New cafe: Laihui Coffee

China’s affection for the phrase ‘come again’ is echoed on the mainland and in Chinatowns abroad, a friendly annotation spread across the exit signs of museums, parks and freeways. So overused is the slogan that most write it off as Chinglish, snubbing the expression’s origins in genuine hospitality and reunion.

Laihui – or ‘back and forth’ – Coffee is about returning to the bare essence of life. The shop’s logo, two entwined circles born from coffee stains, represents the cyclical journey of customers, departing to come again. The vision, according to soft-spoken manager Liang Liji, is to create a space for imaginative minds to convene. When we visit, the rugged venue is packed with artists chatting over philosophy books and InDesign, sipping bitter coffee merely as an afterthought. The Weeknd’s ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ murmurs between careful chinks of a portafilter at work. Rowdy gossipers will feel out of place long before they’re kicked out.

As abstract as the concept of Laihui may be, the shop has a concrete approach to coffee. Only six varieties comprise the entire menu, with no crumpets or croissants in sight. Roasted in Zhaoqing, Liang’s hometown, the imported coffee beans are mixed into affordable shots of espresso (RMB10), Americano (RMB17), cappuccino (RMB20), mocha (RMB20), caramel latte (RMB20) and single-origin coffee (RMB23). Liang, who acquired his coffee addiction in high school, has researched the beverage for a decade, memorizing the regional subtleties of the beans as one would with wine. It only takes a few minutes of small talk before we realize Liang isn’t one of those young money posers ranting about an artificial affair with caffeine – he really knows his stuff.

For all the hype, however, including Laihui’s golden replica of Italy’s first coffee machine (one of 20 produced worldwide each year), our cappuccino lacked spunk. An average frothy design accompanied uninspiring flavor in a generic Styrofoam cup. With each monotonous sip, even the revered Korean artwork on display grew more pretentious, lost in originality too intangible to appreciate – at least for our simple coffee-loving selves.

Clever interior decor aside, Laihui hasn’t persuaded us to come again, even on the coffee bean “show and tell” nights, which the cafe hosts once a week. We’ll leave that invitation for the city’s amateur coffee drinkers – or pompous artists seeking free Wi-Fi.

Price: RMB20

Who’s Going: Traveling artists, scholars of coffee

Good for: Caffeine on an empty stomach, philosophy fix

// For address, see listing.