Seal Brews Café

Pingtan, located off the coast of Fujian Province and the closest place on the mainland to the main island of Taiwan, is China's second international tourism island following Hainan. It boasts beautiful natural scenery and a unique coastal culture. Recently, a new café named "Seal Brews" has opened in Tanshui Village, Pingtan, attracting many to check in and experience it.

The owner of the café is Kim, who is from Shanghai and used to be a shoe designer with a studio in Putian City. It all started with a vacation. Feeling burnout from his hectic work and oppressive workplace in a shoe factory, Kim came to Pingtan with some friends.

"I felt that first Pingtan sea breeze... it didn't just clear my head. It erased my entire operating system." What began as a surf retreat became destiny when Kim stumbled upon a shuttered café. Today, his café draws pilgrims seeking a cup of coffee and island-time stillness. 

Café owner Kim putting up posters

Seal Brews is a industrial-chic haven. The name "Seal Brews" has its origins. "Seal" is homophonic with "poster" in Chinese, and it also echoes the logo of Kim's studio in Putian, which is a seal pattern. "Brews"? That's caffeine alchemy in action! The posters in the café are like gifts for tourists, while the "seal" stays in Tanshui Village, making the café a secret place for tourists to explore, communicate and achieve spiritual connection.

Various coffee drinks 

At Seal Brews, forget the menu! The ritual begins at the poster wall which acts as a "flavor mood map" where you simply flip through a catalogue of house brews manifested as a collection of "visual poems"or "vinyls"."It's exploratory. You can take your time to choose and order casually, just like this space itself. As long as you are willing to sit down, there are always surprises waiting to be slowly discovered," Kim said.

Special drink "Pingtan"

Behind Seal Brews' counter is Zhao–a Yunnan-born barista with China's chain brand Manner Coffee's precision etched into his caffeine concoction. His partner Kim, acts as flavor anthropologist: collecting ideas from globetrotting friends."Kim hunts for drink inspiration," Zhao explains."I am responsible for product research and development experiments." Their collaboration births every drink on the wall.

Pine Needle Cold Brew

Barista Xiao Zhao recommending Pine Needle Cold Brew

A Spanish friend named Ai Qingsong (loving green pines) craved "green in a cup." Zhao foraged Pingtan's pines – too young (sour), too old (astringent) – until he struck gold. Cold-steeped Huakui beans meet pine needle essence, nitrogen-kissed into jade-hued clarity. White foamy mix muddled with the two flavors floats on the coffee liquid. Taking a sip, Liu Huahua, a regular from Fuzhou describe the sip as "a refreshing drink of forest silence." Crisp, mystical, with a resinous whisper.

Ginger Lemon Spark

For customers with a caffeine rush. Zhao chose lemon, ginger sparkling water, and Huakui concentrated coffee. One sip sends a reeling icy shock followed by a molten warmth-just like the afternoon sunlight flooding your veins. First-timers often find the drink overwhelming yet strangely addictive.

Piccolo

A dark-roast concentrate with cold milk. And zero-sugar for minimalists. Crisp and direct. It's like stepping from a dawn tent into mountain air. Refreshingly mellow and memorable.  

Photo wall featuring Pingtan customs 

In addition to special drinks, there are many creative details in Seal Brews waiting for tourists to discover. At the entrance of the café, there is a two-meter-long old iron plate pasted with various photos and posters, showing scenes of vibrant island life. Sometimes, curious passers-by stop in their busy tracks, quietly look at the posters on the wall for a few minutes, with a smile on their faces and light in their eyes.

In order to show the beauty of Pingtan and enrich the rural art space, Kim and Xiao Ye, the housekeeper of a local homestay, designed and made the humanistic photography works of Tanshui Village into characteristic posters and pasted them on the iron plate. This is Kim's "shared poster wall", which has become a "daily slice" for tourists to understand the village and feel the local customs of Pingtan. This idea has also been applied to an old bus station in the village. "This is a dialogue with the countryside. It's low-cost and wild," Kim said. He uses popular collage art and curation techniques in cities, creatively grafts them into the rural space of the island, and tells the beauty of Pingtan in an extremely personal way.

Guestbook version of Xiaohongshu (a popular Chinese social media platform) 

There is also a special guest book in the cafe. It is a thick book bound by hand with rice paper, placed on the long table in the store for customers to scribble on. Kim regards it as a "paperback version of Xiaohongshu (a popular Chinese social media platform)" for non-electronic communication.

A customer with a dog enjoying coffee

This small guest book has established a subtle connection. In just one month, tourists from all over the country filled one-third of it with interesting doodles, heartfelt messages and comics recording what they saw and heard in Pingtan. This small guest book not only fills the café space with humanistic warmth, but also becomes a beautiful memory for many tourists.

For Kim, it's about bringing outside experiences into this village, fusing them here, connecting deeply with the land, and unlocking new ways to live. Captivated by Pingtan's unique blend of quaintness and profound rural charm, he relishes his life here. His invitation is heartfelt: "I warmly welcome more to visit the café, savor a drink, and explore the beauty of this ancient village."