Elderly barista delights young customers with aromatic coffee

Lei Shanpeng, a 69-year-old barista, serves pour-over coffee to customers in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.(Xinhua/Chen Qingbing)

In a small, cozy coffee shop situated along a narrow street in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Lei Shanpeng is busy serving pour-over coffee to customers seated outside. During the short breaks, the 69-year-old barista, adorned in a beautiful emerald dress that she made herself, a pair of matching earrings, and shoulder-length curly hair, gazes outside to appreciate the scenic beauty of spring. She feels immense joy and satisfaction about the delightful atmosphere she has created for her customers. "So many young people come to my shop. Every day is very refreshing," said Lei, who opened her tea and honey shop nearly two decades ago and transformed the shop two years ago into this coffee bar named POPO, which means "grandma" in Chinese. Despite facing doubt and confusion at the time, Lei was determined to go ahead with the transformation. Explaining her motivation, she says she had noticed that many of her regular senior customers were no longer visiting due to health issues and that's when she realized she needed to attract younger customers. Upon considering the preferences of young people, Lei immediately thought of coffee and beer. With a growing number of coffee bars in the city, she knew she needed to differentiate herself. Instead of choosing between coffee or beer, she decided to offer both. "If I can offer both, customers can come not just during the day, but also at night. This way, they can stay longer," she said. Towards the end of 2019, Lei began learning how to make coffee from her son's friend who is an experienced barista and owns his own coffee bar. Although Lei was no stranger to beer, she had never tried coffee before. To her surprise, the drink was "full of a special aroma and taste." According to Lei, to achieve a goal, a person must put in 100-percent effort. This dedication was evident in her previous tea business. Despite purchasing the same type of tea from the same supplier for years, she made sure to go to the supplier's store and taste the tea herself whenever restocking was necessary. Lei initially found it challenging to master the art of coffee making. "Despite the clarity of the steps involved, there were numerous factors that could affect the coffee's quality, such as the grind of the coffee, the water temperature, and even the barista's mood," she said. "Achieving perfection in every step of the process was not an easy feat."

After practicing for over a year, she finally became skilled in preparing pour-over coffee and she knew it was time to take the next step. Within a month, she refurbished her store and put up a new signboard. From 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., POPO coffee bar offers a variety of choices, including coffee, beer, spirits, red wine, and tea. Since its opening, POPO has successfully attracted many young people who see Lei not just as a successful barista but as an idol in life. Some come to her to learn about coffee, while others seek advice on opening their own coffee shops, and some simply chat with her, looking to draw positive energy from her. Zou Shiyu, a 25-year-old journalism student, came to this shop and wanted to film a short video for Lei. "She is super cool to pursue a life she wanted without letting her age limit her aspirations. She completely changed my impression of the elderly in China, as most of them are just looking after their grandchildren." Enlivened by the admiration of so many young people Lei said with a smile: "Some of them may feel overwhelmed and lost due to fierce competition, but they are still lucky in my opinion, and luckier than my generation because they have so many choices at this age. I often encourage them to live life to the fullest and find joy in the things of life, not in the judgment of others." "I cannot bear to just lie down and look at the ceiling every day. I would much rather look into the sky. This small shop is my nursing home where I can communicate with different young people every day and derive pleasure from it," she added.