Shanghai is teeming with thousands of fancy cafes. And two years after the city opened China's first coffee shop employing blind baristas, their new branches are still seeing long queues. Chen Tong tells us how coffeemaking is now another career possibility for the disabled, including the visually impaired.

Yin Tianbao and Yin Tianyou are twin brothers. They were born blind.

They never thought they could become skilled at handling machines, much less a complicated coffee maker.

After training for months, the twins have made coffee their career.

Using retrofitted coffee machines that enable the blind to use them, they are baristas at a popular cafe called Hinichijou in Shanghai's Pudong New Area.

Yin Tianyou says, coffeemaking opened up communication with his shy twin Tianbao.

YIN TIANYOU Barista, Hinichijou "Most of my friends who are blind turned to massage therapy for jobs. More of them are doing customer services or audio post production. But the job choices are still very limited. My brother Tianbao went to coffee training first. He's really shy and has never talked to me for two or three hours in more than 20 years except after his first coffee training. So I got curious and went to train too."

Their coffeemaking moves may not be as smooth, but the twin brothers can make one cup of Americano or Latte within two minutes. They work at Hinichijou's ninth branch in Shanghai, which opened in July. This new branch is giving out coffee for free as an opening promo, but coffee lovers won't hesitate to pay for the coffee later on.

"If I work nearby or have a date nearby, I will definitely come here. I'll definitely support them."

"I think this cup is more than just coffee, but with social values. I'm willing to pay for the cup."

Hinichijou is a coffee chain brand in Shanghai that first opened in 2020; it employs dozens of disabled persons as baristas, three are blind, and the others are hearing-impaired.

WANG TIAN Founder, Hinichijou "We want to help disabled persons get jobs or start their own businesses. We also urge other companies to focus on this special group and give them opportunities to be involved in society and find employment."

Though Tianbao and Tianyou for now can only prepare simple coffee drinks, they are working hard to learn to make other drinks and are even studying coffee art.

It may take a longer time for them than other baristas, but they are determined.

YIN TIANBAO Barista, Hinichijou "It's all about whether you can make this thing good or whether this is what you want to do. If the answer is yes, all the problems will not be problems at all."

CHEN TONG Shanghai "Shanghai has thousands of coffee shops, so this one might not look very special compared with other fancy ones in the city. But opening such coffee shop in the most crowded areas in Shanghai shows that blind baristas can make delicious coffee too. CHEN TONG, CGTN, SHANGHAI."