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Athena Chan

When Gigi Tsang Wing-chi first interviewed people with hearing difficulties to work in her coffee shop, learning to communicate was a challenge and the first candidates all rejected her job offer.
Tsang, 39, later found out the interviewees, reading her facial expressions, feared she did not trust their abilities and were not willing to work with her.
“I was only worried about my ability to work with them, not the way they thought. After that, I was even more afraid of interviewing people with hearing difficulties,” Tsang says.
But then she met and hired 31-year-old Joanna Hu Xue-liang.
“Joanna gave me the confidence to continue hiring hearing-impaired employees,” Tsang says.

It is hard to pinpoint what inspired Tsang to maintain this hiring policy when setting up My Little Coffee. She said it is not something she wanted to use as a selling point to her coffee shop or that she felt people with hearing difficulties would struggle to have a career.
“But I understand employees will not work in a coffee shop forever,” Tsang says. “So I thought why not give the chance to hearing-impaired people. Even if they leave, they can still take professional knowledge about coffee with them.”
There are 92,200 people with hearing difficulty in Hong Kong, according to a citywide survey released by the Census and Statistics Department in 2015.
“There is a lack of opportunities provided by employers for people with hearing difficulties. But the more time and effort employers are willing to put in, the more people like Joanna will appear,” Tsang says.
Don’t silence sign language: call for dying medium to be revived and used as teaching tool for deaf in Hong Kong
Hu began working with at My Little Coffee as a dish washer and thought she would be unable to make coffee. But Tsang encouraged all staff to learn.
“If you drink coffee, you have to make it yourself,” she instructed.
As a result, Hu received barista training from Tsang’s husband, Nip Wai-lun, 44, who also worked in the cafe. There were immediate risks that needed overcoming, such as using a coffee grinder, because Hu would be unable to hear beans which got stuck in the pipe.
If the machine kept working with stuck beans it might burn out, so Nip refitted it with a short-circuit device to protect Hu.
Meanwhile, Tsang and Hu invented their own methods of direct and simple communication.
For example, to express making latte art, Tsang opens a hand facing up like holding a cup, and uses another hand to make a hollow fist on top, like holding the handle of the kettle, then tilts towards the “cup” and shakes a little.

“It is not necessary to reach an advanced level of sign language. It is more about how much willingness and effort you put in to communicate,” Tsang says.
The investment has paid off and after two years, Hu became the first Home Brew Coffee Master champion with a hearing impairment.
Hu said she never thought it would be possible for her to even attend a barista competition and felt most satisfied when customers liked her coffee.
“Making coffee is an interesting experience. I will keep learning, keep practising,” she says.
Tsang says: “Joanna spent every day practising her skills for the barista competition. Even though my husband repeatedly asked her to do the same task, she understood the training was useful and kept going.”
Hongkongers told to learn basic sign language to help get best from deaf residents
My Little Coffee now has three branches. One is a cafe in Tuen Mun while the others, in Mong Kok and Wan Chai, are retail shops were customers can create and buy their own combinations of coffee beans. The Tsim Sha Tsui branch Joanna first worked in was closed for financial reasons.
Currently, Hu is responsible for selling DIY instant drip coffee bags at weekend handicraft markets, and gets paid on commission. For the first few months, Tsang went with her every weekend and helped her order colourful packages to attract attention, drawing on a signboard to remind customers Hu was Hong Kong’s first hearing-impaired champion barista.
Hu now sells the coffee bags alone. Tsang evaluates the sales performance with Hu every time, because she wants Hu to be more independent with her own business.
“I hope my employees not only work for me but also with me as partners,” Tsang says.
 


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Coffee a universal language for shop owner Gigi Tsang and Joanna Hu, her hearing-impaired employee who is a master brew maker

Joanna Hu (left), and My Little Coffee founder Gigi Tsang at the Wan Chai store. Photo: Tory Ho

Barista Hu Xue-liang, a hearing-impaired staff of My Little Coffee, at the store in Wan Chai. 24JUL19 SCMP / Tory Ho

My Little Coffee store in Wan Chai. 24JUL19 SCMP / Tory Ho

News

Hong Kong

Society

Health & Environment


Hiring those with difficulties proved tough at first, but things soon changed for founder of My Little Coffee
Now employee Joanna Hu is a coffee-making champion and runs a stall at local markets for her boss



Joanna Hu began as a dish washer for store owner Gigi Tsang, but her employer’s encouragement means she’s now the first Home Brew Coffee Master with a hearing impairment, and helps run part of the business.


Hong Kong culture

Coffee

Coffee a universal language for shop owner Gigi Tsang and Joanna Hu, her hearing-impaired employee who is a master brew maker

Hiring those with difficulties proved tough at first, but things soon changed for founder of My Little Coffee Now employee Joanna Hu is a coffee-making champion and runs a stall at local markets for her boss

Hiring those with difficulties proved tough at first, but things soon changed for founder of My Little Coffee

Now employee Joanna Hu is a coffee-making champion and runs a stall at local markets for her boss