Nanjing's Xinanli neighborhood is famous for its rich cultural atmosphere, and there are many teahouses in the block. The first fish tank coffee also settled in a corner of the street in Xinanli, and the black store looks full of personality in a group of elegant and quaint teahouses. Opened in 2012, Fish Tank Coffee is one of the veterans of Nanjing's specialty coffee circle, and in just a few years, it has grown rapidly from an unknown small shop to a famous café, on an equal footing with the champion restaurant UNiUNi.
The store classifies coffee by flavor, and divides single origin coffee into three types: fruity, clean and fresh, and low-acid balanced, with barista recommendations. Fish Tank coffee beans are self-roasted, although the variety is not as rich as UNiUNi, but it likes to innovate and often launches self-created blended beans. The fruity "Amber Daydream", the sweet and sweet "Lucky Shot", the bittersweet and sour "Deeper than the Sea", and the sweet and sour "Wild Flower of the End" are all popular blends in the store. In addition, Fish Tank Coffee has also cooperated with Beijing Leakless Craft Brewery Bar to launch two coffee beers. In "Deeper than the Sea", low-acid Mandheling is used as the coffee base, and the coffee flavor is not reduced after the two are mixed, and the bitterness of the stout beer and the bitterness of the coffee cancel each other out, and the taste reaches harmony. "Crazy Flower of the End" is based on the bean blend of the same name, which blends with the base wine stopper, the coffee aroma is tangy, and the hop aroma comes later, the taste is refreshing, but the taste is relatively bland.
The signature latte of Fish Bowl Coffee is divided into two types: "Mr. Big Fish" and "Miss Little Fish", the difference between the two is the amount of espresso content: "Big Fish" is based on double espresso, and the taste is strong and mellow; "Small fish" is a single Italian concentrate, with a prominent milky flavor and mellow and smooth aroma. In addition, in order to take care of the lactose intolerance and diabetic patients' demand for milk coffee, the "Maixiang Iced Latte" chooses oat cereal milk as the base, which is intertwined with oatmeal aroma and coffee aroma, with a unique flavor and a milder coffee taste. This is enough to see the intimacy of the fish tank coffee service. In addition to coffee, the cakes are baked in the store's own studio, and the products are stable and very popular. "Black Sesame Wow" sells poorly, the cake slices are stacked randomly, but the sesame aroma is strong, the cake is soft, sweet but not greasy, and it matches the coffee.
The old fish tank coffee shop is decorated in an American-style industrial style, with mostly blue-gray or dark gray walls, black iron pipes and incandescent light bulbs on the pipes as embellishments. And the use of wood-colored furniture, such as wooden cabinets, tables, chairs and bar counters, looks very retro. There are two La Marzocco GS3 espresso machines on the countertop, and the Italian brand Nuova Simonelli (Nova Mythos One) professional grinder and Mahlkonig EK43S stand next to the coffee equipment. Although the baristas in the store are far less qualified than UNiUNi, they often organize various small competitions such as cupping and hand-poured coffee in the store, and attract many coffee lovers to participate. Baristas and customers have more interaction and communication in mutual learning, and also have a better understanding of customers' needs for coffee flavor.
In addition to the old store, Fish Tank Coffee has partnered with Xspace to open the new store into the sculpture exhibition hall, where guests can enjoy the beauty of the sculpture while sipping coffee. The Xspace store is a great place to sit and chat, but due to the recent opening, many drinks are still not available, and only coffee and a small number of cakes are currently served.
