Hell yeah! Thanks for the tip. We had very excellent 'spro and drip at Slab Town last year.
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My partner also really enjoyed his cup at Lucky Draw cafe! His favorite in Shanghai is Big Sur Coffee, if anyone else is planning travel and wants a rec.
It’s frustrating to enjoy the roasts in China, since there’s little to no international presence. I can go and buy Dak or Fritz at 3+ locations across LA, but anything Chinese has to be proxied from Taobao 
I’ve been searching for Big Sur beans, and it seems there’s one US based seller that specializes in hard to find, international roasters. Might be worth checking out if any of you want new beans but they’re not worth the flight: https://airworkscoffee.com/
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FTC taobao group order?!
Very sympathetic to this frustration as it relates to bigger geopolitical issues, obviously. Kept thinking about this on a much larger scale regarding EVs. Family friend lives in a big complex in Shanghainese suburb. Neighbor’s parking spot held a very dusty Tesla. Friend said that the Tesla rarely moves, if ever, from that spot, and was purchased mostly for the flex. Daily driver? Metro and a Xiaomi subsidiary brand car…
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Can you expand on why, is the cost not reasonable? I was going to try them out.
LOL, I phrased that oddly. Coffee beans aren’t worth the cost of an international flight, so Airworks is an alternative worth checking out.
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Anyone other recommendations for a really good subscription to sign up for?
I’m getting a Linea Mini soon and would like to get a subscription going for some great beans. I usually prefer medium roasts, but wouldn’t mind experimenting with some lighter/darker ones occasionally. I’ve had subscriptions for Dark Matter, Brandywine, and Go Get Em Tiger in the past.
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Flowerchild works directly with the farmers and they have great offerings from different coffee growing regions. I enjoyed my last flower child coffees, disclosure I have never done the subscription.
Onyx also doing great coffees had my most recent favorite pour over from them about 6 months ago. Also disclosure never done their subscription
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flower child is a quality roaster (in addition to sourcing good beans)
onyx can roast well, but across their entire line i find a wide range in quality (some beans i find unpalatably overfermented)
i think prodigal roasts well, sources good beans, and does so with good taste
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@scalliongirl I actually went to Big Sur in Shanghai! I only squeezed in one coffee though. Enjoyable but preferred Lucky Draw. It may very well have been luck of the draw in terms of getting a bean that I preferred more. The atmosphere was nicer than Lucky Draw too and I definitely wish I’d had the opportunity to try more.
Also yes on beans perhaps not being worth the cost of freight. I once ordered some from Europe directly and boy did I get sticker shot. The box was pretty though so I did it, but I’d rather just do a whole trip and grab some to bring back in luggage haha.
@avantbored Haha I’d definitely be down. But perhaps we’ll see more availability in the future in general. Definitely putting Slab Town on my list. The problem with Shanghai is there’s too much! Tons of commodity coffee yes but also huge amounts of specialty.
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Airworks coffee regularly works with Big Sur and brings them in. If you follow them on Instagram they post very frequently about all of the roasters which are typically released as weekly drops and ship from Seattle. Most of the coffees he gets are ultralight so if that’s not your thing I would stray away from them.
Also Mandarin Coffee regularly carries some Chinese roasters like Gout & Co and Terraform.
Flower Child is great and also fairly light but not as light as some of the asian roasters. I’ve seen them carried in LA stores occasionally (Neighborhood coffee usually has them and I think Ondo used to carry them)
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As far as subscriptions go I would try some of these light roasts first to see if it’s your thing as they are pretty specific in flavor and much different than medium+ roasts.
Also look into Fellow Drops, it’s not a subscription per se but they basically text you what they have that week and I’d say they work with the most diverse range of roasters and styles, everyone from local California cafes to more obscure international stuff.
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Great intel, thank you! 