I don’t want to share this one because it’s small but here goes. Starbucks has some amazing locations like old historic buildings and in 101 and I think Louisa Coffee is trying to up their game on locations.
Right on the edge of Daan park where you feel like you’re not in the middle of the city and you can hear a fake waterfall, go outside go for a walk in the park or go on the MRT and not worry about getting in the rain.
Louisa is slowly becoming my go-to for coffee. Starbucks would probably be the last place I would look for.
I call your Daan park location and raise you this one on Ruiguang Rd. in Neihu.
What a lot of customers do not know is there’s a back patio area that has couches and lawn chairs to sit. This is my favorite place to come after a bike ride since there’s a lot of space to put our bikes and we don’t have to sit inside and stink up the place for other customers in our gear.
In the summer, they put fans out for those sitting outside. In the colder month(s), they put a lamp heater outside.
I prefer Louisa to Starbucks too. I’ve been to a few locations, they’re always pretty decent. Their opening hours are ridiculous though. Each store is different and you can never be sure what their hours are going to be. A good portion of them are closed on the weekend.
Also decent: Tiamo. Only a couple of branches, I think, but excellent coffee at a good price. Their main draw is their coffee makers, drips, filters and such. I think they offer the coffee cheap to draw people in.
Louisa is killing it with a recently opened three-story branch on Minquan West Road, between Minquan West Road MRT Station and Zhongshan North Road. A part of the shop looks like it is still being renovated, but the parts that are up-and-running are like, wow. Given the convenient MRT access, I wouldn’t show up here on a Saturday afternoon expecting to get a seat. But other times this would be a fine space to meet someone or to get some work done–or simply to hang out.
Yeah, they are really ramping up. One hopes this will not end like the egg tart, doughnut, or burger crazes in Taipei… or with the Louisa boss running off to China with all the company’s money!
It’s clear I’ve been in Taiwan far too long to actually think and write stuff like this. : P