96°C Café

96°C Café (Chinese: 96°C 咖啡) is MediaCorp’s first transmedia project related to coffee and romance. It was broadcast from 29 April to 24 May 2013 on free-to-air channel MediaCorp Channel 8 and consists of 20 episodes. Prior to the drama serial, prequels of 2 webisodes each week were released on xinfirst's portal progressively, for a period of 4 weeks, Mondays from 18 February to 11 March 2013.

Plot

Web Series Plot:

Nestled in a small lane in Singapore is a little-known café called 96°C Café. Former IT engineer, Liqiao, 28, a photography buff runs the café with his wife, Xijie, 27, a dessert chef.

Liqiao loves coffee, and is always the one brewing coffee behind the bar counter, leaving Xijie to hang out with the customers. Xijie, whose homemade tiramisu is a hit with customers, has a habit of reading by a small table next to the bar counter during quiet times. Although business is rarely thriving, there’s always a string of regular customers patronising the café and sharing their stories with Liqiao over a cup of coffee.

A day before Christmas, the couple was starting their day at 96°C Café when Xijie realised that she left her tiramisu at home. She then decided to head home to collect it while Liqiao stayed behind to manage 96°C Café. Time passed and just as Liqiao was wondering when Xijie would be back, he received a call from the hospital informing him that his wife was involved in an accident. A panicked Liqiao rushed to the hospital to find an unconscious Xijie. Doctors treating her said she was in a critical condition and advised Liqiao to prepare for the worst. Helpless, the agnostic Liqiao prayed for a miracle.

The next day, Liqiao, who spent the night at the hospital, was awakened by the sounds of footsteps. He went into Xijie’s room to find the doctors and nurses surrounding his wife. The doctor congratulated Liqiao of Xijie’s miraculous recovery and said she could be discharged immediately.

Incredulous but nonetheless happy, Liqiao brings Xijie home only to find her becoming withdrawn and exceedingly aloof towards him. She spends all her time making tiramisu, and refuses to step out of their home, let alone manage 96°C Café. Liqiao attributes her change to post-accident trauma, and did not mind as long as she's by his side.

Liqiao continues to run 96°C Café but Xijie no longer joins him and he always leaves the little table, Xijie's favourite, empty, in case she decides to come back to the café. Without helpers, Liqiao decides to put out a notice to hire staff.

Yuchen, 21, a Fine Arts student, comes to interview for a job at 96°C Café with the company of her friend, Shuting, 21. Shuting has a basic knowledge of coffee and Liqiao thinks she’s cut out for the job. However, it's Yuchen who wants the job and Liqiao, impressed with her enthusiasm, decides to hire her.

Yuchen starts work at 96°C Café. Shuting would tag along whenever she’s free, but never did she expect to develop a crush on someone at the café. Meanwhile, Yuchen keeps herself busy by trying to set up opportunities for Shuting and her “crush” whilst she tries to prove her worth to Liqiao. Unfortunately, Shuting’s fear of men prevents her from initiating the first move on her “crush” despite Yuchen’s constant help to pair them up.

Yuchen learns that Shuting’s arrhenphobia (fear of men) is due to her father’s over-protectiveness. Liqiao comes to know of Shuting’s problem through Yuchen, and makes her a cup of coffee using the Neapolitan Flip Pot. Through the coffee, he teaches Shuting about seeing things from a different perspective. Inspired, Shuting decides to put aside her prejudice and try to understand the opposite sex.

At the same time, Liqiao impresses Yuchen with his passion in running 96°C Café and the latter starts to see Liqiao, who had belittled her initially, in a different light.

Liqiao’s friendship with a regular customer, Pei Fen, 26, causes Yuchen to be jealous. Peifen, a DJ with a local radio station hosting a night time chat programme, has been a long-time regular customer of the café, and she was quick to realise the change in taste in the tiramisu ever since Xijie’s accident.

Pei Fen’s listeners would often ask her various questions about love even though she knows nothing about love. Never been through failure throughout her life, Peifen was not ready for love for fear of disappointments. All that, however, changes when deliveryman, Weida, 24, Yuchen’s suitor, caught her attention. Curious about Weida’s relentless pursuit of Yuchen despite her countless rejections, Pei Fen is determined to find out why.

One day, Peifen finds the phone that Weida leaves behind at 96°C Café, and in return for her help, Weida agrees to be interviewed by Pei Fen for a day. During the interview, Pei Fen finds it difficult to understand Weida’s courage in love. Then Liqiao steps in to explain the metaphor of waiting and giving in love – “One would never know the real outcome if one never gave or acted on something, and even if one failed at the end of the day, the process of giving was already a gain.”

Yuchen finds herself admiring Liqiao for his wisdom but did not realise that Liqiao is struggling to resolve his own problem with Xijie, who’s been locking herself out of his life.

Together with Liqiao’s dedication and Yuchen’s assistance, business at the café soon picked up, but Liqiao accidentally injures his arm and affected his ability to prepare hand-brewed coffee. Not wanting to disappoint the customers, the thoughtful Yuchen decides to learn the art of manual coffee brewing from Liqiao.

Learning the task was a tall order but Yuchen never gave up, staying back after work hours to master her skills, and she wonders if her perseverance was a result of her love for coffee or something else…

What will happen to 96°C Café, and what will become of Liqiao, Yuchen & Xi Jie?

Cast

Overseas broadcast

This would be the third Singaporean drama after the Unriddle series to be telecast on ntv7's primetime slot.

Country of Broadcast	Broadcasting Network	Premiere	Finale	Preceded by	Followed by
Malaysia	ntv7	26 August 2013 at 9.30pm, Mondays to Thursdays	26 September 2013	The Undercover	TBA
Indonesia	MediaCorp 8i	21 August 2013 at 7.00pm, Mondays to Fridays	17 September 2013		I'm in Charge

See also

• List of 96°C Café episodes
• List of MediaCorp Channel 8 Chinese Drama Series (2010s)

References