Cicingstore, a Small and Cozy Café and Store with a Taste at Liangma River

Cicingstore: Tasteful, Cozy Café and Store Opens at Liangma River

Tracy Wang, Senior Editor | May 27, 2018 8:30 am | Add a comment | 722 reads

Beijing is flooded with big name chain cafés – Starbucks, Costa, Pacific, and others. What's more: most of those corporate joints are housed in malls. So a small café, right around the corner, with a cozy atmosphere and a bit of character is enough to illicit bliss. A prime example for anyone in Liangmaqiao is Cicingstore, located on the first floor of FX Hotel along the Liangma River.

Similar to cafés in Japan, Cicingstore is quite small with several wooden tables, grey concrete walls, and warm lighting. It offers a handful of coffee and tea options at RMB 20-22, which is probably the best value you can get downtown. The space also doubles as an old-fashioned "everything store", its shelves piled with assorted tea, chia seeds, energy bars, cosmetics, mosquito repellant, a slew of knickknacks and some drawings by the owner.

This neighborhood café is operated by a warm and friendly couple who love to chat with patrons as if they were old friends. They cheerily recommended their homemade sparkling water infused with lemon and chia seeds (RMB 25). It was bubbly, zesty, citrusy, and sweet, like a mocktail, and was perfectly suited for hot summer days. And as the weather heats up in the coming weeks, the owners plan to unveil more heat-beating beverages like avocado smoothies as part of a special summer menu.