Seesaw Coffee: Where is this coffee brand from? Shanghai sees another Seesaw store opening

Yesterday, July 15, 2021, at noon, Seesaw Coffee announced on its official Weibo that its new store had opened at Hongqiao Tiandi in Shanghai—and the new store immediately rolled out opening benefits.

First, on opening day, July 15, from 2 PM to 4 PM, customers who ordered the "Midsummer Fig Cold Brew" received a 9th-anniversary coffee cup.

Then, for the following month, from July 16 to August 15, customers who ordered two creative specialty drinks received either a 9th-anniversary coffee cup or a designer canvas bag.

Founded in Shanghai in 2012, Seesaw Coffee has grown for nine years, and its stores now spread across cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, and Chongqing. Following the Hongqiao Tiandi opening, Seesaw's WeChat mini-program Seesawer+ lists 23 stores in its home city of Shanghai alone.

The Booming Coffee Industry in China

The vigorous growth of China's coffee industry is plain to see, with new coffee shops opening constantly and brands launching new products in quick succession.

July is only halfway through, and Seesaw Coffee has already made plenty of moves.

Seesaw Coffee's July Activities

First, on July 2, it launched the "Midsummer Fig Cold Brew." According to Seesaw's official Weibo, the drink combines fig jam, an Ethiopian SOE cold brew, and a cold brew tea flavored with citrus and cinnamon—truly "ten flavors in one sip."

On July 3, it partnered with OATLY to hold a fun pet run event at the Seesaw BFC (Bund Financial Center) store.

On July 6, it collaborated with Jiyin Zebra on a nitrogen-infused cold drip coffee concentrate made from beans selected from the Pu'er region of Yunnan and the Minas region of Brazil. According to the product listing on its Tmall flagship store, it keeps at room temperature for 300 days without losing flavor.

On July 8, Seesaw Coffee opened a new store at the Shanghai Pudong Art Museum and created two limited drinks for it: the Art Museum Latte and the Riverside Cold Brew. The "Art Museum Latte" combines rooibos tea, avocado paste, and raw coconut milk; the "Riverside Cold Brew" blends an Ethiopian osmanthus cold brew with citrus-cinnamon black tea—giving customers the choice between caffeinated and caffeine-free.

On July 14, it added rose and mint flavored cold brew concentrates to its Flower Cold Brew series.

Trends in China's Specialty Coffee Market

As capital markets warm to coffee in China, more and more "specialty coffee" brands are drawing attention. According to a July 15 article on the Coffee Finance Network WeChat account, today's specialty coffee brands may vary widely, but they share two key elements: 1) an emphasis on coffee quality and professional preparation; 2) an emphasis on brand aesthetics.

On that foundation, domestic specialty coffee has developed two new paths.

The "Coffee+" path is taken by brands like M Stand, which positions itself as an internet-famous store with core customers mostly urban white-collar workers aged 25-45. According to a 36Kr report, M Stand aims to expand beyond coffee into more categories, such as bars, light meals, and trendy brands.

The other path leans toward new-style tea drinks, developing creative coffee beverages beyond the basic Americano and latte. Seesaw Coffee is the classic example here. Whenever it opens a new store, it develops one or two limited city-specialty drinks based on local character. Seesaw's Chengdu twin-store exclusives include "Sichuan Tea Flower Jelly Dirty" and "Sichuan Pepper Mixed Fruit Cold Brew"; the Chongqing flagship has the "Fog City Camellia Dirty"; and the Hangzhou flagship offers the "West Lake Longjing Americano."

So—have you tried the fig cold brew? Managed to snag the 9th-anniversary coffee cup?

*Image source: Seesaw Coffee official Weibo, Internet

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

That Ethiopian SOE in Seesaw's fig cold brew is a reminder of just how special Ethiopian beans are—and FrontStreet Coffee has a shelf full of them. The easiest entry point is the washed Yirgacheffe: clear jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity from a small southern town where thousands of coffee trees thrive in cool, misty, spring-like weather, producing a light, elegant, tea-like cup that drinks like a refreshing lemon tea.

For more traceable character, try the FrontStreet Guodingding Cooperative coffee. Guodingding sits at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe in the Worka area; in 2012, about 300 member farmers broke away from the larger cooperative and set up their own washing station. Because the fruit is peeled before drying, the coffee's own aromas come through crisp and clean—citrus and lemon tones, elegant white florals, a bright and delicate cup.

If you prefer the natural side of Ethiopia, the FrontStreet Natural Red Cherry is sun-dried for two full weeks until the sugars of the fruit soak into the beans (moisture down to 12%), with defect beans culled at every stage; expect peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon. And the FrontStreet Natural Chakri (Huakui) from Hambella in Guji, Sidamo—dried 21 days on raised beds, turned constantly and hand-sorted every 3-5 days across a 200-hectare farm—delivers a light fermented wine note, florals, citrus, and mango with honeyed sweetness, a cocoa undertone, and a thick, lasting finish. Either one makes a spectacular cold brew.