This National Day, swap the usual Shenzhen shopping itinerary for a coffee-led design trail.
A good café can do more than serve a decent flat white—it can turn a quick Shenzhen trip into a small design tour. This National Day holiday, make time for these five considered coffee spaces, where red-brick forms, Japanese references, local architectural traditions and community-minded interiors take centre stage.
1. Store by.jpg
At OPower Culture and Arts Centre in OCT, Store by.jpg appears less like a conventional café than a compact piece of urban architecture. Its two-storey red-brick volume twists upwards, creating a dramatic façade that immediately catches the eye.
Inside, the layout follows the building’s sculptural language. A takeaway counter opens directly onto the street, while a marble circular bar puts the brewing process at the heart of the ground floor. Upstairs, the curved terrace offers a more open setting for lingering over a coffee. With its mix of geometric forms, industrial details and richly textured brickwork, it is an easy first stop for design-minded visitors exploring the area.
Address: Unit 5-1, OPower Culture and Arts Centre, 19 Xiangshan East Street, Nanshan District, Shenzhen
2. SAANCI
Set within One Avenue in Futian, SAANCI brings the easy-going atmosphere of a mountain retreat into the centre of the city. The interior draws on Japanese camping culture, combining pale timber, soft lighting and touches of greenery to create an environment that feels sheltered rather than overly polished.
The café is well suited to a slower afternoon between shopping and sightseeing. Alongside hand-brewed coffee and espresso drinks, its changing menu of seasonal creations and baked goods adds to the appeal. It is the kind of place that makes even a busy National Day itinerary feel briefly unhurried.
Address: N130, Level 1, North Zone, One Avenue, Shennan Boulevard, Futian District, Shenzhen
3. Kurasu Shenzhen Bay
Kurasu has brought its Kyoto coffee heritage to Shenzhen Bay MixC with a space that feels architectural in miniature. Designed by Atelier L, the café takes cues from the timber-framed form of a traditional machiya townhouse, while subtly recalling the roofs of the fishing settlements that once defined this part of Shenzhen.
The result is layered and intimate: timber structures sit beneath angular rooflines, shaping a small retreat within the high-energy shopping complex. It offers a thoughtful setting in which to experience how a Japanese specialty-coffee brand can respond to Shenzhen’s particular urban and coastal context.
Address: Shenzhen Bay MixC, Nanshan District, Shenzhen
4. ANNND Café
ANNND approaches café culture from a more local perspective. The Shenzhen-based brand has worked with Ruhaus Studio across several locations, using each site to explore the role of the coffee shop within the rhythm of its surrounding neighbourhood.
At the Jingtian branch, familiar materials and retained objects from the previous store give the interior a lived-in quality. Instead of treating the redesign as a total reset, the space builds on what was already there, making room for regulars and new visitors alike. It is a subtle approach, but one that feels especially welcome during a crowded holiday weekend.
Address: Guotai Haoyuan, Jingtian South Road, Futian District, Shenzhen
5 ROOF/RED Coffee Shop
At ROOF/RED Coffee Shop, a vivid pitched roof becomes the main character. Designed by YIFEI YAN AND ASSOCIATES, the café places its bar beneath a crimson interpretation of a traditional tiled roof, bringing a recognisably regional architectural form into a contemporary interior.
Dark surfaces, timber accents and the bold overhead structure make the room feel both graphic and grounded. More importantly, the project looks beyond decorative nostalgia: it considers how a modern coffee ritual might meet the spatial language of local tea culture and vernacular building traditions. For visitors interested in the dialogue between tradition and new urban life, it is a memorable stop.
Address: Tianli Central Plaza, Nanshan District, Shenzhen
