{ "id": "epmbr1jsqb", "slug": "cafe-waiting-love", "title": "Café Waiting Love", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014", "label": "Comedies of 2013 to 2014", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014.alpha-symbols-to-i", "label": "Titles symbols to I", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014.alpha-symbols-to-i" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020: Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Café Waiting Love (等一個人咖啡) is a 2014 Taiwanese romantic comedy directed by Chiang Chin-lin, adapted from Giddens Ko's 2004 novel, starring Vivian Sung and Bruce; it earned over NT$260 million in Taiwan.", "snippet": "Café Waiting Love (等一個人咖啡) is a 2014 Taiwanese romantic comedy directed by Chiang Chin-lin, adapted from Giddens Ko's 2004 novel, starring Vivian Sung and Bruce; it earned over NT$260 million in Taiwan.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2013-to-2014.alpha-symbols-to-i", "markdown": "# Café Waiting Love\n\n**Café Waiting Love** (等一個人咖啡) is a 2014 Taiwanese romantic comedy film directed by Chiang Chin-lin (江金霖), based on the 2004 novel of the same name by the Taiwanese writer [Giddens Ko](https://www.edgepedia.org/giddens-ko) (九把刀), who also wrote the screenplay.[1](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fcch62065064/) • [2](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/3d78033b331a5067af36028090b24141) It was released in Taiwan on 15 August 2014 and became one of the year's highest-grossing Taiwanese films, earning over NT$260 million at the box office.[1](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fcch62065064/) • [3](https://www.tcf.taipei/taipeicultureSysUpDoc/achievements/2014%E5%8F%B0%E5%8C%97%E5%B8%82%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E5%9F%BA%E9%87%91%E6%9C%83%E5%B9%B4%E5%A0%B1.pdf)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | 等一個人咖啡 (Deng yi ge ren ka fei)[2](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/3d78033b331a5067af36028090b24141) |\n| Release | 15 August 2014, Taiwan; 118–119 minutes (sources differ by one minute)[1](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fcch62065064/) • [2](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/3d78033b331a5067af36028090b24141) |\n| Director / writer | Chiang Chin-lin (director); Giddens Ko (screenplay, based on his novel)[1](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fcch62065064/) |\n| Producers | Giddens and Angie Chai[4](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/cafe_waiting_love.html) |\n| Main cast | Vivian Sung (Siying), Bruce (A-Tuo), Megan Lai (Abusi), Marcus Chang (Zeyu), Vivian Chow (café owner)[2](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/3d78033b331a5067af36028090b24141) • [5](https://flixpatrol.com/title/cafe-waiting-love/streaming/) |\n| Box office | Taipei gross of NT$75.72 million as of 17 October 2014; over NT$260 million island-wide[1](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fcch62065064/) • [3](https://www.tcf.taipei/taipeicultureSysUpDoc/achievements/2014%E5%8F%B0%E5%8C%97%E5%B8%82%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E5%9F%BA%E9%87%91%E6%9C%83%E5%B9%B4%E5%A0%B1.pdf) |\n| Source novel | *Cafe Waiting Love* by Giddens Ko, first published 1 May 2004, 404 pages[6](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28382034-cafe-waiting-love?rating=2) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nSiying ([Vivian Sung](https://www.edgepedia.org/vivian-sung)), a college freshman, takes a part-time job at the \"Café Waiting Love\" coffee shop. There she meets Abusi (Megan Lai), a tomboyish barista who can make any coffee a customer requests, and the beautiful, mysterious café owner (Vivian Chow), who seems idle every day. Siying develops an instant crush on Zeyu (Marcus Chang), a regular customer who always sits in the same spot and appears to have a stream of girlfriends.[5](https://flixpatrol.com/title/cafe-waiting-love/streaming/) • [7](https://www.netflix.com/tw-en/title/81732068)\n\nA-Tuo (Bruce), a college senior surrounded by outlandish campus legends, comes to the café with friends and runs into Abusi, who he says stole his ex-girlfriend. When his friends mock him, the strong-willed Siying defends him, and the two become close friends. Through A-Tuo she meets Brother Bao (Lee Luo), a hot-pot restaurant owner who was once a film director, and Auntie Jindao (Pauline Lan), the owner of a laundry who is a superb cook and has been estranged from Brother Bao for 16 years.[1](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fcch62065064/) • [2](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/3d78033b331a5067af36028090b24141)\n\nThe story carries a supernatural thread. A-Tuo claims a childhood friend's spirit granted him the power to conjure grilled sausages from a girl he likes and hot douhua (sweet tofu pudding) from a girl who likes him. Abusi keeps trying and failing to brew the \"owner's special blend\" for the owner, who cannot drink coffee. The café's backstory is revealed late: on the rainy night the shop was completed, the owner's boyfriend, the store manager, was killed by a car, and she has waited ever since for a man who would take a bullet for her. Zeyu, it turns out, is the ghost of that manager, who has lingered in the café waiting for someone who can see him; it was he who arranged Siying's repeated encounters with A-Tuo, and A-Tuo who pulled her out of the path of a bus. Siying realizes the person she has been waiting for is A-Tuo, and after Zeyu's unfinished wish is fulfilled with a cup of the special blend and a letter, he departs.[2](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/3d78033b331a5067af36028090b24141)\n\n## Production and background\n\nThe film came three years after *You Are the Apple of My Eye*, Giddens Ko's record-breaking debut as a writer-director; this time Ko wrote and produced while Chiang Chin-lin took the director's seat.[8](https://www.subwaycinema.com/cafe-waiting-love) It was produced by Amazing Film Studio, Star Ritz Productions Co., and Edko Films.