Specialty coffee in Shanghai.
Shanghai has 11 specialty cafés and roasters on Roasters. That is a compact scene, but a real one, and the community keeps adding to it.
How Shanghai compares
In Asia, Shanghai ranks #34 of 251 cities on Roasters, in the same size band as Colombo, Dhaka and Ko Samui.
Shanghai ranks #2 of 6 cities in China, behind Hong Kong (306 cafés). Its 11 cafés account for 3% of the national total. One step up the national table is Hong Kong (306 cafés); one step down, Beijing (5 cafés).
That places Shanghai in the top tenth of cities worldwide on Roasters, at #307 of 3,601.
19 more listings would give Shanghai its own themed guides on Roasters, which unlock at 30 cafés.
Finding the best coffee in Shanghai
Good specialty coffee in Shanghai tends to come from small, owner-run places: a short menu, beans roasted within the last few weeks, and someone behind the bar who can tell you where they were grown. The community has found 11 such spots so far.
What to look for: a short menu, light-roasted single-origin beans, a proper grinder behind the bar, and staff who can explain the origin and process of what you're drinking. If a café in Shanghai ticks those boxes, it belongs on Roasters.
- Community reviewed, no paid placements
- Single-origin or light-roasted blends
- Pour-over and espresso both on the menu
- Baristas who can talk through the menu
Find every specialty café
in Shanghai.
Save the places you want to try, log what you drank, and follow the community’s latest additions. Free on iOS and Android.
About specialty coffee in Shanghai
How big is the specialty coffee scene in Shanghai?
There are 11 cafés and roasters in Shanghai on Roasters, which ranks the city #2 in China and #307 worldwide.
How does Shanghai compare with other cities in China?
Shanghai ranks #2 of 6 cities on Roasters in China. The median city there lists 3 cafés; Shanghai lists 11.
What other cities in Asia are comparable to Shanghai for coffee?
Looking only at the number of specialty cafés listed, Colombo (Sri Lanka), Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Ko Samui (Thailand) are the nearest peers to Shanghai in the region.
What is the easiest way to plan a coffee crawl in Shanghai?
Open Shanghai in the Roasters app, save the cafés you want to try to a list, and use the map to route between them. The app shows which ones are open right now.
What counts as specialty coffee?
Specialty coffee is graded 80+ points on the Specialty Coffee Association’s 100-point scale. In practice it means traceable beans, lighter roasts that keep origin character, and baristas who dial in espresso and filter with care.
A great café in Shanghai is missing. What can I do?
Submit it from the app. The community team checks every submission against the specialty bar before it appears on the map.
