At a Glance (China Coffee Network): Set menus start at 68 yuan, advance reservations are required, there is no conspicuous signage, and the front door is usually kept shut. In recent months, a niche format that netizens on social media have dubbed “itamae coffee” has quietly emerged in cities such as Guangzhou and Shanghai.
Set menus start at 68 yuan, advance reservations are required, there is no conspicuous signage, and the front door is usually kept shut. In recent months, a niche format that netizens on social media have dubbed “itamae coffee” has quietly emerged in cities such as Guangzhou and Shanghai.
The term “itamae” comes from Japanese cuisine and refers to a style of preparation in which the chef stands behind the work counter while customers sit around it. In the past this scene belonged to sushi counters, but recently it has been springing up across categories such as claypot rice and noodle dishes.
And now, it has been moved to a café.
01
Sold by set menu, reservations required: the itamae trend blows into coffee
The barista stands behind the counter, and every step of the operation—weighing the beans, grinding, pouring water, and blooming—is carried out right under the customers’ eyes. Once brewed, the coffee is handed over along with an explanation of the bean’s origin and flavor profile. It is less a matter of buying a cup of coffee than of buying a “coffee show.”
Several itamae coffee brands have already been opening outlets one after another in first- and second-tier cities.
“Jiezi Specialty Coffee” in Guangzhou is regarded by many netizens as the city’s first itamae coffee shop. It takes bookings by time slot; walk-ins are not guaranteed entry or a seat, and a 50-yuan deposit is charged,
one guest per seat. The whole shop is decorated in a Japanese style, with just six seats at the counter,
no signboard, the door kept closed, and someone only comes to greet you after you ring the bell.
The menu centers on pour-over and siphon coffee, with eight set menus priced from 68 to 188 yuan. Among them, a set pairing a signature-grade natural Geisha with wampee sorbet costs 138 yuan, while Iris Estate Echo with egg waffles goes for 188 yuan. Sitting at the counter, you can watch the full siphon-brewing process: hot water is drawn up to steep the grounds, then falls back down as the temperature drops, and passes through a filter paper to yield a cup free of sediment. The barista explains every cup in detail and also uses a frozen metal ball to cool it quickly and preserve the flavor.
Jiezi Specialty Coffee’s 188-yuan set menu. Image source: a Xiaohongshu (RED) screenshot.
Oval, a specialty coffee brand from Hangzhou, has also opened a store near the Guangzhou Peasant Movement Institute, where the coffee counter greets you right at the entrance, with five seats on each side and no other seating,
All operations are done behind the counter. The menu focuses on signature drinks and combos, priced at 50 to 60 yuan. One customer commented, “After you order, they make it right in front of you—it is like a little performance, so it is worth the price.”
“ft. Benshi” in Shanghai centers on “coffee omakase,” selling only set menus at two price points, 198 yuan and 398 yuan.
The pairings come as “one coffee and one sweet” or “one coffee, one savory and one sweet.”
It is understood that the shop is located in the Rongfu Building at Rockbund in Shanghai, where every tenant is a restaurant brand under Xin Rong Ji. Business-registration records show that “ft. Benshi” belongs to Shanghai Feiben Teshi Coffee Co., Ltd., whose controlling shareholder is Rongjia Weidao (Shanghai) Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., in which Zhang Yong holds a 75% stake.
According to customers who have visited, the barista uses sous-vide low-temperature cooking to treat the milk for an Ethiopian latte, brews Geisha with a Paragon ice ball and then pours it into a Burgundy wine glass for tasting, and pairs it with a hand-prepared Akizuki pear dessert finished with dry ice—”the same meticulous, thoughtful Xin Rong Ji style carried through from beginning to end.”
The storefront of Benshi Coffee. Image source: a Xiaohongshu (RED) screenshot.
The itamae coffee trend has also blown from the southeast coast to the southwest. “Hongyundou” in Kunming is a locally famous itamae coffee shop: its 60-square-meter space is accented with generous white space and vivid red decor, it serves at most five guests at a time, takes reservations only, and each time slot lasts about 80 minutes.
At the counter, every step—from weighing ingredients to mixing and garnishing—is clearly visible, and the barista also explains the inspiration behind each drink’s pairing in detail.
