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Further, nomadic coffee allows coffee enthusiasts drizzly, and the people here didn’t drink coffee. We were
to explore new coffee experiences and brew methods. just as nervous as the first time we opened the store.” This
They get the opportunity to choose their coffee spot, adventure started in Ningbo, all the way south, and the an-
order their favorite brew, and interact with baristas who swer is still in search.
are passionate about coffee. Nomadic coffee is a way of
reacquainting people with coffee, making it more inter- Nomadic Coffee: Where Is It Going?
active and approachable. In the current world where
we’re all continually on the move, nomadic coffee helps The wandering coffee man is a powerful force with-
create a special space for coffee enthusiasts to slow down in the coffee industry. Their nomadic approach to coffee,
and take a break. combined with their passion for innovation, education,
Coffee and Cigarettes is owned by by young lovers, and collaboration, helps to drive the industry forward in
Huahua and Xiaoyi, who opened their first coffee shop in new and exciting ways. This can be seen in the various
Ningbo in March 2021. Huahua is in charge of Pour over coffee events that are available in the market. It is also
and Xiaoyi is in charge of espresso. After a period of time, because of the variety of activities in the industry that
Huahua and Xiaoyi realized their limitations in making cafe owners are starting to get out of their stores, which
coffee at the same time, the original store decoration com- often have fixed locations. Unlike nomadic animals that
promised by budget could not keep up with their demand have a specific destination, the nomadic barista does not
for coffee making, while the brand was being characterized necessarily have a clear destination. This movement has
because of Smiley Flat White(This is a different way of the need for more than just location.
doing it than a latte, by pouring the espresso over the milk We can start with the state of the individual. As a
froth), which was not in line with their original intention service industry, cafe owners need to serve their guests
– to present more possibilities of coffee. So they decided in addition to providing a good cup of coffee. And on the
to stop and think about what they really liked and what road, they can take their energy back and focus on them-
they wanted to do first. sharing coffee while traveling is selves. In fact, only when you have a good state can you
the answer they found. In October of the same year, Coffee serve your customers well. After spending too much time
and Cigarettes officially closed its store. They served cof- in the store, Huahua and Xiaoyi often have a sense of fa-
fee for the first time in an RV on Siming Mountain 㔋僈 tigue of being trapped in a fixed circle. “I can anticipate
conversation we will have.” Fortunately just as they hit by one person. At that bar, I just watched her cut apples
㿋 in January, 2023. “It was windy, foggy, low visibility, who will come to the store tomorrow and what kind of
the road, they experienced something that still excites and was fascinated. At that time, I wanted to work here.
them to say the least. “We met two people who were Because of this, I was exposed to coffee in the store, and
casting swords and enjoying themselves. It was a nice later, I felt as if I could learn about my world through
chat, they didn’t care at all what we did, what our back- coffee.” Here, she had her cup of delicious coffee. Later,
ground was, what the future held. We just talked about in Coffee and Cigarettes in Ningbo, she saw what it meant
how we felt in the moment. They also invited us to to make coffee, “One day a customer came in and I knew
dinner and then we took a walk together and watched he was Japanese, and he was. Then he ordered a cup of
the stars. I said I would love to come back one day and hand brewed coffee, a dark roasted bean, and I asked him
eat cinnamon cake. They said you can find me here in 3 if he was still used to drinking it. He said it tasted like
years. It was a really amazing day that I realized there his hometown, and it was so satisfying in that moment.”
would be such people in this world.” On the other hand, Now she’s back on her way to find her answer. “If I hadn’t
after walking on the road, Huahua also faced how to deal had such a great cup of coffee, I wouldn’t actually know
with the conflict between her imagination and the real which direction I was going to go,” Huahua said. Xiaoyi
world, but it was not a bad thing, she started to perm did the same. He bought his own favorite coffee equip-
her curly hair, record vlogs, and the whole person looked ment, so he can more freely decide what kind of coffee
vigorous and enthusiastic, fresh and disorderly. to bring to customers, of course it’s all based on “better
Starting over is also to find the meaning of making coffee”. During our conversation, Xiaoyi was talkive about
coffee and establishing knowledge of the coffee indus- his coffee expertise, and was “paused” several times by
try. In 2018, Huahua spent a lot of time traveling around Huahua. This sharing could also be more open, as he tried
and by chance she realized she was kind of walking to share his knowledge on social media and discuss it
around meaninglessly. That’s when she encountered a with the public. It was the same for Jordi. At first, he
coffee shop, “a small space of ten square meters with didn’t understand the reason why coffee championships
a big three-door freezer, which was full of jams made existed. Then he realized that the nature of competition
by the owner herself, from purchasing to cleaning, is to challenge oneself and it is an opportunity for peer-
slicing and shredding, to boiling and canning, all done to-peer networking.

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