2018 Year in Review: Our Five Favorite Cafés

As the year comes to a close, it's time for us to look back on some of the happy, the sad, and the downright weird happenings in Beijing over the past 12 months. Without further ado, here are our Top 5 New Cafés of 2018.

Barista Specialty
This matchbox narrow café opened on the first floor of Nali Patio back in April. Despite the spartan setting, the coffee is quite vibrant. Prime example: their RMB 35 "dirty" coffee (pictured in the lead image above), for instance, is creamy enough to go down smooth while still packing a powerful caffeine punch.

Seesaw Coffee
After opening 14 branches in Shanghai, this Pearl City café chain made their Beijing debut at Wangfujing's WF Central Mall in 2018. Its sleek, brightly lit ambiance and peppily caffeinated Blue Mountain (RMB 58) coffee left us impressed.

Mellower Coffee
Seesaw isn't the only Shanghai import to make a splash in Beijing this year. Mellower Coffee sets itself apart with its darker than average hues, atypically soft lighting, and refreshingly approachable drink options like chai masala lattes (pictured). 

Esquires Coffee (ESQ)
Like Seesaw and Gongti's slick addition in Bracket, this New Zealand chain's ambiance has the light, bright, futuristic sheen of a spaceship. Their coffees strike out into bold new territory too, especially the RMB 42 New Zealand honey lattes, RMB 48 white wine drip coffee, and Maytree drip coffee (also RMB 48).

Gentle Spring Breeze Magazine Library
If you go to cafés for, well, the coffee, you're better of trying another entry on this list. But let's be real, plenty of patrons just want a standard brew that'll perk them up, in a friendly and pleasant environment. Qianmen's Gentle Spring Breeze Magazine Library fits that bill, with its shelves of glossy titles and eye-catching Old Beijing decor.

Still thirsty? Drink up all of our café coverage here.

Photos: Kyle Mullin, Andy Penafuerte, courtesy of Barista Speciality