often with "stars" appearing without makeup. I have met the late crosstalk actor Hou Yaowen; film actors Cong Shan, Zheng Xiaoning, CCTV famous female director Meng Xin, etc.

But the coffee house I miss is not Starbucks, but a small coffee house on Harbin Central Street. It was winter a few years ago, I went to Harbin on business, first went to Sun Island to visit ice sculptures, and then friends invited me to Central Street for coffee.

There was an old man in the shop. I asked for a cup of hot chocolate. Looking out the window at the crowd, the afternoon sun shone in, making me trance, as if I were in the situation of an old European movie, lazy and intoxicated. For the first time I tasted hot chocolate. Before I left, I asked for my card. It said,"Cafe Effie." The next day, I went to the coffee shop again, the old man was still there, according to the cigar newspaper, there were only two foreigners drinking coffee and watching the computer. After I ordered coffee, I accosted the beautiful shopkeeper. At this time, I knew that the old man was Italian and the investor of this coffee house. The female shopkeeper had just returned from studying in Italy. What was her relationship with the old man? I didn't ask. Some things are supposed to be mysteries.

Not long ago, I went to Harbin, where I had been away for many years, and stayed in a hotel on Central Street. I couldn't wait to visit Effie, missing it like a long-lost friend. In fact, I miss myself disappearing in the dark of time, miss a feeling of the year; coffee house is actually a "prop", just like old buildings, old houses, props disappear, how can human feelings stand? Unfortunately, I walked up and down Central Street several times, looking for it corner by corner, but I couldn't find any sign of "Effie." When I finally found it, it had turned into a "KFC", brightly lit and depressing!

Cities are becoming similar little by little, becoming disappointing!

China Coffee Trading Network: www.gafei.com