I was in Beijing in late Spring, 08 trying to develop an understanding of the local coffee culture. As I've mentioned previously, the scene is very much nascent. Fortunately for me, the internet discussion forums have a global reach and I was able to get a couple suggestions from Peter Tam. He recommended I pay a visit to Lanzi at Tarot Cafe. That's her in the next photo.
Tarot Cafe offers a fortune telling with a side of espresso. I was impressed with the mystic sense of parallel universe I had when sitting with Lanzi and her gray fox lap critter. She started the cafe so she could be in business for herself and openly connect with her customers. This was a place that catered to a new generation wanting to break out of cultural norms and express affection. She was loud living the Tubular Bells soundtrack, like Tom Cruise in her own way.
Tarot Cafe was a wife-husband team operation: She was the DJ, and he was the rapper. (I didn't catch his name but he's the guy on the right.) After lots of sub-par chain coffee, I was excited to check out a place 2 degrees removed from a coffeegeek. However, a bit of digging led me to believe that I might have some ideological conflicts with Peter.
Being invited behind the bar confirmed that we were doing things a little differently. They were using Cafe Molinari, an old-skool Italian roaster. In the end, you gotta judge tenderly of the results and concentrate on the fact that these were 2 owner operators on the bleeding edge of coffee in a country with near zero coffee culture. I recommend you drop by and meet them when you are in town. They are located a few blocks from the Forbidden City.
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