So many coffee shops, so little time! Shanghai coffee shop crawl
Did you know there are over 9000 coffee shops in Shanghai alone? I had no idea how big coffee culture was here until looking into it before our trip! There were so many innovative, cool, and aesthetic cafes, there’s just not enough time to enjoy everything!
We tried to hit up as many cafes as we could in our short Shanghai trip, and none of them disappointed!
Here were some of the coffee shops we got a chance to try during our trip!
o.p.s Cafe
This was one of the most popular cafes I saw online. They’re well-known for their coffee cocktails, some of which are alcoholic, though they do have non-alcoholic options.
What was the wait like?
We were certain we found the shop as soon as we saw the long line. We visited in the afternoon and waited around 45 minutes in line. Even though the line looked quite long, it did move decently fast, and they had staff that takes your order ahead of time. I also appreciated that they had English and Chinese menus!
When it was our turn, we entered the shop and were met with a small station where the baristas made and prepared our drinks. There was also a staff member who explained the drink as well. We were given some time to get photos and videos of the drinks and the barista station before we were directed to a separate room where we could actually enjoy our drinks. I thought this was a pretty good system to move customers through and get to everyone in a more timely manner.
The drinking area is a standing area only but there’s plenty of counter space so a decent number of groups could enjoy their drinks in here at a time.
The drinks
We ordered both of the non-alcoholic coffee drinks: love bun, and pop pop pop.
Both of the drinks were so cute, and I really loved the presentation! Love bun had a fun little foam on top and pop pop pop had a beautiful latte art.
Both of the drinks were very nice and balanced with love bun leaning more chocolate-y and pop pop pop having a pretty prominent miso flavor, so there was a bit of savoriness to it. Pop pop pop also came with a small little sugar biscuit-like topping that added some additional sweetness to the drink. Between the two, I think the pop pop pop was my favorite.
Cost-wise, I would say this shop leaned more expensive. Each drink was 50 RMB, which came out to around $7 USD, and the cups were tiny, so you didn’t get much drink for it.
Unless you’re very interested in alcoholic coffee cocktails, I would mostly recommend this place to anyone who really enjoys aesthetic coffee shops and want to experience it for the novelty. If you’re just looking for good tasting coffee, but aren’t too into hyped up places, I would skip this spot.
Cubic 3 x Mahlkonig
My favorite coffee shop of the trip!
There are several Cubic 3 cafes around the city, but we specifically visited the Yongkang Road Branch location to try the speciality dirty coffee (-86C coffee)! This dirty coffee drink is actually created as a partnership between Cubic 3 and Mahlkonig.
We liked this shop so much we came back 2 days in a row!
The first time we visited was on a Friday and we walked right in, but when we came back the next day on a Saturday the line was out the door! So if you have the chance to visit during a more off-peak time, there’s possibly no wait at all!
The drinks
I tried the vanilla and cinnamon dirty coffee and they were both delicious! But the vanilla was my personal favorite. The coffee in this drink is sooo smooth - not a single hint of bitterness or acidity. It’s balanced so well with the milk, which adds such a nice creaminess to it. Everything about this drink is delicious!
It also came in a cute jar that you can take home as a keepsake as well! I still use my glass jar for drinks at home, and I love it!
The price for each dirty coffee was 26RMB which comes out to less than $4 USD at the current exchange rate. The jar that the coffee is served in is also quite small, so you don't get too much coffee. But for the quality of the coffee, I find this to be a pretty decent price, especially in comparison to o.p.s cafe which offers around the same amount of coffee for closer to $7 USD.
Luckin Coffee
Luckin is not a specialty coffee shop but a very popular chain all around China, so of course we had to give it a try once!
Ordering from Luckin is done entirely on WhatsApp, which is easy and convenient, though a little challenging if you don’t understand China as the online translators are not the best at translating drink names. But at least you get to take your time figuring it out!
I tried the popular coconut latte. To me this drink was just okay. I didn’t love it, but I thought it was pretty solid for a quick on-the-go drink that you can get anywhere, especially for the price.
The typical price for the coconut coffee is around 20 RMB (~$3 USD), which is already really affordable for the size, but they also had a coupon for first-time guests that made the drink 9 RMB, so this drink only cost a little over $1 USD!
Cafe Chez W Yimujia
This coffee shop is a very cute small shop that’s quite popular for their coffee drinks and scones! I love the vibe of this coffee shop and the cute window that overlooks the street on the second floor.
Their first floor is very small and cramped, but if you’re ordering in you can find a table on their second floor after you order.
The drinks
We tried their apple cinnamon latte and their matcha scone, and both were delicious!
The apple cinnamon latte was so warm and cozy, like a big hug! This feels like it would be a perfect drink for the winter! The coffee here is also very smooth and the apple cinnamon flavor feels just right. I also like the little freeze-dried apple pieces at the top as well!
The matcha scone was also so good! The scone was nice and moist and the matcha flavor was quite prominent as well. The color is also beautiful and so aesthetic! The scone alone is already really good, but it also comes with cream and jam which are nice additions as well!
The apple cinnamon latte was 38 RMB (~$6 USD) and the matcha scone was 28 RMB (~$4 USD). This was kind of middle-ground pricing of the coffee shops we did try, and I enjoyed it.
Birdie Cup Coffee
Our last coffee shop stop of our trip!
This coffee shop was a little out of the way of the more popular cafe area but it was close to our hotel, so we stopped by to give it a try. I’ll admit I was initially drawn to this spot because of the logo, I’m a sucker for cute logos!
The drinks
We tried the mint eisbock coffee and the lemon jasmine tea here.
I like that this shop gives you the option to request your drink to be uncapped for presentation purposes (you literally choose the option that says something along the lines of you want to take a photo of the drink first! 😂) This way they make the drink presentable and open so that you can get all the photos you want! I just requested a lid on the side so that I can close it up afterwards.
The mint coffee itself was pretty and delicious! If you’re a fan of mint flavored treats, this one is very enjoyable. The mint is nice and prominent but not overwhelming or too strong. You could still taste the coffee nicely as well and the flavor was really balanced!
The lemon jasmine tea was quite sour. I think the lemon in this drink somewhat overpowered the jasmine tea flavor, but at the same time it was quite refreshing.
The mint eisbock coffee was 34 RMB (~$5 USD) and the lemon jasmine tea was 24 RMB (~$4 USD), so not too bad in terms of pricing either!
There are so many coffee shops I saw along the way that I wanted to try but just didn’t get a chance to! Let me know if there are other shops you’ve tried that you would recommend as well!
