Recently, Paulo and I spent some time in Taiwan, and like any postcrossers out there, our first order of business was to locate nice postcards and stamps. 😍 Who better to recommend these than the local postcrossers? So, I asked on the forum and received quite a few tips from the locals — more than I could visit! One of them came from Ying-Han (aka henna168) who recommended Chu Entry Time, a postcard café! I was intrigued by the idea, so of course we needed to go check it out!
The fun starts outside, even before you get in, because the menu is all displayed in illustrated postcards! One picks the cards featuring the food or drinks you’d like to have, and then take them to the staff inside. The postcards are for you to keep, which is a really nice touch.
One special thing about Chu Entry Time is that you can mail postcards to someone in the future: you write, address and stamp your postcards, pay the fee and then put them on the box of the week you want them to be mailed. And then the staff will mail these for you when the time comes! So in theory, you can pre-send all your friend’s birthday cards for the whole year, or even a few years in advance.
It’s not the first time we hear of something like this, but it was the first time we saw a “postcard café” in real life, which was pretty cool. While we were waiting for our drinks, Paulo was browsing some magazines from a shelf and randomly stumbled on one that mentioned Postcrossing. What are the odds, eh?! 😊
There was also a really nice selection of illustrated postcards and other handmade crafts that you could buy, a table with rubberstamps for anyone to just use, and a few friendly cats that came to you for cuddles. It was just lovely all around, and I wish there were more of these in the world!
For more pictures, you can check out their Instagram account.
Do you know of other postcard-themed cafés out there? Tell us all about them! 😍
107 comments so far
This looks like paradise and made Taiwan jump to the top of my places to go! Thank you for sharing, this is a pretty rad idea.
I have visited Taiwan in 2018 because of all the great and lovely cards I got from there. It was awesome, I loved every minute of it and am hoping to visit again later this year. We (my husband and I) also met a local postcrosser, who showed us around in Taipei. It's a wonderful place, I can only recommend it!
I wish I could visit right now!
That sounds like heaven. <3
How cool is this!! Would love to spend some time there....great!
Amazing! ❤️🤩
What a beautiful idea and café concept ❤️.
Love it! 💌
I visited Taiwan in 2016 and collected a lot of amazing postcards, and lovely memories.
In China there is a famous store (貓的天空之城概念書店) that also offers a future postcard mailing option. I believe there are multiple branches as well.
The boss once did a TEDx talk.
(unfortunately the links are all in Chinese :/)
TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkMAhSZ9e1k
Pictures and writeup of the bookstore: https://kknews.cc/zh-tw/culture/kklamxb.html
So grateful for your insight and tour, gorgeous cards they look quite large. What a heavenly escape
Wow, this sounds like such a special place to visit.
Taiwan is so amazing! Thanks a lot for sharing about this café, it is now on my list of the places I have to visit before I die ^^
And hopefully this type of cafés will soon proliferate everywhere!
What a lovely cafe ♥️ so cool!
How much fun it will be to spend time there😍
Neat. Would love to visit! Anyone know of anything like this is the USA? Love a reason for a road trip!
This is charming! What a fun idea! And wouldn't I love to read that magazine article!
This is delightful! I would love to visit a place like this! Thank you for sharing.
太可愛啊！Wasn't aware of it but we will surely visit this café the next time we'll be in Taiwan!
I guess the fee for sending a postcard in the past is way too expensive, right?
I have no words. 😍
What place could be nicer for a postcard friend and cat lover like me?
What a great place!
Oh my! This is Postcrossers Heaven! It's on my bucket list!
Amazing!!
Amazing!
Great idea!
Wow! I want to go!
I LOVE this and the whole idea of sending cards in the future. Apparently, the one in the Netherlands (Leiden) is permanently closed. What a shame because I travel to the Netherlands on occasion and it would have been much closer to visit than Taipei. Guess I'm gonna just have to go to Taiwan! :)
主题咖啡馆，很有意思。 Thematic Café, Interesting
Fun!
Thank you for sharing! What a wonderful experience!
IDEA: Maybe Postcrossing could set up a page that provides postcard-y tourist hotspots, such as Chu Entry Time, so that when we plan our travels, we could include such spots in our itinerary.
Call it Postcard Travellers' Hotspots.
I am happy you enjoyed Chu Entry Time café that I recommended before:)
I used to sent some of their menu postcard in Postcrossing before^^
https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/TW-2766587
https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/TW-3055014
https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/TW-3087445
https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/TW-3268407
Welcome to Taipei~
I will visit this cafe :D
so cool! Is there is one in Japan ?
Definitely on my list! I miss Taiwan.
What an interesting place (and article!)
I would have to go back repeatedly, to order everything on the menu, just to get those postcards--they look wonderful!
I would LOVE to visit and wish we had this in Germany, too...thanks for sharing story and pictures
what a fantastic cafe, would like to visit it, but it is too far away
Wow...
A great idea
We visited a similar postcard cafe in Ipoh, Malaysia. Cafe de Eight. There you could also buy postcards, write them, place them on the wall for later postings. Nice food too! A cool place.
I Love Taiwan!
Sending pre-planned postcards for in the future mailing is very wonderful to contemplate.
