After 600 Years, Tiantan Finally Has a Coffee Shop

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Beijing’s public parks often are barren wastelands for food and beverage (unless of course you bring your own). That goes double for caffeine addicts, who are forced to rely on weak-ass convenience store bottled tea drinks, lukewarm Cokes, and on occasion, a cup of hot water with a packet of Nescafe 2+1 partially dissolved in it to keep withdrawal at bay.

That’s why the Tiantan 1420 café just inside the east gate of the Temple of Heaven comes across as such a surprise: It’s a full-on coffee shop serving primo java drawn from an Italian espresso machine, and it’s right smack dab in the middle of one of Beijing’s major tourist attractions.

This rectangular box of a café has enormous picture windows that make for a perfect place to re-energize while watching crowds pass by outside. One could imagine that in the late afternoon the place could take on a bit of an Edward Hopper/Nighthawks flavor, though with much cheerier colors.The exterior features giant red doors decorated with golden studs, ala the Forbidden city. The airy interior is like a modern take on a 50s diner, done up in imperial red. Tile floors with golden metal tabletops and sky blue benches line the walls, which consist of white pillars and massive wall-to-ceiling picture windows in between.

But the real star here is the location. Entering through the east gate, go into the park and head west. Just inside the first wall you’ll come across the café if you look south. You can’t miss it.

While the windows do not offer vistas of Tiantan’s spectacular architecture, they do face a wide-open area with heavy foot traffic, which makes for great people-watching.

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Now on to the caffeinated beverages. Let’s not mince words: Tiantan 1420 is not cheap. They have only one cup size (480ml) and all coffee drinks are priced between RMB 30 to RMB 42. However, given they are likely paying astronomical rent, we'll say it’s worth it. And hell, you’d pay that in a fancy coffee shop in far less spectacular surroundings anyhow.

Alongside some standard fare such as Americanos (RMB 30) and Lattes (RMB 36), they have a few funky flavors, such as the “Funny Latte”, which is a latte with a squirt of Osmanthus syrup and dusted with mocha powder in the shape of the Chinese character for good fortune “福” (fú). 

The Sweet Popcorn Latte (RMB 36) is another specialty – a latte with a few puffy kernels of popcorn floating on top (neither was my cup of tea, so I went for the classic latte.)

While I would not count it as remarkable, my latte went down fine – a competent cup, not watery, and a foamy head that compares to the fancier shops. I would have preferred the option of a smaller size (after all, one does not want to spend their park time searching for a public bathroom) but alas they just have the one size.

One slight drawback is that the menu is in Chinese only. We’ve reproduced it here for you with our own (non-official) Chinese translations:

If you love the popcorn, you can also take some in a cute box featuring a Chinese dragon with a few big kernels in its mouth – definitely a splurge at RMB 69 for 300g, but the mixed variety of flavors within are at least intriguing: Purple Sweet Potato, Pumpkin, Caramelized Chesnut, Cheddar, and Corn Soup.In addition to popcorn they serve a small selection of cakes out of a refrigerated case, and for some odd reason, fancy boxed chocolates. They also have a small selection of Tiantan-related trinkets such as miniature Lego-like models of some of the more famous buildings from the park.
While we wouldn’t recommend you head to Tiantan just for the coffee, we do recommend that if you’re planning a trip to the park, you enter via the East Gate from now on so you can stop to revitalize before tackling adventure within.

Tiantan 1420Inside East Gate of Tiantan Park9am-6pm, 7 days a weekNo phone

Concept: Echo Wang

Translation: Victoria Yang, Yiran Huang

Video Editing: Kris Wei

Text: Mike Wester

Photo: Uni You

Graphics & Design: Joey Guo

Layout: Zeus Zou, Tracy Wang

For collaboration, contact Vic on WeChat at victoria531

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