The first community-based cafe Five Elephant , the only German boutique coffee brand in China

German coffee brand Five Elephant

Five Elephant's founder, Kris Schackman, a German-American, used to work as a director in Hollywood. Because of his strong love for coffee, he returned to his grandfather's hometown of Berlin in 2010 to set up a coffee shop called Five Elephant and own his own baking factory.

Wife Sophie Weigensamer is in charge of pastry baking, husband is in charge of coffee management, and together opened the Five Elephant,Sophie from Vienna.

The first Five Elephant opened in Berlin, Germany in 2010.

Practice the coffee preaching behind the store name by selecting beans. Looking for the origin of coffee from all over the world, roasting coffee beans, trying to restore the relationship between beans and local phenology from the aroma of coffee reverberating in the mouth.

After years of conscientious management, Five Elephant has become one of the three major boutique coffee brands in Germany. From Five Elephant Bakery in Berlin, beans are produced and marketed all over the world, and its coffee shop in Berlin is also famous and brightens the community.

Walking into Five Elephant, the strong smell of coffee comes to my nostrils, and white is the eternal theme here.

The latte blends very well, the bean oil and the milk foam oil blend with each other.

Shop in Berlin, Germany: this coffee shop is a bit remote, located in a quiet neighborhood in Kroitzberg, Berlin.

Walk into the coffee shop, although the area is less than 100 square meters, but do not feel crowded. The whole style is a strong Nordic style, simple and clean storefront, a huge map of Latin America is hung on the wall after crossing the sea from Germany, the open bar shortens the distance between guests and the coffee shop, and a few tables reveal a quiet and independent atmosphere.

As the only branch of this German boutique coffee brand in China, Chengdu is fortunate to be the first in China. Chengdu's Five Elephant is hidden in Shuangqiao Road and is surrounded by several major communities on Shuanglin Road. The storefront is small and white, glowing vaguely, quiet and comfortable.

Picture: YOU Chengdu

The left neighbor is the beauty shop, the right house is the foreign trade children's clothing shop, the upstairs is the residential building, and across the road is the vegetable market.

There is a large green space with big trees in front of the door, which keeps a noise reduction distance between Five Elephant and the road.

"inheriting the characteristics of the German head office is just one of the reasons. It's more practical. The rent is lower, the cost is lower, and we can spend more money on coffee. People like Swire and IFS have also asked us to move in, but we know that such high capital and management fees will only make us more commercialized. The price will be at least three to four times higher than it is now. " So says Naza.Tai, the head of Five Elephant's China store.

Picture: YOU Chengdu

At first, this taste was not popular in Chengdu. After all, in the last ten years, we have developed the habit of coffee taste under the care of the international coffee chain: American, compound, thick and sweet.

Naza left the interior decoration as blank as possible, as if announcing that coffee is the only protagonist here. In her view, when a coffee shop has an ordinary, near-life decoration style, it can also usher in the love and recognition of the market, that is successful.

Hope that every guest who enters the store will only come for coffee, this is the small persistence and big attitude of Naza. "drinking coffee should be a pure thing. The decoration here should give people comfort and convenience, rather than pursuing too many designs and gimmicks."

Naza, the manager of Five Elephant in Chengdu

Naza, a native of Shanxi, met and became friends with Kris during a trip to the UK. The two men not only love coffee, but also have a common understanding of boutique coffee and value its potential market in China, so they hit it off and become business partners. Naza knows that "this is a very lucky thing to be taken seriously." after more than a year of preparation, Five Elephant chose Chengdu as the first direct store in China in 2015.

Five Elephant slowly gathered a large number of "minority groups" and often held coffee cup testing activities to increase the sense of experience of coffee lovers and open up more complex taste sensitivity.

Five Elephant is an independent boutique coffee shop in the old urban area. it not only represents the world coffee tide, but also a microcosm of the cultural changes in Chengdu's communities and streets.

Add: no. 151 Shuangqiao road Chengdu attached no. 13

Price: 40 per person

Opening hours: 09:30-19:30