My mother is 93 years old and for over 30 years, she has said that she plans to live to 140. Recently, she has started to realize that time seems to pass faster and faster, since 140 is approaching sooner than she expected, she has changed her mind and adjusted her plan to live to 300 years old.
My mother is my personal hero and I enjoy mailing her random postcards.
The paradise of postcards exists! #Kudos Taiwan for this secret place!
Excellent! Thanks for sharing! Never heard of a postcard cafe before. :)
Really great idea ! Thank you for sharing.
Wish there was something like this in Florida!
LUVIT!!!!
This is so cool, I love it!
Never heard of anything like it.
Thank you for telling us about it.
The best share on the blog this year.
AMAZING Story love it !!!!
Brilliant idea! ❤️👍️
Oh, what a great place this must by to visited.
I really enjoyed the blogs!
I'm pretty sure this place qualifies as an UNESCO World Heritage Site! What an awesome concept!
That is amazing! I would love to visit there.
This is the most beautiful place and idea concept that I've seen for a long, long time!
That is amazing! I would love to visit that cafe one day and to sightseeing Taiwan!
Wonderful!!
Taiwan is number 2 in statistics for country with most members. Only a little 5,000 new users and Taiwan is leader!!!
I wish that every capital city in the world had one off those cafe's.......
This was my favorite post to date! Does anyone know of any postcard cafes in the US?
Such a cute place! Postcard menus are a fun idea!
I have always wanted to travel to Taiwan, because Taiwan's letter culture is really good.
This is so unique! I wish there was something like this in Ontario, Canada!
There's a little Cafe called China Post near my office in Wang Jing 望京小街 in Beijing. I pass it everyday when I go to the gym at noon. But never have I entered in... I'll check it out tomorrow to see what's inside. By the way, I like the postcard cafe in Taiwan!
From Taipei, Taiwan! Didn't know about this! Wow!
Must visit someday:)
Amazing! Thanks for sharing!
I love this concept soooo much. It would be super, if such a place opened up in Vienna (and I'd find out about it!)! :-)
Mega !!! Thank you for sharing ! I would like to open such a restaurant - at once ! 😻
If you travel to China, you can come to Momicafe （猫的天空之城概念书店）, which has local cultural products, lots of postcards, books, coffee cakes, cats. Postcards can be sent to your future self.
I really like places like this.
Wow! Have to visit this if ever going to Taiwan!
sounds lovely
What a fabulous idea!
What a fantastic shop! It would be great to have a similar one in my town.
Marvellous!
I love this - thank you for sharing. Really wonderful idea and service!
This is so cute and I absolutely love everything about this concept!
Fun postcards, food, mailing to the future, and cafe CATS?!! Sounds like heaven lol Adding this to my list to visit for sure
💚 this idea!!! If their looking for a NEW location … Melbourne, Australia 🇦🇺 would welcome them👏👏👏
Myself would be a devote 📮😋
wow, i never knew we have such a great shop😍
One more reason, to the 1000 I already have, to return to beautiful Taiwan!! Thanks for sharing Ana, this place looks amazing!!
And yes, it would be a dream to have more places like this!
This really makes me want to go to Taiwan! These places should exist everywhere!
I'll be there someday ☺️
Great idea!!!!!
What a lovely place to visit! Anyone going there must leave with a smile.🥰
This is very cool! I wish it was possible to have a cafe like this here in the USA. 💌
FUN!
That is an amazing place 😍 - whish I could be there 😃
Oh I think I would like to visit this cafe. That cake and drink looked delicious too. Cake and postcards...perfect.
Oh my, this sounds so lovely! I wish someone would open up something like this here in New York!
so happy you were here! i live in taipei but have never visited this cafe, thanks for the blog post, will definitely give a visit! :)
Thank you for introduce 早初 entry time.
And i decide to go to there in June.
Thank you very much for sharing this cafe. I didn't know there were places like this! This is a very interesting idea! It will be interesting to learn about such places in the future!
One more reason to travel to Taiwan i have always wanted to go !! so cool!
Amazing
This is why Taiwan is the country I most want to visit.
Just Wow!!
I will be there within two years.
There is another wonderful postcard café in Tamsui, Taiwan, somewhere very near to the big river. A wonderful place to be and discover...
Wish I could be there now. It sounds delightful!
This is sooo amazing!! I must visit this cafe someday!! Thanks so much for sharing this story with us!
The Instagram is not working. Is anyone else having this problem too?
So cool!
Just ❤️💚❤️!
Looks like an amazing place to visit💚
I wish to be there right now!!! It looks like a perfect place to visit!!
I'll be going to Taiwan this year and can't wait to visit!
Wow the concept is amazing!
Definitely worth visiting : )
I am pretty sure my son would take the opportunity to get rid of all birthday cards of a year in one go😂. Great idea for a cafe.
A dream place 🤩! Meanwhile, is a mission impossible to get a postcard on my town 💔
Postcards and cats? "Purr-fect"!! :-) (The cafe part is an added bonus! ;-) )
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing! I would be there in August, and plan to send out some nice postcards from there to dome postcrossers I got in my list, in August 📬
What an incredible place! A dream for a postcrosser. I especially love the idea of sending a postcard in the future. What a remarkable place!
What an idea!!! It is really cool :-)
↑ Back to top ↑