[9](https://tv.apple.com/tw/movie/cafe-waiting-love/umc.cmc.4ogib3yzswfa5knbpzuj1d9qp?l=en) Vivian Chow, a Hong Kong singer and actress making a rare screen appearance after years away from public life, plays the café owner; although she is on screen for less than five minutes, her character runs through the whole film.[1](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fcch62065064/) • [8](https://www.subwaycinema.com/cafe-waiting-love) Katie Chen and [Lin Mei](https://www.edgepedia.org/lin-mei)-hsiu also make cameo appearances.[1](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fcch62065064/)\n\nKo has described the story's origin as a stray idea that came to him one night while waiting for laundry to dry: what if the laundry's upstairs landlady cooked wonderful food in a hidden shop that never opened? The story grew from that image into a comedy about waiting for love to arrive rather than hunting for it.[10](https://www.sexedu.org.tw/link/sex201903.pdf)\n\n## Reception and box office\n\nThe film was a commercial success. The Taipei Culture Foundation's 2014 annual report credited it, as a Giddens Ko adaptation directed by the newcomer Chiang Chin-lin, with a box office exceeding NT$260 million New Taiwan dollars, and noted that the coffee shop used as the main set became a new tourist landmark.[3](https://www.tcf.taipei/taipeicultureSysUpDoc/achievements/2014%E5%8F%B0%E5%8C%97%E5%B8%82%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E5%9F%BA%E9%87%91%E6%9C%83%E5%B9%B4%E5%A0%B1.pdf) The @movies database records a Taipei gross of NT$75.72 million as of 17 October 2014.[1](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fcch62065064/) In South Korea, where it opened on 11 May 2017, it drew 7,288 admissions.[11](https://host.cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=42537)\n\nCritical responses varied in emphasis. Reviewers praised the chemistry between Vivian Sung and Bruce and the film's energetic, gag-driven comedy; the lovehkfilm review found the same attention to romantic detail that made *You Are the Apple of My Eye* a hit, but judged its magical devices and melodrama a matter of taste, warning that viewers who cannot accept a character conjuring tofu and sausages from thin air may not be the audience for it.[8](https://www.subwaycinema.com/cafe-waiting-love) • [4](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/cafe_waiting_love.html) Netflix categorizes it as quirky, bittersweet, and critically acclaimed.[7](https://www.netflix.com/tw-en/title/81732068)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe café set from the film was preserved intact and reopened as a real business under the same name, \"等一個人咖啡 Cafe. Waiting. Love\", which became a topic of online discussion for its unconventional menu and a tourist attraction for fans of the film.[12](https://life.tw/?app=view&no=610834) • [13](https://www.yha.org.hk/en/travel-the-world/backpackers-travelogue/cafe-waiting-love/) The Taipei travel guide describes the shop's white sign reading \"等一個人咖啡\" with the English text \"Cafe Waiting Love\".[14](https://www.travel.taipei/file/760/) The film also circulated internationally on streaming platforms, including Netflix, where it was listed with a 13+ rating and Mandarin audio.[7](https://www.netflix.com/tw-en/title/81732068)\n\n## References\n\n1. [等一個人咖啡 Cafe.Waiting.Love, @movies 開眼電影網](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fcch62065064/)\n2. [電影｜等一個人咖啡, 台灣影視聽數位博物館 (TFAI)](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/3d78033b331a5067af36028090b24141)\n3. [2014年國片成績亮眼，九把刀作品改編, 台北市文化基金會年報 (PDF)](https://www.tcf.taipei/taipeicultureSysUpDoc/achievements/2014%E5%8F%B0%E5%8C%97%E5%B8%82%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E5%9F%BA%E9%87%91%E6%9C%83%E5%B9%B4%E5%A0%B1.pdf)\n4. [Café. Waiting. Love (等一個人咖啡) (2014), LoveHKFilm](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/cafe_waiting_love.html)\n5. [Café. Waiting. Love Streaming, FlixPatrol](https://flixpatrol.com/title/cafe-waiting-love/streaming/)\n6. [Cafe Waiting Love by 九把刀, Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28382034-cafe-waiting-love?rating=2)\n7. [Café. Waiting. Love, Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/tw-en/title/81732068)\n8. [Cafe. Waiting. Love, Subway Cinema](https://www.subwaycinema.com/cafe-waiting-love)\n9. [Café. Waiting. Love, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/tw/movie/cafe-waiting-love/umc.cmc.4ogib3yzswfa5knbpzuj1d9qp?l=en)\n10. [《等一個人咖啡》創作緣起, 台灣性別平等教育協會 (PDF)](https://www.sexedu.org.tw/link/sex201903.pdf)\n11. [카페, 한 사람을 기다리다 (Cafe. Waiting. Love), Cine21](https://host.cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=42537)\n12. [還記得《等一個人咖啡》嗎？同名咖啡店公開天馬行空的經營理念, Life.tw](https://life.tw/?app=view&no=610834)\n13. [\"Café Waiting Love\", Hong Kong Youth Hostels Association](https://www.yha.org.hk/en/travel-the-world/backpackers-travelogue/cafe-waiting-love/)\n14. [等一個人咖啡 storefront, Taipei Travel (PDF)](https://www.travel.taipei/file/760/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2013 to 2014 › Titles symbols to I*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/cafe-waiting-love", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/cafe-waiting-love.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Café Waiting Love\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/cafe-waiting-love. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Café Waiting Love](https://www.edgepedia.org/cafe-waiting-love)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/cafe-waiting-love](https://www.edgepedia.org/cafe-waiting-love). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Café Waiting Love\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/cafe-waiting-love. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Café Waiting Love is a 2014 Taiwanese romantic comedy directed by Chiang Chin-lin, adapted from Giddens Ko's 2004 novel, starring Vivian Sung and Bruce; it earned over NT$260 million in Taiwan." }