A trip to Shanghai-- Western suburbs, country Coffee

One of the main purposes of my visit to Shanghai is to see the cafes in Shanghai, and the country Cafe on the outskirts of the city, which I have heard about for a long time, has also seen some pictures of it in the coffee salon. In my impression, this "country coffee shop" should be a good coffee shop, with fresh self-baking beans, simple and elegant decoration style, and the owner who attaches importance to the quality of coffee. In addition, the location of the "country coffee shop" is also one of the reasons that attract me. Generally, cafes choose to be in downtown areas with crowded people, but "country cafes" are located in suburbs with few people and very low recognition of coffee. And the "country Cafe" has been relying on this geographical location for a year, and the number of staff has increased from 3 to 4, which makes me full of interest and curiosity about this "country Cafe".

It took a lot of trouble to find you.

As mentioned earlier, the "country Cafe" is located in the suburbs, so I contacted the owner again before I went there to confirm the address. I was warmly welcomed by Yunfei (the boss's name), but it was mentioned in the reply that "it is very far from the city". Fortunately, I am psychologically prepared. Take Metro Line 2 to the west terminal, Xu Jingdong Station, then take a taxi for 15 minutes to Jinfeng District, and finally find the "Rural Cafe". While waiting for a chance to chat with the taxi, I got to know the general situation of this area, which is the western suburb of Shanghai, where there are migrant workers and rental residents. This location reminds me of Yanjiao around Beijing. This makes me even more curious, "country cafe" is how to survive?

"Luck Street" in the western suburbs of Shanghai

Although it is biased here, the street where the country Cafe is located is very special, with Starbucks, SPA, Subway, bars, western restaurants and other cafes. This suddenly makes me feel that this should be a place where foreigners gather, or there is a special group of consumers who can support the operation of these stores. The style of this street reminds me of the "lucky street Street" on the East third Ring Road in Beijing. In a short street, there are more than ten or twenty western restaurants and cafes and bars.

The environment of the cafe-- simple and elegant

Walking into the "country Cafe", the first feeling is simple and elegant, there is no gorgeous lighting, no delicate decoration, everything is simple and simple. The shop is not as big as I thought, there is only one, about 50 square meters, there are about 20 seats.

Wooden furniture, wide Provence lavender paintings hanging on the walls, wall tiles imitating red bricks, and simple cups, as well as shop assistants' casual clothes with uniform aprons, really make guests feel that they are in the countryside on the outskirts of France. Through these, it seems that we can also see the way of life pursued by the shopkeeper-simplicity.

The menu of the "country Cafe" is made by hand, taking a picture of the real object, then cutting it out and pasting it on a hand-bound pamphlet. This design is integrated with the style of the whole shop and does not seem artificial and abrupt at all. It can be seen that the shopkeeper did put a lot of thought into designing the whole shop.

I ordered a Double Espresso in accordance with the usual practice of going to the cafe. I sat by the window, can directly see the street, should be a very good location, but helpless, located in the suburbs, there is really nothing to see outside, not as good as the "rural scenery" in the store.

There were no customers in the shop. In fact, there were only two clerks except me. I was the only customer, not the bustling, crowded, or groups of people sitting at the bar chatting with the bartender. With all my questions, I acted as my imaginary role and began to chat with the bar clerk.

"Special" country Cafe

Through the understanding with the shop assistant, I know that there is another special consumer group here. There is a high-end and luxurious community where foreign executives from foreign companies in Shanghai live. The company rents villas for these people. Because these people also work in Shanghai all the year round, most of their families come to Shanghai with them and live here. There are supporting facilities in the surrounding area. I heard that there is also a British school, an American school, which only accepts children from foreign countries. Then it is not surprising that there are cafes and bars in this area. The clerk told me that one of the main businesses here is breakfast coffee, where executives drive to the door in the morning, ask for a cup of coffee, or add a muffin, and then continue to drive downtown. In this way, the country cafe is similar to the cafe in Europe and America, and the morning is a peak period for work.

The country Cafe, which has a major business besides breakfast, is also a place for foreign executives to chat with their families, especially housewives. They will bring their young children to the coffee shop to sit for a while and chat for a while. To this end, the country cafe also provides guests with a special space for adults to chat while children can play and play by themselves.

This special consumer group makes the name of "country Cafe", which seems to be obvious in the suburbs of Chinese cities, less special.

Fresh self-baked coffee

Another difference of the country Cafe is that the country Cafe uses self-baked coffee beans (Home Roasted Coffee) instead of purchased commercial beans. This ensures the freshness of the coffee beans (the freshness of the coffee beans is far more important than the brand of the coffee beans) and the quality of the products.

The 1kg coffee bean roaster in the store is also quite eye-catching, which is not available in every coffee shop. It also shows that the shopkeeper's desire for the quality of coffee is simple but serious.

All of the above makes this simple and elegant "country cafe" with high quality coffee. If you are a coffee lover, if you like to go to different places and experience different cafes, if you have enough time in Shanghai, this is a place worth visiting, although you are not necessarily an executive of a foreign company.

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