Taichung is one of Taiwan’s best café cities, full stop. Whether you’re after single-origin specialty coffee in a refurbished US military-era home, ice cream in a revived 1966 bank building, or Japanese french toast in a vintage neighbourhood house, this Central Taiwan city absolutely delivers.
From sleek minimalist spaces to gloriously quirky theme-design cafés, here are eight spots that make Taichung’s café scene genuinely hard to leave, and if you’re also exploring the north, check out the best coffee in Taipei for your next stop.
Fourth Credit Union
Best For: Heritage ice cream and café experience
If there’s one place in Taichung that earns the phrase “only in Taiwan,” it’s this one.
The same group behind Miyahara took a 1966 credit cooperative building on Zhongshan Road and turned it into something extraordinary. The original vault doors are still there, the standing counters are still there, and staff wear vintage confectionery outfits as if nothing unusual is happening.
The ground floor is a 72-flavor fresh-batch ice cream parlor, presented like a painter’s palette of intense color.
Seasonal Taiwan fruits like Hami melon, mango, lychee, and passionfruit are the stars, but the toppings are where it gets fun: chunks of traditional Taiwanese wedding cake, pineapple cake, sweet through savory. Pair this stop with a visit to some of the taiwan best restaurants nearby for a full day out.
Head upstairs for a more relaxed café vibe, syrup waffles piled high, and a popular shaved-ice counter.
Atmosphere: Opulent retro bank interior with vault doors, vintage staff outfits, and a buzzing dessert energy.
Menu Highlights:
- 72-flavor fresh-batch ice cream (seasonal Taiwan fruits)
- Toppings: Taiwanese wedding cake, pineapple cake
- Syrup waffles with sweet toppings
- Shaved ice, tea eggs, duck wings
Address: No. 72, Zhongshan Rd., Central District
The Factory / Mojocoffee
Best For: Taichung’s best single-origin coffee
Tucked into a quiet residential enclave that was once home to US military personnel, this refurbished two-storey house is consistently cited in online reviews as serving Taichung’s best coffee. Every single cup is brewed individually from single-origin beans sourced globally.
The interior is bright and reading-space calm, with walls of books on both floors.
Look up at the corner of the façade and you’ll spot a small tower that genuinely resembles a church steeple.
The small-pane windows send lovely streams of light into the open-concept space, much like the architecturally interesting cafes in Kaohsiung that share this love for repurposed heritage buildings.
On the second floor, staff artisan-roast beans on site (hence “The Factory”), and you can buy bags to take home.
Atmosphere: Quiet, bright, book-lined refurbished home with a warm reading-space calm and natural light.
Menu Highlights:
- Bruleecino
- Affogato al Caffe
- Waffle with Chocolate
- Single-origin coffees brewed individually
- Artisan roasted beans available to purchase
Address: No. 22, Jingcheng 6th St., West District
Miyahara
Best For: Iconic desserts in colonial architecture
Just a short walk from Fourth Credit Union along Zhongshan Road, Miyahara operates out of a stunning multistory building from 1927. Originally a Japanese colonial-era eye clinic, later the Taichung Health Bureau, and now one of the city’s most beloved dessert destinations.
The preservation of the architecture alone is worth the trip.
Miyahara is run by the same group behind Fourth Credit Union and shares the same passion for high-end confections: ice creams, chocolates, and milk teas made with seasonal Taiwan ingredients.
If you want to sit down rather than queue at the main counter, ask staff about the dine-in café area. The flavour selection is more limited, but you get to actually enjoy the remarkable space around you.
Atmosphere: Grand 1927 Japanese colonial building with soaring preserved interiors and an indulgent dessert atmosphere.
Menu Highlights:
- Seasonal ice creams
- Handcrafted chocolates
- Specialty milk teas
- Dine-in café selection (ask staff for access)
Address: No. 20, Zhongshan Rd., Central District
Hecho Cafe
Best For: Relaxed brunch and specialty coffee
Hecho is the kind of neighbourhood café that Taichung does so well: small, independent, and quietly confident in what it does.
It’s a favourite among locals and visitors alike for its carefully prepared specialty coffee and solid brunch menu that won’t let you down on a slow morning.
The vibe is relaxed and unpretentious, making it a brilliant first stop before a full day of café hopping through the West District.
The coffee is the main draw, but the food holds its own too. No bells and whistles, just a genuinely good café doing what it does without fuss.
Atmosphere: Small, calm, and unpretentious neighbourhood café with a quietly confident specialty coffee focus.
