斷壁殘垣間，凝結一場時空的對話
Amid the Ruins, a Dialogue Suspended in Time
— Cream & Bean
「你要來杯咖啡嗎？」對現代人來說，隨手一杯咖啡已是不可或缺的生活儀式。即使早晨來不及在廚房親自沖煮，走入街頭巷弄的咖啡館隨手帶上一杯，也是忙碌生活中最輕便的心靈慰藉。但你可曾想過，這份隨手可得的香氣，未來可能因氣候變遷與全球暖化而逐漸消失？
那些我們原本以為習以為常或難以撼動的存在，有天，也會隨著時間漸漸逝去。既然知道，凡事都有定期，那我們如何才能留住自己珍視的事物，使它永存於我們的生命中？記得初訪「Cream & Bean」的當下，瞬間恍若置身古羅馬遺跡，卻又能看見現代元素穿插其間，碰撞出極具張力的時空衝突感；向後回望，仍是那稀鬆平常的車水馬龍。櫃檯後方整齊排列的磨豆與沖煮設備，讓人明瞭空間用途，卻好奇著主題營造背後的原因是什麼？
What we once assumed to be ordinary, or too firmly rooted to be shaken, can also slip away with time. Knowing that everything has its season, how do we hold on to what we cherish and allow it to endure in our lives? I still remember my first visit to Cream & Bean. For a moment, it felt as though I had stepped into the ruins of ancient Rome, only to find contemporary elements threaded through the scene, creating a charged tension between different eras. Turn around, and the usual traffic is still streaming by. Behind the counter, rows of grinders and brewing equipment make the function of the space immediately clear, yet they also leave you wondering what lies behind such a deliberate setting.
當下的精萃，未來的遺蹟
The Present Distilled, the Future in Ruins
「Cream & Bean」為大同區承德路二段劃開一道時空裂痕。這裡捨棄了現代店面應有的規整秩序，反而化作「未來考古現場」，邀請顧客遊走於斷壁殘垣的石柱間，在裸露鋼筋下挑選風味獨特的義式冰淇淋、思考要選擇哪種冷萃咖啡開啟一天的儀式感，透過感官發掘場域分布的線索，從而體會業主 Curtis 藏在超現實場景中的深層意義。環顧周圍、等待餐點的同時，許多顧客或許心中冒出相似念頭「主理人應該很喜歡古羅馬遺跡，鍾情那種宏偉結構又帶點歲月感的痕跡吧？」。然而，眼前交織現代與古羅馬美學的景象並非僅由如此單純的原因構成。若非「Cream & Bean」主理人 Curtis 引領與娓娓道述，從店面一側拾級而上來到上層「Knock Knock Heaven」餐酒館，這才明白眼前落日神殿場景，竟是一樓外帶咖啡廳關鍵的完整拼圖，將上下層化為一場跨時空的感官旅程。
On Section 2 of Chengde Road in Taipei’s Datong District, Cream & Bean seems to open a fissure in time. Rather than following the orderly logic expected of a contemporary shopfront, it presents itself as a future archaeological site, inviting visitors to move among broken walls and massive stone-textured columns, choose a distinctive gelato beneath exposed reinforcing bars, and consider which cold brew should begin the day’s ritual. Through sight, texture and atmosphere, they follow clues scattered throughout the space and gradually arrive at the deeper meaning Curtis, the mind behind Cream & Bean, has embedded in this surreal setting. As they look around and wait for their order, many visitors are likely to arrive at the same thought: the person behind this place must have a particular fondness for Roman ruins, for their monumental forms and weathered sense of history. Yet the scene before them, where contemporary and Roman aesthetics are interwoven, rests on something more layered than that. Only when Curtis leads visitors up the stairs at one side of the café to the restaurant-bar upstairs, Knock Knock Heaven, does the full picture come into view. The sunset-lit temple setting above turns out to be the missing piece of the takeaway café below, transforming the two floors into a sensory journey across time.
