Stay Café: An oasis of health in Garapan

Stay Café Saipan is located along Beach Road next to Saipan Computer Services and right across 13 Fishermen Monument.(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Stay Café Saipan is an oasis of healthy food and drinks right smack in the middle of Beach Road in Garapan.

Like other coffee shops on island, the establishment is chock full of percolating delights like caramel macchiato, hazelnut macchiato, mocha/vanilla latte, matcha (green tea) latte, Americano, and frappuccinos.

Stay Café Saipan also offers your choice of smoothies (strawberry, blueberry, bananas, and seasonal fruit like taro, mango, and honeydew) and its own unique blend of iced fruit teas, hot tea, milk tea, and fresh juice.

But what separates it from other cafes is owner Shu Li Yu opened the café in November 2021—during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—as a way of keeping the island community healthy.

Stay Café Saipan’s vegetable bibimbap.
(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

“The main purpose is to maintain my own living needs. In the face of the pandemic, I use a healthy life philosophy, mentality, and attitude to face reality positively, trying to make my customers feel that business is not only about making money, we can go to health, happiness, safety, and a positive attitude of life,” she said.

And Yu’s philosophy in life trickles into how she does business, especially on how she operates Stay Café Saipan.

We named our coffee shop ‘Stay Café’ because it means stay healthy, stay safe, and stay happy! Our mission is to nourish the community. We believe healthy and local food systems are an essential part of nourished communities. Working directly with local farmers and making everything in small batches allows us to make our nutritious, organic pantry more accessible, sustainable, and delicious.”

Stay Café Saipan’s salted cheese blueberries with crystal boba.(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Yu said what makes Stay Café Saipan different from other cafes on island is they only use fresh fruits, and real milk and cream, as well as make their own tea daily. They also bake their light cheesecake and handcrafted cookies from scratch.

Yu and her staff also offer special drinks like fresh pumpkin spice latte, peanut butter latte, activated charcoal latte, and banana latte as well as fruit juice-based Americano.

Healthy choices also translate to Stay Stay Café Saipan’s food menu as low calorie meals like chicken curry with rice, vegetable bibimbap, lo bah png or minced pork rice, stir fry chicken and potato rice bowl rotate, teriyaki chicken, turmeric braised chicken with roasted pumpkin, spicy bulgogi, and pork chops with brown rice rotate as lunch specials. 

Stay Café Saipan is open everyday, Monday-Friday 8am from 6pm, Saturday, from 9am-6pm, and Sunday, from 10am-6pm. It is located along Beach Road next to Saipan Computer Services and right across 13 Fishermen Monument.

For more information, call (670) 233-5558 or contact them via Facebook.