Chinese ‘Coffee Grandma’ learns brewing to save son’s cafe, inspires female independence

By South China Morning Post | Created at 2026-10-05 10:02:01 | Updated at 2026-10-05 10:45:46 45 minutes ago
An 86-year-old grandmother in China has become a social media sensation for operating a coffee shop for over a decade – a business she took over from her son in 2015, despite having no experience with coffee at the time. Zhao Qiying, affectionately known as the “Coffee Grandma,” revealed that the shop, located in downtown Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong province, was nearly bankrupt due to her son’s lack of business acumen, according to the Peninsular Metropolis News. At that time, Zhao was...
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