「你對 Heaven（天堂）的印象是什麼？」每個人腦海浮現的畫面會依自身信仰文化有所不同。但，「莊嚴感」應該會是共通點。這讓 Curtis 不禁思索，要如何打破多數人對於 Heaven 的想像力，反呈現帶點衝突感和個性的樣貌？加上他深受美國視覺藝術家 Daniel Arsham 核心美學的啟發——「虛構考古學」（Fictional Archaeology），讓 Curtis 也意識到「今日的日常將成為明天的考古遺跡」，那種將當代文明的物件以石膏、火山灰或方解石重新雕塑，並刻意營造侵蝕與結晶狀態的創作手法，不僅帶來視覺震撼，更拋出人對現代文明「脆弱性」和「永恆性」的詰問：「我們今天認為重要的事物，是否真的能永存？」
“What comes to mind when you think of Heaven?” The answer varies according to culture and belief, but solemnity is likely to be the common thread. That led Curtis to ask how the conventional image of Heaven might be unsettled and reimagined with more tension and individuality. He was also deeply influenced by the core aesthetic of the American visual artist Daniel Arsham and his concept of Fictional Archaeology. It prompted Curtis to recognise that the ordinary things of today may become the archaeological remains of tomorrow. In Arsham’s work, objects from contemporary civilisation are recast in plaster, volcanic ash or calcite, then deliberately made to appear eroded and crystallised. The result is not only visually arresting. It also raises a larger question about the fragility and permanence of modern civilisation: can the things we regard as important today truly last?
延續「Heaven」這個主題，Curtis 腦海浮現出一幅由羅馬柱與階梯交織而成的畫面，勾勒出大眾對於天堂的經典想像。其次，羅馬遺跡象徵人類文明對「永恆」的渴望，如同咖啡文化跨越千年的傳承。想必，古羅馬文明的輝煌盛世，讓當時的人們難以想像後來的衰落與再詮釋；如今，習以為常的阿拉比卡豆，在氣候變遷威脅下，未來可能如羅馬遺跡般，只能在「虛構考古」的展廳中被看見。於是，「Cream & Bean」作為樓上餐酒館的延伸，為了讓整個品牌體驗更趨於完整，Curtis 便找來 FORSPACE STUDIO 的設計師 William，將古羅馬神殿元素破碎化再結合未來感的金屬物件，打造過去與未來共存的時空。不僅作為一家咖啡館，更是 Curtis 為未來保存的一場「感官預演」。
Continuing from the theme of Heaven, Curtis began to picture a scene of Roman columns and ascending steps, tracing a classic image of paradise. Roman ruins also symbolise humanity’s longing for eternity, much like coffee culture itself, which has been handed down across centuries. At the height of ancient Roman civilization, people could hardly have imagined the decline and reinterpretation that would follow. Today, the Arabica bean, so familiar as to seem almost unshakable, may one day, under the threat of climate change, come to resemble those ruins, encountered only in the galleries of fictional archaeology. As an extension of the restaurant-bar upstairs, and in order to make the brand experience feel more complete, Curtis worked with William, designer at FORSPACE STUDIO, to fragment the elements of an ancient Roman temple and combine them with futuristic metal forms, creating a space in which past and future coexist. It is not only a café, but also Curtis’s sensory rehearsal for preservation.
