在厦门，一杯咖啡解锁多重体验In Xiamen, a cup of coffee unlocks multiple experiences

来源：厦门日报

Source: Xiamen Daily

Consumers experience handmade pottery in coffee shops.

A cup of fragrant coffee unlocks multiple consumption experiences. Nowadays in Xiamen, the traditional single consumption mode of coffee shops is being broken, and cross-border integrated formats such as "coffee+art exhibition", "coffee+styling design", "coffee+cultural and creative consumption" are quietly becoming popular. Leisure tea drinks, aesthetic experiences, artistic consumption, and social check-in are deeply integrated in multiple scenarios, and immersive and experiential consumption has also become popular in coffee shops in Xiamen.

Breakthrough exploration of cross-border integration

Taixian Coffee, located in the Shapowei area of Minzu Road in Siming District, deeply integrates coffee and art. The warm toned coffee leisure area is adjacent to professional exhibition halls, with walls displaying contemporary artist paintings and niche art exhibits on a regular basis. Consumers can hold coffee and leisurely enjoy the paintings, and when they encounter their favorite works, they can consult and purchase customized items on site. The entire space is divided into three functional areas, "said Mr. Xu, a store partner. The first part is the coffee bar, which focuses on hand ground coffee; The second part is the exhibition hall and gallery; The third part is a semi enclosed office and hospitality area.

Mr. Xu said that compared to traditional single coffee shops, the current business model has significantly increased the average length of customer stay, and many art enthusiasts come and sit every now and then, resulting in significantly higher popularity. In Mr. Xu's opinion, the positioning of "coffee+art" stores, introducing multiple attributes such as leisure, social, check-in, and experience, can quickly become popular through social media, which can be said to be a win-win situation.

The Fantawild Pottery Coffee Shop located in Huli District integrates handmade pottery with coffee experience. The host Chen Yiwei is a post-2000 entrepreneur who chose to open a store right in front of his home after graduating from university. I am majoring in pottery and I want to integrate coffee and pottery. This coffee shop, located adjacent to a residential area, has also been combined with a music studio to form a community cooperation model of "pottery+music+coffee". Chen Yiwei said that currently, pottery experience is mainly based on appointments, as pottery requires hands-on guidance. It usually takes two hours from demonstration to completion of a work, and customers are notified to pick it up or mail it after firing is completed.

Another new trend of "coffee+racing" has blown into CarbonCoffee, a car themed caf é located in Xiangyu Free Trade Zone. The management team consists of three female members who have renovated the old space by hand nailing European pine boards, painting the walls, and creating a 5-meter-high open space. The store not only displays racing cars, but also is equipped with 3 professional racing simulators, becoming an offline base for racing enthusiasts. There are activities almost every weekend, including community events for car enthusiasts and pets, as well as car brand events.

Immersive experience in diverse scenarios

The time spent drinking a cup of coffee connects multiple experiences of leisure, socializing, art, and lifestyle services, and this new model changes the traditional consumer perception that "coffee is just a beverage".

At CarbonCoffee, many car enthusiasts consider it their first choice for weekend gatherings. Li Li, a frequent car enthusiast, said, "Not only can you drink coffee here, but you can also exchange experiences with fellow racing enthusiasts

In the store, some customers also bring their pet dogs to chat about their cars and share their pet raising experiences. A consumer left a message on social media: "Even if you don't play with cars, you can stay here for an afternoon to have a cup of coffee, watch the car, and play with your dog." The racing simulator in the store is also open to ordinary consumers, and many people have had their first close encounter with racing culture, experiencing the fun of speed colliding with coffee.

In Xiangting, almost all the consumers who come to the store are young faces. Chen Yiwei told reporters that the student group accounts for a relatively large proportion, and during summer vacation, the number of people noticeably increases. There are also out of town customers who come here because of its reputation - a girl from Fuzhou came to this store on social media specifically to experience it, but later decided to stay and study for two weeks. After returning, she opened her own pottery shop in Fuzhou. There was also a shop exploration blogger who liked it very much after experiencing it and took the initiative to stay as an apprentice. Later, he opened a coffee shop and displayed and sold his self-made ceramic cups and refrigerator stickers in the shop.

There are many examples like this: a store called RealLiveAndBook located on Hubin Middle Road, where customers can drink coffee during the day and watch band performances at night. As a result, it has been dubbed by netizens as the "only bookstore in Xiamen+coffee+record+Livehouse composite space" and now has many loyal fans. At Lalaland Coffee Hair Salon near Zhanhong Road, there is an independent and complete coffee shop, which is known by users as "one of the most aesthetically pleasing hair spaces in Xiamen".

From 'coffee+art' to 'coffee+racing' and then to 'coffee+hairdressing', the cross-border integration of coffee shops in Xiamen is breaking through the boundaries of business formats. Coffee has been reshaped from a simple beverage to a spatial carrier connecting diverse lifestyles. Song Weiqian, the head of the Coffee Branch of Xiamen Baking and Coffee Association, said that the current diversified cross-border integration of the coffee industry in Xiamen shows that coffee has already broken away from a single catering track. Various industries want to use a cup of coffee to break traditional impressions, and there are surprises of cross-border coffee in traditional industries everywhere - the old postal service opens post office coffee, Sinopec and PetroChina gas stations layout coffee points, relying on high-frequency traffic scenes, and can easily buy a convenient cup of coffee on the way, as well as library coffee, hospital coffee, pet themed coffee, etc. These formats are not so much about the cross-border operation of coffee in different business locations, but rather the integration of coffee with different lifestyles. Here, coffee is no longer a simple refreshing drink, but a carrier that bridges the boundaries of different industries. Various cross-border cafes have become the "third space" for young people to gather, communicate and interact offline in the city. The interpersonal connections and social value brought by the atmosphere and cultural style of the store have already surpassed the drinks themselves.

Industry insiders analyze that with the continuous release of immersive experience consumption demand, Xiamen's "Coffee+" cross-border business model will continue to innovate based on social scenarios: relying on coffee carriers to carry out book clubs, talk show performances, integrating local Minnan culture to create outdoor movie watching and other characteristic activities, continuously expanding the social media boundaries of coffee, building more warm bonds for urban daily life, and enriching the spiritual and cultural life of citizens. (Reporter Fang Shuzhuang Xiaojing)