In the blue brick western-style building on Shangxin Street in Jinan, a wonderful experiment about taste and space is unfolding – the porcelain covered bowl of the old Jinan big bowl tea is no longer filled with jasmine tea, but with rich Italian espresso. When the burnt aroma of coffee rises from the lid bowl, Chinese and Western cultures have completed a gentle collision on the bluestone road of this century old street.
Bowl coffee: cultural fusion in a cup of beverage
Using blue and white or pink colored bowls to serve coffee, placing a sticky rice paper with the words "Jinan" and "Shangxin Street" on top of the coffee, taking photos first, and then tasting it, has become an unspoken "standard action" for tourists. We have set up a special check-in point on the third floor, where there are a lot of young people coming to take photos, as well as many who have come from other places. The red and yellow covered bowls are the most popular and have the most choices, "said a staff member from Shangxin Tea House in Shangxin Reception Room.
This innovation is not simply about replacing utensils. In recent years, Jinan has been deeply cultivating the localization expression of coffee culture – from brewing coffee with deep underground water from the "Tianxia Quancheng" at the first International Spring Water Coffee Carnival, to the launch of the local brand "Xingyika"'s "Wazi Meat Coffee"; From the open genes of a century old commercial port to the aroma of coffee wafting from old buildings, coffee, a foreign beverage, is being endowed with a unique local soul by the people of Jinan. The creative integration of tea ceremony aesthetics and coffee techniques is a vivid footnote to cultural innovation.
New residents of the old street: 'Daily passenger flow exceeds 30000'
Behind the popularity of covered bowl coffee is a years long "embroidery style" renovation on Shangxin Street. Starting from 2021, Jinan Urban Development Group and the Central District People's Government have launched a renovation project, adhering to the design approach of "combining Chinese and Western elements, coexisting old and new", while preserving the historical texture, repairing old buildings, updating underground pipelines, and optimizing street lighting and greening.
After the renovation of Shangxin Street, the dense aroma of milk foam wafts from the blue brick western-style buildings, and markets have opened in the old streets and alleys. New formats that integrate tradition and modernity, such as "Wukong · Gaishi Wushuang", have taken root one after another. On October 3, 2025, the daily passenger flow of the block exceeded 30000, and the loneliness and desolation of the past are gone forever.
Cultural Confidence: Dialogue between History and Present in the Same Space
The transformation of Shangxin Street is a microcosm of Jinan's urban renewal. Beside Gaosheng Bridge on Qushuiting Street, the century old "Gaosheng Shop" mansion has been transformed into a one foot garden caf é; In Quancheng Park, the weathered buildings that have been idle for many years have transformed into glass houses and coffee shops; The Shandong Film Printing and Dyeing Factory on Culture East Road has become a "cultural living room" with a complex ecology of "coffee+art+education"; In the French and German style old buildings of the old commercial port, independent cafes, antique shops, and buying shops have opened one after another. From the Yichi Garden Cafe near Gaosheng Bridge to the glass caf é in Quancheng Park, from the caf é in the old workshop of Shandong Film Processing and Printing Factory to the independent caf é under the cover of wutong trees in the old commercial port area, Jinan is completing the urban renewal in a gentle way, not pushing back, not rushing for success, so that history and the present can have a peaceful dialogue in the same space.
When the rich aroma of coffee rises from the cup of coffee, when the green stone slabs of the old street reflect the light and shadow projection, when young people take photos and check-in with cup of coffee in the century old courtyard, this cup of cup of coffee is not only filled with drinks, but also a cultural confidence of a city reshaping itself in openness and inclusiveness. Every 'new' visit to Shangxin Street tells the same story: tradition doesn't have to follow, innovation doesn't have to forget its roots. When the two meet, it becomes the most touching scenery of the city. (Jinan Daily · Love Jinan Reporter: Lv Haili)
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