MIXING beer syrup, milk and espresso, Sebastian Hahn skillfully made a cup of beer latte which is a specialty drink of his cafe. “This tastes very special and I personally quite like it,” he said.

Hahn, from Berlin, Germany, opened a cafe with his Chinese girlfriend this June in Haikou, Hainan Province, embarking on a new career.

After graduating from Humboldt University of Berlin in 2011, Hahn had a good job in Berlin, in charge of quality management in a company.

“I thought it’s not what I wanted to do for my whole life,” he said, “Why do only students go abroad and learn a new language? I can do it too.” So he quit his job. Having considered going to Brazil, Vietnam or Japan, he finally decided to come to China. “Hainan is the most southern part of China, and I wanted to have a life without winter,” he said.

In 2014, Hahn traveled by train all the way from Berlin to Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and then to Hainan. Originally, he planned to learn Chinese at Hainan University for one year. However, when he went back to Germany one year later he found that his Chinese was not good enough. He later returned to Hainan University and continued his language studies and pursued a master’s degree in tourism management.

Hahn was diligent and managed to secure a Chinese Government scholarship. “That was a very good opportunity and I’m very thankful,” he said.

After graduation in 2020, Hahn and his Chinese girlfriend decided to open a cafe, because “we love coffee and want to share our love for coffee with other people,” he said.

It was not easy to transform their idea into reality. “We encountered a lot of difficulties because it’s all new to us,” said Hahn, adding that they had to learn everything from scratch, including how to design the counter and the kitchen.

To him, management is the biggest challenge. “Every day you have new problems and you need to solve them,” he said. Business was also disrupted at times due to sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks. “It was challenging but I think we have made the cafe really good,” he said.

Compared to other cafes in Hainan, Hahn felt his was different. “We want to make our cafe not just a place to drink coffee, but also a place to enjoy, to make friends and to communicate,” he said, noting that the second floor of the cafe has the potential to host cultural exchange events or English and German language courses.

Hahn used to give free German lessons to those who wanted to learn at his home once a week, and is now planning to do it twice a week in his cafe.

“I’m not a teacher, but I like to share my knowledge and I really like to share more about my cultural background, so I really hope other people can have an opportunity to learn a foreign language,” he said.

Hahn has been in Hainan for eight years and is enjoying his life there. “People are very friendly here and on the street it’s quite safe,” he said.

He has also seen great changes on the island. “Hainan is developing very fast and is opening up with more international universities to be founded here, so I think it’s getting better and the environment for foreigners is also getting better,” he said. He thinks the construction of the Hainan free trade port is a very good opportunity for the island to become famous globally, and attract more people. He feels that a more open Hainan will make it easier for everybody to live there.

“My future plan is to develop the cafe, and eventually to establish a cafe chain, so there’s still a lot to do and it’s not easy,” he said. (Xinhua)