Cafeography
Taipei · Dadaocheng & Dihua Street

Cafés in Dadaocheng & Dihua Street

Dihua Street's shophouse rows, a tea trade from the 1860s and cafés near the old river wharf.

Photo: Jimmy Liao, Pexels License

Dadaocheng (大稻埕) grew on the Tamsui River bank after 1853, when Tong'an merchants lost a feud over docking rights in Monga (艋舺, today's Wanhua) and moved north.1 Once Tamsui opened as a treaty port in 1860, it became Taipei's busiest trading hub, dealing above all in tea and cloth.1

Dihua Street (迪化街), laid out in the 1850s and renamed in 1947 after the Xinjiang city now called Ürümqi, is its spine, under one kilometer long.23 It was the center of the trade in Chinese herbs, fabrics, incense and the finishing of Taiwanese tea.3 Cafés now share it with those shops: Salt Peanuts Cafe (鹹花生) at No. 197, Modern mode café at No. 278 and 福來許 at No. 76 of Section 1.

Local tip: Baido Cafe at No. 214, Section 2 of Yanping North Road opens at 08:00, earlier than most cafés in Dadaocheng; start there and walk south to the wharf.

At a glance

197Cafés listed
18With opening hours
08:00Earliest opening
03:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: 擺渡咖啡, from 08:00 (Daily 08:00–19:00).
  • Closes latest: 町咖啡, until 03:00 (Daily 08:00–03:00).
  • Most common features: outdoor seating (6%), wi-fi (6%), partial wheelchair access (5%).

好杯咖啡

  • 昌吉街 22
  • Mon 12:00–17:00 · Tue–Fri 12:00–21:00 · Sat–Sun 11:00–21:00
  • +886 2 25955108
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Coffee chains in Dadaocheng & Dihua Street

Tea before coffee

In 1865 the British merchant John Dodd brought oolong seedlings from Anxi County and urged northern farmers to plant them, and in 1869 he shipped 2,000 擔 (dan, piculs) from Dadaocheng to New York as "Formosa Tea".1 By 1886 the district counted 252 tea merchants.1

Wang Tea (有記名茶), founded in 1890, is in its fifth generation and still roasts tea over charcoal in its own roasting room, at Lane 64 of Chongqing North Road Section 2.5 Tea houses are easier to find around Dihua Street than in most of the city.8 Shi Sien Tea (蒔現茶空間) on Minsheng West Road opens Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00–17:30.

Four kinds of façade on Dihua Street

The street has single-storey Minnan houses with tile roofs, two-storey Western-style houses modeled on Tamsui's 1870s trading firms, ornate imitation-Baroque fronts and, most numerous, modernist façades.2 The Baroque fronts, in red brick and washed stone, went up mostly in the Taishō period (1912–1926).1

It nearly lost them all. In 1977 the city approved widening the street from 7.8 m to 20 m, which would have cleared the old buildings; residents launched a campaign to save it in July 1988, and a 1995 plan kept the original width and gave 77 historic buildings priority for preservation.2

Cafés street by street

Lane 14 of Dihua Street Section 1 holds Cup of Qing (一杯青) and 草原派対, which takes cash only. Yanping North Road, one block toward the river, has 143 POLARIS and Comptoir Cafe (潮洋行) at Nos. 143 and 151 of Section 1, SYZYGY Coffee (朔望咖啡) in Lane 69, and Baido Cafe (擺渡咖啡) at No. 214 of Section 2. Boan 84 Space (保安捌肆) takes its name from its address, No. 84 Bao'an Street.

For late tables, Block & Cafe (町咖啡) on Taiyuan Road opens 08:00–03:00, and 深夜咖啡 ("late-night coffee") on Jiuquan Street serves until midnight.

The temple, the wharf and getting there

The Xia-Hai City God Temple on Dihua Street, completed in 1859, enshrines Yue Lao, the god of marriage, and draws people hoping to find a partner.61 Dadaocheng Wharf, by Water Gate No. 5, was revived by the city in 2005 as a cycling spot and pier for boat tours; boats leave for Tamsui on weekends.4

Beimen station on the Songshan–Xindian line is the closest MRT stop to the wharf.7 At the north end, Daqiaotou station on the Zhonghe–Xinlu line sits beneath Minquan West Road.9 In the half-month before Lunar New Year, roughly the 10th to the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, Dihua Street becomes the 年貨大街 (New Year goods market), held there since 1996.2

Sources

  1. 大稻埕, Wikipedia (Chinese), accessed October 2026
  2. 迪化街, Wikipedia (Chinese), accessed October 2026
  3. Dihua Street, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  4. Dadaocheng Wharf, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  5. 有記名茶 Wang Tea, Wang Tea (official site), accessed October 2026
  6. Xiahai City God Temple, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  7. Beimen metro station, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  8. Taipei, Wikivoyage, accessed October 2026
  9. Daqiaotou metro station, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
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In Dadaocheng & Dihua Street, also browse: Specialty coffee Wi-Fi Open late Outdoor seating Bakery cafés

FAQ

Dadaocheng & Dihua Street cafés: questions

How do you get to Dihua Street and Dadaocheng Wharf in Taipei?

Take the Songshan–Xindian line to Beimen station, the closest MRT stop to Dadaocheng Wharf. Daqiaotou station on the Zhonghe–Xinlu line, beneath Minquan West Road, serves the north end. On weekends boats leave the wharf for Tamsui.

When is the Dihua Street New Year market in Taipei?

The 年貨大街 (New Year goods market) fills Dihua Street in the half-month before Lunar New Year, roughly from the 10th to the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month. It has been held there since 1996, on a street laid out in the 1850s.

Where can you buy charcoal-roasted tea in Dadaocheng, Taipei?

Wang Tea (有記名茶), founded in 1890 and now in its fifth generation, still roasts tea over charcoal in its own roasting room at Lane 64 of Chongqing North Road Section 2, a few blocks from Dihua Street.

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