This afternoon, as the CW crew wandered back towards the office after soaking in some sun on the New Heights terrace, we chanced across a fabulous accidental discovery--our favorite kind. A little hole-in-the-wall coffee stand called Coffee Bazaar caught editor Emily's attention and, in need of a coffee fix given that our office's coffee machine has been out of commission for god knows too long, she shuffled over to take a peek.

A small menu (translated into English, yippee) boasted Vanilla Capuucion and Coffee Fcoats among other choices with all items priced between RMB8-15 (with the exception of kiwi yogurt and kiwi juice). Emily ordered a Brazil Coffee (RMB10) and I ordered an ice vanilla latte (RMB15), expecting your run-of-the-mill Chinese coffee stand quality. But, the two young men behind the counter began a process that had all three of your CW editors in amazement.

The 10 kuai Brazil coffee took a grand total of probably a little over five minutes to prepare via an intricate process similar to a high school chemistry class. The man positioned a glass flask of water over top of a burner and then positioned another glass holder, full of ground coffee, inverted above the other. As the water boiled it rose up the cylinder connecting the two flasks, mixed with the ground coffee, and then slowly drained back into the original glass container before being poured into the requisite paper cup (no fancy Starbucks-style cardboard cup holders, sorry). Emily added one cream to the mix, gave it a stir et voila, strong, aromatic, flavorful brewed coffee for 10 kuai just a block and a half from our office. "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood ..."

If you want to check the place out, it's located just kitty corner from the Westin, across the street from the new (ridiculously expensive) Wide Terra Gym at 294 Guangdong Lu. Brew on.