Give up the high salary and just dream of opening a coffee shop for two young girls in Hainan.

Cappuccino coffee.

A corner of the Young Town Cafe.

Tang Guo (right) and Yang Jie are making coffee. Liu Xiao Fei

In this humble courtyard, there is a small cafe that has just opened.

The owner of the cafe is two girls from out of town, they are high school classmates, but they have a common dream-to open a coffee shop of their own. To this end, they gave up their previous high-paying jobs and opened a shop in Haikou.

The 50-square-meter shop, with incandescent lights on the ceiling, painted brick walls and transparent glass cans, contains all kinds of coffee beans, and the labels of "Manning", "Yunnan Hope" and "Colombia" tell customers where they come from. Order a mellow manning, listen to a soothing jazz, read an interesting book, and spend your afternoon idleness. "Young Town", to keep the beautiful moment, is the attitude of shop owners Tang Guo and Yang Jie. This small cafe carries their love and dreams.

Give up a high salary just for a dream

"Hello! What kind of coffee would you like? We offer a variety of items and espresso, as well as delicious handmade desserts! "No, I'm still so nervous!" Two big girls, practicing in front of an empty cafe. "Today is the first day of Young Town's opening, and it happens to be the 'National Coffee Day' in the United States. I hope it's a good sign!" Tang Guo told the reporter with a smile.

Post-80s Tang Guo and Yang Jie, both from Kaixian County, Chongqing, always have smiles on their faces, while a year ago Tang Guo was a white-collar worker with an annual salary of 300000 yuan. Even Tang Guo himself was surprised by the changes this year.

When she graduated from college, Tang Guo's idea was to work well enough and earn enough money, but her five-year work experience polished her edges and corners a little. The turning point always happens inadvertently. In May last year, when my husband and friends talked about cycling to Xizang, Tang Guo's restless heart immediately surged up, and for a whole month, he ran around on the road "met a lot of people, they left me countless moved." She recalled that during the trip, strangers who met by chance on their wedding anniversary picked wild flowers to congratulate them when their car broke down. Tibetan girls who had never met before walked several kilometers to bring them Zanba. A trip changed Tang Guo's view of life, life is to live a wonderful life, why move forward in the track of others? Life is to find something you love and fight for it.

In the months after riding back, Tang Guo and her husband have been talking about their future life. "in fact, he is not a stable person. Without me, I am afraid he is also running around." And I dream of opening my own coffee shop one day. " It was the two young people's pursuit of freedom that strengthened Tang Guo's idea of realizing his dream.

"of course, it takes a lot of determination to quit a stable job. at first, people around me didn't understand why they gave up the opportunity to develop in a big city and came to Haikou to open a cafe. Fortunately, my parents always supported me. They told me that as long as you stick to your dream, you can't be wrong!" Tang Guo's husband originally worked in Shanghai and wanted to come to Hainan. His lower salary could not cope with the mortgage, so he had to settle for second best and move to Guangzhou, quietly supporting his lover behind his back.

"slow tune" the coffee dream of Hainan

Speaking of how to come all the way to Hainan, "maybe this is the so-called fate." Tang said it all started when Xizang rode. Tang Guo and Yang Jie were classmates in junior high school, and their high school deskmate experience made them good friends who said everything. When they went to college to separate the two places, their contact became less and less. But when Tang Guo sent a postcard in Lhasa, he contacted this deskmate he hadn't seen for a long time and learned that Yang Jie had settled on Hainan Island, which is dozens of latitudes apart, so he made an appointment to ride Hainan together during the Spring Festival.

Tang Guo told reporters that her 10-day trip to Hainan made her yearn for this island with fresh air and leisurely life, and what surprised her most was the coffee drinking habit and good coffee atmosphere of Hainan people. "Hainan is also a famous coffee producing area. Coffee shops can be seen everywhere during the trip. You can order a full-bodied black coffee and savor it for an afternoon, only to find that this is your dream life."

When Tang Guo mentioned to Yang Jie his plan to open a coffee shop, the two hit it off. "We both fell in love with coffee in high school. It can be said that it is our dream to have our own coffee shop." Yang Jie said that in April this year, she went to the famous Coffee Dream School in Wuhan to learn coffee knowledge. After returning to Hainan, Tang Guo hand in hand with Yang Jie to learn the skills of making coffee, while self-taught relevant knowledge. Two girls with science background have become coffee enthusiasts.

They said they wanted to open a cafe in Shanghai, but the high rent was prohibitive. "since it's a partnership between two people, not in Shanghai, then Hainan! With the local tradition of drinking coffee and the relatively low rent, no problem! " Yang Jie said that the plan must start immediately, from the location to the design to the procurement of materials are all done by the two of them, sometimes in order to find satisfactory table wood, they went to all the timber markets in Haikou to settle down. On the other hand, the decoration of the store depends on the support of relatives and friends, simple painted brick walls with coarse sacks instead of wallpaper, chalk menus on the blackboard and various coffee utensils. Yang Jie pointed to a beautiful pair of "crane orchid" on the wall and told the reporter that her husband painted it specially for the cafe.

Speaking of the name of Young Town, Tang said there were some coincidences. "the Chinese name 'reverse time' suddenly occurred to me, hoping to convey the feeling of For-ever Young. I've been thinking about the English name for a long time, but I can't decide on it. When I chatted with a friend, I talked about our surnames, one surnamed Yang and one surnamed Tang. Let's just call it Young Town. It fits well with the artistic conception of "against time". It's perfect!

Confessions of coffee enthusiasts

Between words, Tang Guo skillfully grind coffee beans, put filter paper, filter out coffee grounds, a cup of mellow black coffee in front of reporters, rich aroma, smooth taste, this cup embodies the mood of the producer.

Tang Guo said that each different kind of coffee beans must be ground in different ways in order to show their characteristics. The freshness, grinding degree, water temperature and flushing time of the beans should be properly grasped so as not to affect the taste. "the most important thing is people. Carefully brewed coffee is perfect for the maker!"

Coffee pots and coffee cups with different shapes on the table are the most precious items for the two owners, which can only be found in various coffee set shops on the Internet. Yang Jie pointed to a container with an extraordinarily long spout on the table and told reporters that this coffee pot, in the eyes of coffee lovers, is a rare "artifact". The spout extends from the bottom, and the slender spout flows long when it is poured, ensuring the proper extraction degree of coffee, so that customers can drink it at the first time without feeling hot. "whenever we get a new utensil, we can't help but play with it carefully and wash it carefully after using it. Every coffee utensil is a work of art in our eyes!" Tang Guo said with a smile.

And the choice of coffee beans, also let them take some thought. After tasting and comparing several times, the two men found a stable roaster to supply a variety of freshly roasted coffee beans. Although imported coffee beans also increase the cost, they don't mind. "although the cost has increased, customers can enjoy a better taste!" Tang said.

While making, Yang Jie introduced to the reporter that each kind of coffee has its own stories and legends, so that people can feel the feeling of traveling through time and space when drinking coffee. "just like 'Manning', its origin is Indonesia, and its real name is not 'Manning'." During World War II, a Japanese officer drank mellow coffee in Indonesia and asked the locals what the coffee was called. Because of the language barrier, the locals mistakenly thought they were asked where they were from, so they replied: "Mandaining." Later, with misinformation, he was called "Manning" and went to the world from then on. "so the fun of coffee is not just how to make it, the story and culture behind it are more interesting!"

Life is like coffee, some from bitter to sweet, some with endless aftertaste. Tang Guo and Yang Jie's decision may have made them leave their superior lives, but turned their hobbies into jobs, thus finding real spiritual comfort.