Beneath the lake in Houhai hides a lair fit for a James Bond villain, full of espresso beverages, upright scooters and 3-D vision games. It’s not a nefarious evil genius that has birthed this spot, however, but the creative zeitgeist of Shenzhen.
Innovative, enormous in size and Ninja Turtle-like in scope, Eqihub caffeinates inventors and shoppers alike and acts as the core of a growing Nanshan-based maker community. “
‘Eqi’ means all together, the start of ideas, centralized,” says Liang Fu, the cafe’s project manager, explaining the play on the Chinese phrase yiqi (一起). Not only does Eqihub offer Brazilian, Ethiopian and Yunnan coffees in espresso-based beverages, part of the complex serves as an offline display space for inventors to showcase their wares. The space fills a former parking garage and houses several startup offices.
Fu began the project with three old friends, one of whom is a developer, another an architect. The four designed and planned the space together. “There’s a saying in China,” Fu tells us. “‘Never do business with your friends, but,” he half smiles, “I think we break the rules.”
Eqihub itself breaks the typical mold of a cafe: patrons can order coffee from a bright yellow shipping-container-turned-barista-stand and then walk through a small maze of products in the same vein as an Ikea store. The pathway, designed to look like a highway, leads through displays of gadgets, from smart bike helmets to massage vests, multiple kinds of transportation devices and cleverly designed home furniture. This translates to customers sipping an Americano while enjoying a shoulder massage or going on a virtual reality roller coaster ride all in the same space – and at the same time.
If they really want to. For drinks, we recommend the Americano (RMB23) or the latte (RMB28) both made with dark roasted La Express beans. Other fruity drinks with mango and red bean are on the menu, but coffee is the clear choice for those in the cafe discussing their latest projects, be it face recognition technology or image consulting.
To find this oddly wonderful place, look for the China Construction Bank in Coastal City and then find a glass-encased set of yellow stairs. Follow this yellow brick road to enter a subterranean Emerald City of startups.
Price: RMB30 for a coffee
Who’s going: Inventors, people who forgot where they parked their car
Good for: Coffee, trying out inventions, virtual reality games
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