The poetry between coffee and books

Coffee and books are like a couple doomed in a previous life-when you sit alone in a coffee shop on the street of Nanning in the afternoon surrounded by books and coffee, you will naturally have the illusion of poetic floatation. as a result, you are infatuated with the reading experience in this environment. It is true that today's urban "Wenqing" regards dating in coffee shops as fashionable, so although the personalized bookstores in Greentown have their own advertisements, the tone of "coffee + books" is always uncommon.

The 20-year growth History of ● "Xiaoqingxin"

Since the establishment of the East-West Book Club in the Guangxi Science activity Center in 1995, this small bookstore business model, which spreads the "little freshness" in the form of "coffee + books", has gradually taken root and spread branches and leaves in the green city of Nanning. 20 years later, the East-West Book Club has already fulfilled the sacred duty of "pioneers are always the first to sacrifice", and the "Coffee + Books" small bookstore has finally ushered in a spring of blooming flowers. A random online search of "Nanning's Coffee Bookstore" unexpectedly produced about 19500 relevant results, and even the copywriters such as "Coffee Bookstore Business Plan" and "Coffee Book Bar Decoration Design" as a shop guide also grabbed a handful and downloaded for free. On the other hand, there are at least a dozen coffee shops that are often mentioned in the mouth of the local "Wenqing" in our city, and these rising stars are also advertised to divide consumers with different preferences.

Most of the coffee bookstores are set up jointly by a group of like-minded friends and girls. this is a small profit, and whether they have an accurate market positioning is an important factor in whether they can successfully gain a foothold in this emerging industry. therefore, all coffee bookstores unanimously regard "differentiation" as the core of their positioning, which is to carry out personalized design of coffee bookstore products and services. So that it can occupy a unique and valuable position in the hearts of readers. For example, the "avant-garde literary and art books, non-mainstream music, and cutting-edge films" of the Light Bookstore, the "normalization of book clubs and customers as curators" in my coffee library, and the "recommended bibliography" tailor-made for readers by the owner of the scarecrow study. Teddy Cafe's "Toy Bear Collection", Yumen Cafe's "Treasure Island Taiwan style", Life College Cafe's "quiet" and so on, are already well known in Wenqing. As for a small coffee bookstore that claims to be an international chain, the shelves are empty, and only more than 200 books dare to show off. In exchange for the joke of "selling dog meat with a sheep's head", it is not among the preliminary studies of this article.

● hand-brewed coffee meets "Sugar bag Control"

Is the key word "coffee" or "book" in the coffee shop? In the eyes of many customers in the coffee shop, the expensive coffee is not for drinking, but for "seeing"-flipping through books with the same cup of coffee for a long afternoon or night. All you want is a kind of "literary style" pleasure.

Although coffee culture infiltrated deeply into the social customs and personal living habits of western society as early as the 16th century, it was generally accepted in Greentown "Wenqing" for only nearly 10 years. Most people are not interested in how many "tribulations" it takes for a small coffee bean to come from its place of origin to its own coffee mug, not to mention its historical origin, cultural connotation, variety category, freshness, storage time limit, baking skills, and taste differences, so not being able to "drink" coffee has become a common feature of most coffee drinkers. From this point of view, we can see that all coffee shops also shoulder the important task of spreading and popularizing coffee culture.

Su Ling, the manager of the light bookstore, has met some customers who pretend to know nothing. For example, a certain elegant person has to add sugar to any coffee he orders. Even the coffee made by hand, which has a high degree of reducing the original taste of the coffee, also stressed, "Don't forget to give me two sugar bags." the reason is that "coffee is bitter and astringent, and hand brewing may be more bitter." As everyone knows, fresh coffee beans will not be bitter within a few days after normal roasting, light roasting and moderate roasting (French or Italian roasted coffee brewed with a steam booster is bitter but not astringent). It will only emit a strong fragrance and pleasant slightly sour and sweet, and there will be sweetness under the fine taste, is it good common sense? Su Ling said that although most people who have to add sugar do not listen, as long as she is not too busy with the work at hand, she will talk to her more and introduce the tips for tasting coffee. I believe that as long as she perseveres, the mellow coffee culture will gradually exert an imperceptible influence on people.

