Ground for coffee culture

Chen Yingying, who was crowned the champion for the coffee brewing category at the 2019 National Professional Competition for People with Disabilities, is among the trainers. A core employee of Hinichijou, Chen lost her hearing due to an illness as a child. She now uses sign language to teach other hearing-impaired people.

The manager of Hinichijou's new shop Yin Tianbao and his younger brother, Yin Tianyou, will also be roped into helping coach visually impaired trainees at the base.

"I hope that we can communicate and share more of what we have learned about coffee with other visually impaired friends so that they can also be interested in this," says Yin Tianyou.

To ensure that training is as realistic as possible, the environment of Hinichijou cafes has been re-created at the base. Trainees are not obliged to work for the brand after they complete the course.

"I hope they can come to work at Hinichijou after the training, but even if they don't, the training would've given them the necessary skills to work in other cafes," says Wang.

Although currently the base provides training for visually or hearing impaired individuals, more courses will be introduced in the future for those with other physical challenges, he adds.