A dialogue among baristas; provides an important direction for inspiration for the design of cafes.

China's current and next stage of urban transformation needs to be deepened in three aspects: intelligence, ecology and civilization. Specifically, intelligent cities need to fully combine technology, Internet and big data; ecological cities need to have more awe of nature, and emphasize the dual consideration of human ecology and natural ecology; civilized cities need to express more awe of culture, especially the excavation of local culture, and try to reflect it skillfully in the process of urban construction.

It is under this logic that the enlightenment of coffee and cafes to the city has multiple values. Obviously, it is worth thinking about what kind of sparks of thought and value enlightenment can be stirred up between coffee, cafes and cities. Tsinghua Tongheng's so-called "round-the-stove coffee annual meeting" itself reflects an experimental attitude, there is a lot of room for discussion and imagination.

When coffee becomes a scenery of the city

On that day, snowflakes were floating in the Helsinki Market Square in Finland. Standing on the square to watch people come and go, cruise ships on the Baltic coast in front of the square were slowly coming ashore, blowing a siren from time to time, startling seagulls circling in the sea. This scene, which may have been taken for granted by many Helsinki, has become an unforgettable memory of the city in the eyes of a visitor from the east, and it is still very clear to this day.

Not only that, but what I often remember that day was that there was a canvas shed in the square, and there was a table outside the shed, at which sat an old man in a black coat and scarf, holding a cup of coffee, drinking like me, quietly watching the scenery of the Baltic Sea and coming and going with the people in the square. Snowflakes had occupied the table, but the old man who drank coffee didn't care.

This scene brings some touch to my thinking about the city. At a time when many cities in our country are still keen to build their own urban scenery through high-end landmarks, more and more urban experiences remind us that the people and lifestyle of a city may be the best scenery of a city, and these landscapes reflect a common ethos, but they will be presented to you in unexpected ways and scenes, full of chance. But there is a clear inevitability behind the contingency.

In addition, my imagination of the previous coffee was almost based on Starbucks, and I once thought that it was exclusive to the petty bourgeoisie. Although Starbucks would become a landscape or even a symbol of a city, but coffee itself is an appendage of Starbucks, a consumer space and brand, and coffee does not have much to do with the city and its people. But the scene in Helsinki Market Square reminds us that the coffee experience and coffee culture of more citizens can also boast the taste and temperament of a city.