Menu Highlights:
- Specialty hand-brewed coffee
- Espresso-based drinks
- Western-style brunch plates
- Single-origin roasts
Bugcat Capoo House
Best For: Character café fun and cute souvenirs
If you know Bugcat Capoo, the perpetually grumpy little cat-bug character, you already know why this place exists. And if you don’t, a visit here will convert you within about three minutes.
This character café in the West District is utterly charming and brilliantly executed, with themed décor and merchandise filling every corner.
It’s a genuine experience rather than just a photo stop. The souvenirs are genuinely cute rather than just slapped-on branding.
A must for anyone travelling with friends who love character culture, or anyone who simply appreciates a café that commits fully to its own universe.
Atmosphere: Fully immersive Bugcat Capoo themed space packed with character decor, merchandise, and playful energy.
Menu Highlights:
- Bugcat Capoo themed drinks
- Character merchandise and collectibles
- Themed food items
- Exclusive Taichung souvenirs
Address: No. 23, Lane 8, Mofan St., West District
DAS kafeD
Best For: German-themed café with stunning interiors
DAS kafeD is the kind of café you approach down a straight garden walkway, past a front lawn of trees and bushes, wondering if you’ve found the right place. You have.
The purpose-built structure at the back of the lot has the look of a future-time shrine, with a translucent white screen that softens incoming light from the 5-metre-high windows inside.
The official theme is “a little piece of Germany,” specifically Dresden, which the owner says means “people of the riverside forest.”
The forest motif runs everywhere: light-tone wood flooring, full-wall forest murals, trees visible through every window.
Coffee is prepared using German single-serving technique and imported German equipment at a central island-style bar.
The signature dessert is baumkuchen, “tree cake,” named for its characteristic rings, served in creative sandwich forms. There’s even a window into the pastry kitchen so you can watch it all being made.
Atmosphere: Church-like vaulted ceilings, 5m windows, forest murals, and warm wood tones creating a serene woodland feel.
Menu Highlights:
- Baumkuchen in sandwich forms: triple chocolate, matcha macadamia, rum raisin
- Ciabatta sandwiches: tomato avocado, Margarita
- German-style fruit teas, sodas, caramel milks
- International import coffees via German brewing equipment
Address: No. 382, Dajin St., Nantun District
Blank Space
Best For: Afternoon tea in a lifestyle building
Blank Space is a four-storey lifestyle building that has quietly become one of Taichung’s most-loved afternoon destinations.
The ground floor café draws you in with its signature monochromatic aesthetic: clean lines, muted tones, and freshly brewed coffee or tea that actually tastes as good as it photographs.
What makes it more than just a café is what’s upstairs. A flower shop on the third level where you can buy fresh blooms, a clothing store, and rotating exhibitions.
It’s the kind of place where you arrive for coffee and somehow spend two hours. Perfect for an unhurried afternoon.
Atmosphere: Monochromatic, clean-lined four-storey lifestyle space with flowers, art, and a calm creative energy.
Menu Highlights:
- Freshly brewed specialty coffee
- Afternoon tea selection
- Fresh flower purchases (3rd floor)
- Rotating exhibitions to explore
Ivorish
Best For: Premium Japanese french toast experience
Ivorish arrived in Taichung with a reputation already built in Japan, and it absolutely lives up to it.
Housed in a vintage building in a genuinely charming old neighbourhood, this café is the go-to destination for premium Japanese-style french toast. Thick, beautifully golden, and made with ingredients that take this well beyond any brunch-café version you’ve tried before.
The setting feels like stumbling into someone’s very stylish old home, which is a large part of the appeal.
It’s intimate, unhurried, and the kind of place where the food looks just as good as it tastes, a combination that’s rarer than it should be.
Go early or expect to wait. Ivorish has a loyal following for good reason.
Atmosphere: Intimate vintage house setting in a quiet old neighbourhood with a warm, unhurried Japanese café feel.
Menu Highlights:
- Signature thick-cut Japanese-style french toast
- Premium french toast variations
- Japanese-inspired café drinks
- Seasonal specials
Final Thoughts
What makes Taichung’s café scene genuinely special is the variety, not just in coffee or food, but in concept, setting, and soul.
You’ve got a 1927 Japanese colonial eye clinic turned ice-cream parlour, a German-themed café approached through a garden, a four-storey lifestyle building with a flower shop on the third floor, and a cozy refurbished house where baristas roast beans upstairs while you read downstairs.
Whether you have a single afternoon or a full week, these eight cafés give you a proper taste of what this city does better than almost anywhere else in Taiwan.
Café hop your way through, and let me know in the comments which one becomes your favourite!
