ESEA Heritage Month Blog Series – Meet Kangni Dai

Kangni Dai is the director of  Space Speciality Coffee House and  Kafei Studio by Space based in Glasgow. As well as being a coffee shop, they have a dedicated space for coffee training with Kafei Studio. 

“I live in Glasgow, Scotland, and I grew up in Wenling, a coastal city in South-Eastern Zhejiang province, in China.

My coffee journey started in Auckland, New Zealand in 2015 as a weekend barista in a local coffee shop during my undergraduate. Moving to Glasgow for an MSc degree in 2016 gave me the opportunity to attend coffee events like London Coffee Festival, Glasgow Coffee festival and World of Coffee, and it opened my mind about the specialty coffee world. It planted a seed in my heart to be a part of the wonderful industry. At the end of 2017 I graduated from my Master’s degree in International Business and Entrepreneurship, which equipped me with knowledge of opening a business. In May 2018, I opened my first coffee shop Space, followed by Kafei Studio by Space in 2023.

There are always new things to learn and to discover in the coffee world. There are always new people to meet, and new stories to hear. With coffee as a medium, it gives me the opportunity to travel, to be open minded and to keep exploring new things. Community plays a big part of Glasgow’s coffee scene. There are always coffee related events going around such as coffee cupping, latte art throwdowns and Scotland’s largest coffee event – Glasgow Coffee Festival hosted every April.

There is a saying in Chinese “少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲”, meaning “If a young person does not exert themselves in their youth, they will regret it in old age”. With this belief, my parents created the future they want from nothing and provided me with better education and more life choices. My parents serve as my role models. With the same belief, I work hard to achieve my dream. Also, they always remind me to “可守本分，按规矩行事” meaning “Be true to yourself and play by the rules”.  The name of my second shop Kafei Studio comes from Chinese character “咖啡” = “kāfēi” meaning “coffee”.

Coffee as an international commodity is getting more international than ever. My recent trip to Thailand and China attending coffee events really shows coffee professionals and business from all around the world are stepping out of their own cycle and venturing to other countries, especially to Asia. This really enhances the coffee culture exchange and furthermore increases the growth of the industry.

This year’s London Coffee Festival in April, for the first time, collaborated with Lujiazui Coffee Festival–the biggest outdoor coffee event in China. It opened a new section to showcase Chinese coffee brands. This facilitated the exchange of coffee culture between the UK and China, allowing British coffee enthusiasts to gain a better understanding of Chinese coffee culture. Lujiazui Coffee Festival 2025 in October will be hosting the highest number of UK coffee brands participating in the exhibition for the first time. Space 3.0 will be opening a flagship store in my hometown Wenling Christmas of 2025, which I am very excited about!

A change I would like to see in the industry is for more local focused coffee events. Events that would bring non-coffee people, coffee lovers, together with baristas, coffee shop owners and coffee professionals, to positively exchange ideas about specialty coffee, and make specialty coffee more accessible.”