Inside charming new Birmingham coffee shop quickly becoming 'one of busiest spots in Chinatown'

After learning the tricks of the trade in London and Beijing, one of Birmingham’s cafe owners has finally started her journey. But Annie Zhao admitted that she is still discovering new things every day after opening her first-ever cafe, J&H Coffee.

Previously a vacant unit in Chinatown, Annie began work on the coffee shop in May and it opened this month. The cafe serves traditional coffee shop favourites, treats and drinks with an Asian twist, including matcha lattes.

Located on Bromsgrove Street, the name J&H Coffee stems from a combination of Annie and her family’s initials in the Chinese translation. Annie spoke to BirminghamLive about the decision to open her first coffee shop and the reason behind the location.

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She said: “I was spending a lot of energy as a mother, and now they’ve grown up, it was time to do something I like. I played tennis and went running but I needed to do something different.

“Every day I would go out to have a coffee and started thinking about how interesting coffee was. After researching, I realised it is more than a drink, it’s easy to open a coffee shop but hard to open one at a high level.”

Photos inside new Birmingham city centre cafe

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“One reason I chose Chinatown is there are residential apartments and restaurants but there is a lack of coffee shops. This year, some have opened, but my idea came from last year."

Once Annie had the idea, she began learning by participating in a barista course at 200 Degrees Coffee in Birmingham. After that, Annie gained her SCA (Speciality Coffee Association) qualification in London and completed further training in Beijing.

Catering to a diverse audience, the cafe includes an upstairs library of Chinese and English books alongside a function room for events. Depending on the success of the cafe over the next three years, Annie would consider opening a second location in Birmingham.

When the time is right, J&H Coffee will soon offer a barista school where customers can learn themselves. The school is suitable for people wanting a new hobby and those pursuing a career in the industry.

It's not just Annie who is learning, her staff are figuring out how to deal with high demand. Whilst the cafe opened to a soft launch, it is becoming one of Chinatown's busiest spots for a drink.

She said: “When we opened, we planned a soft opening and imagined it would be a little quiet. Every day it’s busy, and after a couple of weeks, we were a little exhausted.

“But the good thing is everyone's happy. Our staff have become skilful and learnt to deal with any problems that we face. We’re just working hard and trying our best, trying to make high-quality coffee, and not just a standard drink. My team enjoy this life and want to learn in this industry.

“I am learning and my customers can learn about coffee too. We can cruise and grow together.”