NORTH PARK'S COFFEE TEA FAIR STARTS AT NOON

COFFEE BEANS & BEINGS / OPPOSITES ATTRACT IN CHENGDU

Charu Cafe

Ju Café and Charu Café sit at opposite ends of Chengdu China’s coffee personality spectrum.

  Ju Café feels deliberately modern, almost theatrical. The space is defined by smooth curves, pale concrete tones, and a sculptural interior that looks designed to be photographed as much as inhabited. It’s precise, controlled, and forward-looking—coffee served inside an architectural idea. You don’t come to Ju for patina or history; you come for form, light, and the pleasure of something newly made. The coffee is competent, but the room does most of the talking.

  Charu, by contrast, wears its age and use openly. The furniture has been handled, the floors walked, the walls absorbed conversation. It operates as a café, yes, but also as a cultural commons—part meeting place, part workshop, part refuge. Where Ju edits everything down to surfaces and shapes, Charu allows clutter, texture, and human presence. The drinks, often incorporating Tibetan ingredients, feel tied to the place and the people who run it.

  Ju Café represents Chengdu’s confidence in contemporary design and global coffee culture. Charu represents endurance—coffee as something lived with over time. One is polished and intentional; the other is worn, communal, and quietly resilient. Both belong to the city, but they tell very different stories about how Chengdu drinks its coffee.

Ju Cafe

The City. Chengdu, the central China capital of Sichuan province, is famed as the home of giant pandas, a rich ancient Shu history, and spicy cuisine, blending tradition with modern life.