What's New Restaurants: Ocean Grounds in Sanlitun

With Twin Peaks back in style, it’s convenient that Beijing has, once again, gained a centrally located, independently-owned café where you can rely on a fine cup of coffee. Move over Starbucks, Ocean Grounds Organic Coffee and Tea is back after making the voyage from its old haunt in U-Town Mall to the developing Hai Long Plaza near Xindong Lu. It boasts the familiar labor-of-love house roasts, but its perks aren’t all about caffeine – the new location allows for a nightly transformation from café to extended hours when they dim the lights on the bright, coastal vibes in favor of a custom cocktail bar. Mastering the imaginative cocktails alongside owner Jim Lee is Paul Hsu, an award-winning bartender from Taiwan.

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During the day though, it’s all about Lee, whose flair for ingenuity and deep understanding of the bean lend a dose of discovery to coffee hour. Takeaway options transcend the usual offerings to include honeycomb and agave lattes (RMB 33-43), but if you have time to stay and sip (and you should because the experience is really what it’s all about), the signatures are remarkable. Try the iced chicory coffee, an artisanal introduction to the root that helped caffeine go further during wartime in the French Quarter, and if you’re hooked, then your next move may be the Love Drunk cocktail, where the spice extract is paired with coffee-infused rum and liqueur. Coffee even makes an appearance in the breakfast menu, where it’s infused in salt and sprinkled onto a rosemary cream cheese and mango bagel. Do decaf? A creative menu sans caffeine (think Chicken Philly, Shrimp Po Boy, and street tacos) is on hand until 11pm to temper the buzz.

Ocean Grounds Coffee
Sun-Thu 7am-1am, Fri-Sat 7am-2am. 1-05 Hai Long Plaza, 13 Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District (5743 9548)
朝阳区工体北路13号1号楼1层1-05 (海隆广场)

 

Photos: Joey Guo