A set of signature drinks costs about 68 yuan and takes local Yunnan ingredients as its creative starting point—for example, “Yunru Huashan,” made with Dali brown sugar and carved-plum wine, and “Suansuan Sapie,” inspired by Sapie, a specialty dish from Pu’er, Yunnan, have both won plenty of praise. Although coffee still forms the base of these drinks, set against the full tasting ritual the shop provides, the coffee itself is more of a supporting actor in the performance.
The coffee-making process at Hongyundou. Image source: a Xiaohongshu (RED) screenshot.
02
Those coffees that became overnight sensations,
What happened afterwards?
Beyond itamae coffee, the market has seen quite a few “overnight sensation” coffees in recent years: whenever a novel coffee appears, plenty of people are willing to pay for the first experience, but once the novelty wears off, how many repeat customers remain is still an open question.
A couple of years ago, a Shanghai shop called “Genben Coffee” set social media ablaze with a cup of “Carmen Estate Washed Geisha” priced at 6,200 yuan. The beans came from an award-winning Panama lot that year, with a global output of just 25 kilograms. At the time, the shop said one customer had already put down a deposit for that coffee.
After opening, the shop drew crowds and many people made special trips to check in, but only about three months later its doors were shuttered and the place stood empty.
A cup of coffee priced at 6,200 yuan. Image source: a Xiaohongshu (RED) screenshot.
At almost the same time, another independent brand built on the concept of “Chinese coffee,” “Gongfu Coffee,” landed in Shenzhen with a high profile, occupying a full 500 square meters on an investment of 6 million yuan. Inside were sculptures of Fuxi and Nüwa, a Taiji diagram, and large Chinese-style murals; with “Eastern tea plus Western coffee” as its signature, it became an internet-famous check-in spot as soon as it opened, averaging 1,200 cups a day in its first ten days and peaking at 1,800 cups in a single day. Yet it could not escape a strong-start, weak-finish fate either—just seven months after opening, this first store quietly closed.
Besides sky-high-priced coffee, all sorts of “strange” specialty drinks have also sparked check-in crazes. “Dark-side” coffees made with ingredients such as green pepper, fermented bean curd, and century egg, for instance, have appeared in turn at independent cafes in Shanghai, Guangzhou and elsewhere. A “Lao Gan Ma Latte” or a “Stinky Tofu Americano” typically sells for 48 to 68 yuan, well above the price of an ordinary coffee.
Chili Pineapple Americano. Image source: a Xiaohongshu (RED) screenshot.
These cases reveal a common pattern: the first experience of a high-priced or novelty coffee tends to draw plenty of attention, and consumers are willing to pay for the thrill of trying something new and for social currency. On social media, such posts often rack up thousands of likes; users visit out of curiosity, and once they have taken photos and posted them, the “mission” is complete—few customers come back a second time for the same odd-flavored coffee.
But the restaurant business is, in the end, a business built on repeat purchases. Once the novelty fades and the posts are up, how many people are truly willing to pay again and again for a 50-yuan green-pepper latte or a 198-yuan itamae performance remains a big question mark.
The itamae model has indeed blossomed across the restaurant industry, but itamae coffee is fundamentally different from itamae claypot rice or itamae noodles. The latter answer a high-frequency, rigid demand—people need to eat, and the itamae format lets them do so with greater peace of mind. Itamae coffee, by contrast, is experience-based consumption, with a naturally lower purchase frequency.
That said, it must be acknowledged that the rise of itamae coffee offers the sluggish specialty coffee segment a new way of thinking—one that does not compete on price but fully delivers on experience. The fact that some people will spend over a hundred yuan on a coffee show shows the market still values a sense of ritual and professional service. Yet how far this path can go depends on whether it can make customers want to come back a second time after their first check-in. That is the shared test facing every high-priced, gimmick-driven coffee.
This article comes from the WeChat public account
“Hongcan Network”
, by Qiuqiu, edited by Wang Xiuqing, and published by 36Kr under authorization.
Reprint Notice & Disclaimer: This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account Hongcan Network, published by 36Kr under authorization. All rights belong to the original publisher.
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