The most cultural coffee shop in Shuangcheng has been established for three years and old friends experience the culture of Beijing.

In the twinkling of an eye, Shuangcheng Cafe, located in Fangjia Hutong in Beijing, has been in operation for three years. A Zhe and Ye have held various cultural and artistic activities here, including independent film screenings, lecture sharing, impromptu dramas, unplugged music performances, and so on. The cafe style of creating a cultural salon coincides with the texture and sense of time of the streets of Beijing Hutong. This is the scenery closest to Taiwan in Beijing. It creates a warm corner for you in the increasingly estranged urban environment, and different mood stories are staged every day.

Start with a photo of moments.

I was impressed by a photo that appeared on Wechat moments: a friend was eating in a restaurant, the restaurant was empty, and the counter was crowded with a group of delivery men running singles. Originally, it was supposed to be a noisy restaurant, replaced by a single sound full of one after another in the space. As a result, there was supposed to be the ritual of dining out, the chance to meet strangers and the sense of place to eat together. The traditional and five-sense life experiences that we used to be familiar with are being rapidly reconstructed and hollowed out. This is the scene of our daily life, and I believe many people should be as worried as we are.

Origin of Twin cities-standing for three years

Why did you name the cafe "Twin cities"? On the one hand, I want to record the mental journey from Taipei to Beijing, on the other hand, I feel that in the context of globalization, inter-city mobility has become a common and universal experience for all. Work, life, business trip, travel, they meet each other in the corner of the city with their own unique life clues, thus developing a moving story.

Experience / share / talk

I remember in 2011, Ye and Ah Zhe were sitting side by side on a flight from Taipei to Tokyo. He looked out of the window tens of thousands of feet and said to Ah Zhe, "it has been more than ten years since we last went abroad together." There is always a spark after a long trip, so let's go to Beijing next time. In fact, I have long heard that Chinese mainland has changed a lot, and the two have always thought that they should come and have a look. In September 2011, Ye and Ah Zhe came to Beijing and lived for a month. They liked Beijing's overall cultural environment and hutong life very much. It just so happens that each other is also facing a turning point in their careers, thinking about what to do.

Illustrator Mo ran (left) and Leaf (right)

Ye and Ah Zhe have known each other for nearly 20 years. Ye studied at National Taiwan University at the Institute of Architecture and Urban and Rural Studies, and Ah Zhe studied at the Institute of Architecture. Ye once ran an Italian restaurant in Taipei and has his own views on opening a restaurant and life. To choose to open a cafe, for us, in addition to realizing dreams or feelings in the eyes of others, we still want to change the city where we live through action and professionalism, and try to communicate with the city through the special field of cafes.

One-year anniversary celebration / slow living, good comfort, good place, life tea

Second Anniversary Celebration / the scenery closest to Taiwan in Beijing

Third Anniversary / three years-Old Friends, New things

After three years of operation, we have held various cultural and artistic activities here, including independent film screenings, lecture sharing, impromptu dramas, unplugged music performances, and so on. We want to create a cafe style as a cultural salon that matches the texture and time of Beijing Hutong streets. Then some coincidences happened, and many friends helped us so much that we were willing to believe that many things had their own arrangements.

New things for an old friend-- waiting for one person to have coffee

I'm not at the cafe.

On the way to the cafe.

The winter sun is shining and the afternoon is lazy.

Suitable for tea, coffee, reading.

Wait for a cup of coffee, starting with beans.

Weighing, grinding, steaming and cooking

Elegant trickle-down essence

In the steaming aroma

Encounter time...

Write a letter

Waiting for someone.

Wait for a person's coffee, a cup of coffee to meet an interesting person, or give a true love to a distant best friend, an important person. A pat on the shoulder, a hug, a look. A cup of coffee, don't say anything.

One of the mood stories:

The boy from Taiwan quit his job as an engineer and decided to travel around for a year. He met a girl from Beijing in Yangshuo, south China. The girl told the boy that if he arrived in Beijing, he must go to the Shuangcheng Cafe. With the passage of time, after two months, the boy finally came to Beijing Shuangcheng. Order a cup of coffee, sit at the floor-to-ceiling window and enjoy a leisurely moment in the alley. Before leaving, he reserved a cup of coffee and asked Shuangcheng to hand over a book to the girl. at the same time, he also shared a beautiful hand-made calendar of Xizang with Shuangcheng's partners.

Why is their meeting so fascinating? Waiting coffee is not only altruistic, but also a possibility to spread warmth and meet more interesting strangers in life.

Leaves (right) and Cai Dinan (right)

Cai Dinan, affectionately known as a Golden teacher by people in the coffee circle, specially prepared six rosy summers for the third anniversary of Shuangcheng, which he shared with you through siphon.

Mood story 2:

A boy who had just finished his relationship sat in a daze in the cafe. A moment of friendly eyes opened a conversation with a strange girl. He went to the counter and ordered a cup of tea for the girl. If you think this is an ordinary pick-up line, the story may be unexpected.

The boy is a regular customer of this store. He gets along with each other all the year round so that they are familiar with each other like friends and family. He does not avoid being like the same sex identity. Although he is a gay, he feels uncomfortable talking to a boy in a strange environment because he is of the same sex. In contrast, if you choose to chat with a strange woman at will, there is no burden to express your emotions. At the same time, this girl also happens to be an old friend of Shuangcheng and can always meet some interesting people in Shuangcheng. At this time, I am happy to be a listener and share the weight of life together. The cafe provides a warm social space for strangers to communicate with each other. Because of the two cities, stringing together the hands of warm friendship.

The concept of ready-to-use coffee is quite popular in foreign countries and has been practiced in some cities for years. We think that behind an interesting cafe should be not only the relationship between the owner and the guests, the barista and the guests, but also the relationship between the guests and the guests. Shuangcheng is just to create a space for stories to happen, because of people, we are different. We believe that coffee can express emotion, promote interpersonal interaction and cultural socialization, and it is also an altruistic social practice / experiment to spread warm care to strangers, so as to create a warm corner in an increasingly alienated urban environment. In the future, we will put together these mood stories into books, hoping to influence more people to change their cities.

Waiting for one-person coffee is the social trend that Shuangcheng hopes to lead in the next stage, and the new culture movement about coffee is eagerly looking forward to participating with you. Wait for more stories to happen, record and witness the beauty of the city.

Waiting for someone in this old city.

Maybe that's you.

Twin cities, where the story begins.

Source: GQ Men's Network