在消融之前，凝結永恆
Before It Melts Away, Holding Eternity Still
看過主理人 Curtis 分享的幾張參考影像後， William 即想到可運用水泥、礦石質感重現羅馬遺跡的宏大與破碎感，呼應藝術家 Daniel Arsham 的理念。透過斷裂羅馬柱和牆面侵蝕的空洞，營造一個具有殘缺感的空間，彷彿將人帶入「時間的交界處」，開啟一場身臨其境的感官探索體驗。不僅止於裝修上的視覺重塑，「Cream & Bean」從餐點到咖啡豆選擇的構思都是強化「未來考古現場」這個理念的重要環節。Curtis 與其團隊深知 Cream（奶油／Gelato）會隨熱度消融，就像 Bean（咖啡）可能隨氣候消失。為了對抗這種「脆弱感」，他們想用最精準的技術對待每粒咖啡豆，在美好事物變成遺跡前，邀請人們置身於破碎的美學空間，品嘗跨越時空的純粹。
In keeping with Daniel Arsham’s ideas, William says that after seeing the reference images Curtis shared, he immediately thought of using concrete and mineral textures to recreate both the scale and the brokenness of Roman ruins. Broken columns and erosion-like openings in the walls give the interior a deliberate sense of incompletion, as though drawing visitors to a threshold where different eras meet. Yet the concept extends beyond the visual treatment of the space. At Cream & Bean, everything from the menu to the choice of beans reinforces the notion of a future archaeological site. Curtis and his team know that cream, in the form of gelato, melts in heat, just as the bean itself may disappear under a changing climate. Their answer to that fragility is precision. Every coffee bean is handled with care. Before beautiful things are reduced to ruins, visitors are invited into a space shaped by fractured beauty to taste a purity that seems to travel across time.
當顧客來到櫃檯前，瀏覽壁面上電子刊板思考要點什麼時，向左望去，便可看到吧檯左端有六支線條流暢的咖啡冷萃機，在帶有斑駁美感的氛圍中，其具科技感的外型顯得格外醒目。這是 Curtis 希望透過冷萃技術極其精確的參數，在冰與火的邊界捕捉咖啡最純粹的風味，亦代表著他們對「資源」的極致尊重，期待人們在淺啜每一口咖啡時，意識到其珍貴與有限性。此外，店內特別選用台灣在地種植與烘焙的豆子，以縮短碳足跡，同時試圖在台灣這片土地上種下屬於未來的咖啡種子，讓它不至於成為未來的「考古化石」。延續品牌標誌性的衝突美學，就連「Cream & Bean」的義式冰淇淋（Gelato）也大膽融入台灣當地風味。從鳳梨酥、麻辣花生到茶香口味，甚至是人氣最高的紅心芭樂，都讓顧客在每一口綿密細緻的口感中品嘗到那份驚喜又熟悉的在地滋味。
When customers arrive at the counter and scan the digital menu boards, a glance to the left reveals six sleek cold-brew machines lined up at the far end of the bar. Against the weathered surfaces of the interior, their technological presence feels especially striking. For Curtis, they offer a way to capture coffee at its most precise and elemental, using the exacting parameters of cold brew to hold flavour at the threshold between ice and heat. They also reflect a rigorous respect for resources, with the hope that each sip might bring an awareness of both the value and the finiteness of what is in the cup. The café also uses beans grown and roasted in Taiwan to reduce its carbon footprint, while at the same time trying to plant the seeds of coffee’s future on this island, so that coffee does not one day become an archaeological fossil. Extending the brand’s signature language of contrast, Cream & Bean’s gelato also incorporates Taiwanese flavours with equal confidence. From pineapple cake and mala peanut to tea-infused varieties and the best-selling red-fleshed guava, each smooth spoonful carries a taste that feels both surprising and familiar.
面對近年來特獨立咖啡廳如雨後春筍般湧現，主理人 Curtis 選擇用人脈跳脫單純賣咖啡的模式，轉而將空間定義為跨界交流平台。從料理、咖啡、音樂開始，甚或未來的活動策畫，透過邀請各界佼佼者共同創造一場充滿美學張力的感官旅程，讓品牌在時間的長河裡，始終散發鮮活的生命力。
At a time when independent cafés continue to proliferate, Curtis has chosen to move beyond a model defined simply by coffee. Drawing on his network, he sees the space instead as a platform for cross-disciplinary exchange. Beginning with food, coffee and music, and potentially extending into future programming, he hopes to bring together talents from different fields to create a sensory journey charged with aesthetic tension, allowing the brand to remain vivid over time.
