Makeover infuses traditional teahouse with a new spirit

Most regular clients are elderly people living in the neighborhood. Wang wanted to make some changes to attract more young people.

Wang hit upon the idea to change after talking to Gao Wenjie and three other friends during a diving trip in Yonaguni, Japan, last February. Then, the five friends, who were born in the 1980s, decided to work together to rebuild the Fuxingmen branch and turn it into a tea bar.

After several months of work, the teahouse reopened at the end of 2018 with a new name - Yuanshe Tea Bar.

Gao, who flies to Beijing from Nanjing to manage the tea bar, says: "We live in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Singapore. But we are friends because we all love diving, and now we are partners.

"The diving link is why we have many small decorations that are related to the pastime, such as the painting of the humpback whale on the wall that's based on Wang's underwater photo."

The partners all bring their strengths to the tea bar, not only when turning the teahouse into a cozy tea room with modern Chinese style but also when designing new products with modern packaging.

According to Wang, while regular clients accept the new packaging and buy tea, young customers come in to enjoy tea and spend an afternoon there.

"Our bar is also sometimes full at night as college students nearby see this place as a new leisure haunt," says Wang.

The tea bar now has four staffers, who sell tea in the daytime and make cocktails at night.