Coffee Aroma Rises in an Ancient Town: Boyan Coffee Town Opens in Wu'an, Hebei

At a Glance (China Coffee Network): Coffee Aroma Rises in the Ancient Town The Boyan Ancient Town cultural-tourism project opened in 2019, located west of Boyan Town, about 10 km south of Wu’an city, covering more t…

Coffee Aroma Rises in the Ancient Town

The Boyan Ancient Town cultural-tourism project opened in 2019, located west of Boyan Town, about 10 km south of Wu’an city, covering more than 30 mu with a building area of about 6,506 square meters. This redevelopment, while preserving the original historic buildings, exhibition halls, and street-and-alley spaces, sets up a coffee-themed zone, a Chinese-herbal-medicine specialty zone, and a food-and-dining zone, introducing such formats as coffee, cultural-creative products, and new-style dining.

In the Coffee Story Museum, coffee culture, brewing utensils, and related equipment are displayed together; “Burning Coffee Beans” uses coffee grounds as fuel for traditional kilns to bake bread; “Foodie Molecule” brings coffee to the table, launching dishes such as coffee braised-pork rice and coffee salad. From drinks to food and baking, coffee has found more ways to be presented in the ancient town.

“We are not simply adding a few coffee shops to the ancient town; we hope to use coffee as a new consumption entry point, combining it with the town’s original culture, dining, and specialty industries,” said Liu Yang, deputy general manager of the Wu’an City Development Group and chairman of its tourism company.

Such fresh experiences also attract visitors who come specifically for them.

“Boyan Persimmon Fall, Pomegranate to Boyan, Boyan COMBO, Boyan Walnut… these specialty drinks can’t be had anywhere else; it’s quite a surprise,” said Mr. Zhao, who came from Handan city to visit and experience. A home coffee maker himself, he learned of the Boyan Coffee Town’s opening and invited friends along, “mainly wanting to see whether we could taste some distinctive varieties.”

For parent-child tourist families bringing children to stroll the ancient town, the experiences in the blocks are not only about coffee.

“The performers were especially friendly and even offered to take photos for us; the child was thrilled,” said Ms. Li, who came from Wu’an city with her child. For adults, she said, the original architecture and alleys of the ancient town combined with coffee elements also make for a unique visiting experience.

Street performances, music, and other activities are interspersed throughout the visit; visitors walk and pause among shops, courtyards, and exhibition halls, and the original ancient-town spaces gain new uses.

Old Merchant Guilds Meet New Consumption

Walking into the ancient-town blocks, beyond cafés, one can also see many spaces and shops related to local history and culture.

Boyan has a long history of commerce. The historical Wu’an merchant guild traveled far and wide, with “southern silk, northern medicine” among its representative lines of business. Today, stepping into the Wu’an Merchant Guild Culture Museum, one can learn about this commercial tradition from historical materials and time-honored-brand stories. These historical contents share the same space with today’s new consumption formats in the blocks.

Deqintang and Deqingtai carry on the Chinese-herbal-medicine specialty; Yan-Zhao Huashang showcases silk and traditional garments; the Tea-Coffee Post House combines tea with coffee, blending local elements such as forsythia tea and local millet into drinks. Traditional dining and local specialties have also entered the blocks’ consumption scenes.

“Boyan itself has a commercial tradition, and the merchant-guild culture carries traits of daring to explore and try. Bringing coffee in today is also a hope to bring this traditional culture before visitors through a consumption style familiar to young people,” said Liu Yang.

The presentation of merchant-guild culture also extends from the exhibition halls to the streets and alleys. The live-action performance “The Merchant Guild Returns” unfolds along the ancient town’s old streets and courtyards, with stories such as “The Xu Family Wedding” and “The Master Returns” presented along the streets. Merchant-guild figures and life scenes that originally existed only in historical materials and local stories enter visitors’ touring experience through live-performance formats.

From historical materials in the exhibition halls, to live performances in the streets and alleys, to local food and specialty products in the shops, Boyan’s original cultural content has gained different modes of presentation. And coffee has become a way to connect everyday consumption within it. From the merchant-guild culture museum to the coffee story museum, from traditional pharmacies to coffee shops, the different contents of past and present meet in new ways on Boyan’s old streets.

During the National Day holiday, the ancient streets offer new highlights

During the National Day period, the 2026 China Coffee League’s Handan-division urban competitions in brewing, cupping, and latte art will be held at Boyan Coffee Town. Then, baristas will stage professional contests in the ancient streets, and coffee culture will enter the ancient town in the form of competitions.

Beyond the coffee competitions, activities such as the live-action performance “The Merchant Guild Returns,” inter-building music and dance, and coffee-themed flash mobs will also be rolled out in succession.

Starting from a cup of coffee, the different contents of the ancient town are strung together: there is merchant-guild history, local cuisine, traditional culture, as well as coffee competitions and youth consumption. For the just-opened Boyan Coffee Town, this National Day holiday is also the time when visitors first experience this new block in concentration.

Blue bricks and gray tiles are the backdrop Boyan leaves to the years; the aroma of coffee is the new breath the old street welcomes. The history of the ancient town and present-day consumption find a new connection in this cup of coffee.

Whether coffee can truly blend into the ancient town depends not only on the excitement of opening day, but also on whether shops can sustain operation and culture can keep growing after the competitions and the holiday. As activities such as the National Day coffee competitions, live performances, and inter-building music and dance unfold in succession, Boyan Coffee Town is expected to turn “a cup of coffee” into a long-term bond connecting merchant-guild history, local cuisine, and youth consumption, drawing more visitors to enter Boyan, stay in Boyan, and remember Boyan.

This wisp of coffee aroma is writing a new story for the ancient town of Boyan.

Reporter Rong Zhiqing, Handan News Media Center (text/photos)

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