Let's get one thing straight: Beijing is FULL of good coffee shops these days. Having said that, it is also filled with average coffee shops and come to think of it, plenty of bad coffee shops too. It's a big city. So the below have been tried and tested and serve some of the best coffee you will find anywhere in the world (yes, people of Melbourne, including your city too so unsaddle your high horses). I'm not going to give you a description of the coffee served; just take it as read that it is top quality for each one here.
Voyage Coffee
This is my first recommendation because it is the most "Beijing" of the bunch. It's located in an old building on a hutong - that's about as Beijing as a middle aged man chain smoking, drinking a room-temp Yanjing, and wearing a Beijing bikini (Google it).
The decor in here is Beijing courtyard-home meets Danish coffee house* - aka awesome. It is also located on Beiluogu Xiang （北锣鼓巷), which is the (much) less crowded extension of Nanluogu Xiang (南锣鼓巷), which is the hutong whose commercial success has ruined it for most people but also shown the Beijing authorities that preserving these ancient alleyways may be a smart move.
*Having never visited Denmark, this is a huge assumption on my part, but you can just imagine how cool a Danish coffee house would be, can't you?
Name: Voyage coffee
Address: 80 Beiluogu Xiang, Dongcheng district, Beijing (北京东城区，北锣鼓巷80号）
Getting there: you could either take the subway to Nanluogu Xiang station, or to Shichahai station, both of which are on subway line 8, and walk for about 500m. Either way, you will be walking through hutong to get there which is pretty cool. Note that Nanluogu Xiang is a pedestrian alley but it is crammed full of people and shops, which can be awesome or awful mainly depending on your mood at the time.
% Arabica
If you've been to Japan or Hong Kong, and you're a fan of coffee, it is possible (probably likely) that you've visited % Arabica. The coffee is delicious and the store design is right on point. This store - well, more of a caravan - is located in Sanlitun. If you're foreign, in Beijing, and reading this blog, the laws of nature dictate that you are probably in Sanlitun right now. It has a magnetism for out-of-towners that I fought against for years, but it felt SO GOOD when I just admitted that I liked being there.
Name: % Arabica
Address: No. 11, Sanlitun North Road, Taikoo Li North Plaza, Chaoyang District (朝阳区
朝阳区 三里屯北路11号, 北区广场）
Getting there: the closest subway station is Agricultural Exhibition Centre (about 1km away), which is on line 10
Greybox Coffee
This is more one for the office crowd, as it's located in the central business district of Beijing, near the World Trade Centre. Not much else to say other than it has excellent coffee, and is located on the ground floor of the Kerry Centre.
Name: Greybox Coffee
Address: 1/F, Kerry Center, 1 Guanghua Rd, Chaoyang District (朝阳区
光华路1号嘉里中心商场)
Getting there: the closest subway station is Jintaixizhao (about 200m away) which is on line 10
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