In the Jiangmen coffee community, Miss Tong is a household name. Her renown stems not just from running a coffee rostary for over two decades, but also from her pivotal role in uniting hundreds of local coffee businesses. Today, we'll delve into the story of Miss Tong and her journey with coffee.
Nanfang Daily: What do they call you？
Tong: My name is Jenny, but people usually call me Miss Tong.
Nanfang Daily: Do you remember the first cup of coffee in your life?
Tong: Vividly like yesterday. That was almost 40 years ago when I was still in the primary school age around 12 years old. I had it in a cafe where I would usually go for afternoon tea. I would normally order milk tea, but that day I wanted to try coffee for a change. After I drank it there, I felt my heart was beating so fast. I thought I was one of those who couldn’t drink coffee for life. But later on, when I went to Australia for studying, I got used to drinking coffee several cups per day. Nowadays when I go to other countries to do the cupping competitions, I sometimes need to drink more than 100 cups per day. Because every round I would need to drink about 20 something cups per table, and sometimes up to 6 rounds each day.
Nanfang Daily: How did you start your coffee business 22 years ago?
Tong: When I returned to Macau from abroad in 2002, my sister had been in the coffee business in Macao for many years. She suggested that there would be huge market potential in mainland China. I thought about it and decided to come back to my hometown Jiangmen to start a coffee business. Actually, it was not easy for me in the beginning. I had to face a lot of difficulties to adapt, including learning mandarin, which I spent nearly 3 years to get a good grasp of.
Nanfang Daily: What about the market at that time?
Tong: Back then the market was filled with Taiwanese coffee brands, which were very expensive. The cheapest was around 40 Yuan per cup, and the highest was up to 80 Yuan per cup. There were not many people who drank coffee at the time, which was why when I first visited Taishan, I was very surprised to see that so many people drank coffee. It was then that I learned about the history of overseas Chinese who had Taishan or more broadly Jiangmen origin, and about the local coffee culture that the overseas Chinese brought back with them when they returned to their hometown. The overseas Chinese not only brought back the coffee habit and culture to Jiangmen, but also helped kick off the local coffee industry.
Nanfang Daily: People say Jiangmen is “the city of coffee”. How do you think about that?
Tong: I totally agree. Jiangmen is a little bit different from Shanghai or Yunnan, in the sense that other cities may regard coffee as daily need, social props or personal identity items, but for Jiangmen it’s purely about enjoying life. Jiangmen people do love coffee a lot, both as consumers and as business owners. We have built the whole coffee value chain locally in Jiangmen, which still has huge business potential.
Nanfang Daily: After 22 years, how do you think about the decision of opening a coffee rostary in Jiangmen?
Tong: I think it was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life. The government here is very nice, offering us a good developed environment and helping us deal with a lot of difficulties. For example, the government recently raised a large promotional campaign named Happiness Happens Here. Part of it included organzing a coffee festival in February this year, which became very popular and well known. It gave us the opportunity to not only promote all of our brands, but also help bond different coffee businesses together to boom the overall Qiaodu Coffee brand that benefit for the whole local coffee industry.
I don't think the relationship between different coffee businesses in Jiangmen is competitive, but rather coopertive. It's in our best interest that all of us come together to grow the market bigger together. I think of all of us as a team, who share an important mission to attract more customers, more investors and more attention to Jiangmen.
Nanfang Daily: How do you decribe the relationship between you and coffee?
Tong: Coffee is part of my life. I cannot live without coffee.
Nanfang Daily: How do you define the best coffee?
Tong: The coffee you love is the best coffee for you.
Reporter | Iris Li of Nanfang Daily
Cameraman | Jie Liang of Nanfang Daily
Video Editing | Yi Xiong