Most of the books in the small coffee shop in Nanning are for reading only, and most of them are not for sale, which seems to have the meaning of "book collection and exhibition." Scarecrow study, I recently loosened the "store rules" in the coffee library, but only a small number of specific types of books are for sale. Light Bookstore insists on the nature of the "book-based" bookstore, with more than 700 books on six shelves on sale. There are absolutely no bestsellers, but "1969: revolution, upheaval and the birth of Modern America", "Essentials of National History", "Dialogue with the Editor-in-Chief of America's Top Magazine", "Talent and metaphysics", "Journey to Beauty", "50 years of Contemporary French thought" and other important masterpieces of social science, literature, history, and politics, the vast majority of books are 90% or 100%, and some of them are not even unsealed. Seeing that the reporter couldn't put it down, Su Ling waved his hand graciously: "few people are willing to read (paper) books these days, and every one here can be sold to you at the lowest discount!"

● ideal first, activity is king

There is no money for selling books, and there is no money for selling coffee. All the small coffee shops in Nanning are supported by the word "ideal". Oh, no, it should be called "cultural ideal". At that time, the forerunner, the East-West Book Club, first fell, and so did the king of comics and the book nest. now there are so many new stores that have taken over the banner of idealism without fear and one after another, bringing stunning readers more than just moved.

Idealism never dies. Speaking of my origin in the coffee library, founder Lu Pizhen said calmly, "I just like to find a place for like-minded people to communicate; if we can't find it, we'll build one ourselves." The so-called location of the library regards itself as the "voice place of Nanning culture", realizing the integration of "cafe + library + creative sharing office". It is hoped that the belief and action of "reading affects the city" will bring unlimited possibilities to the Nanning cultural circle. It has an advantage unmatched by other small coffee shops, that is, a steady stream of creativity. All the partners in the store can let brainwaves gallop wantonly in this seemingly limited but infinite space, gradually realizing ideas that originally only lie on paper.

When I walked into my "Wenqing" in the coffee library for the first time, I was easily shocked by the strange amorous feelings of decoration: the ancient strong character decoration paintings hanging on the wall of the first floor, the staircase corner occupied by bookshelves densely placed with books, the super large bookshelves on the three walls of the second floor, and dozens of classics hanging from the ceiling. The shelves are divided into more than 100 "private branch libraries", each of which contributes his or her cherished books for you to read. However, if you want to borrow a few books to go home, it is impossible. Only members have this privilege. As for the reading taste of more than 100 branch curators? Just pick a few books to bask in, and you will know: "Dahai Xuanwei", "wounded flowers in full bloom", "dark country", "everything is spiritual and beautiful", "along the watchtower", "avant-garde drama archives", "21st century Chinese cultural map", "Franklin autobiography", "Otto hand-painted color plant atlas" …... As for masterpieces such as Zarathura's words, the interpretation of Dreams, the Compendium of the History of Chinese philosophy, and Confessions, they are just toilet books nailed to the outer wall of my bathroom in the coffee library.

All idealists like to look for bosom friends, and Nanning's small coffee shop without exception likes to engage in activities (beautiful as "cultural salon"). However, reading activities around books alone have lost their charm. In the most glorious period of the Light Bookstore, it once held a reading activity once a week, and the theme of the activity was mainly literature and history books; now it can only strive for a reading activity once a month. On the other hand, I am a rising star in the coffee library. Private parties, company meetings, academic lectures, book clubs, birthday parties, public welfare activities, small exhibitions and small training can all be held on order. Activities that have been held include Educational Wisdom Series sharing, Guangxi Creator Salon, Oral English Exchange, Tourism sharing, Magic Live Show, small reception, Li Zongsheng Golden Music appreciation Salon, Branch Director meeting, Workshop members' Night, etc.

Let idealists thrive in the fragrance of the coffee shop!