Five flavors of China's village development (2)

Chill: Village cafes

Location: Yucun village, Anji county, east China's Zhejiang Province

In Yucun village, Anji county, east China's Zhejiang Province, a cafe named Waterfall Coffee, which was converted from a former mine, opened in August 2025. Here, coffee, cliffside dining, water paddling, and music bars coexist, creating an immersive experience.

Bu Tianyu, operations manager of Waterfall Coffee, said most cafes under the brand are situated in Anji's rural areas. Since opening its first location in 2016, the emerging brand has found success, now operating 11 different coffee shops across Zhejiang.

Most are adapted to local conditions, using mining pits, caves, streams, and waterfalls to create different versions and blend the cafes into the natural landscape.

Anji, with a permanent population of fewer than 600,000, is home to over 300 cafes, giving it more cafes per capita than many first-tier cities. Among them, the most renowned are typically village cafes like Deep Blue, which set a new record by selling 8,818 cups of coffee in a single day on April 5, 2024.

Bu explained that all village cafes of Waterfall Coffee partner with local villages, which contribute resources in the form of equity shares and receive profit distributions at the end of each year. The cafes also employ villagers for parking management and cleaning, helping meet local employment needs.