Authors: Grace Li and Vrinda Iyengar, Santa Clara, CA
Nabi Cat Cafe is a cafe that partners with non-profit rescues to house adoptable cats in their cat lounge, while offering a wide selection of Korean inspired drinks for visitors to enjoy. We had the pleasure of speaking with Christine Hedeen, the co-founder and president of Nabi Cat Cafe in this interview.
Vrinda: Hi, thank you for joining us today for this interview! My name is Vrinda, and I am the co-editor-in-chief of The Megaphone. For our first question, we were wondering if you could start off by telling us a bit about how and when you started Nabi Cat Cafe? Also, how would you define the mission of the cafe, and how does this mission guide your decisions regarding running the cafe?
Christine: Yeah, for sure! My name is Christine Hedin, one of the co-founders of Nabi Cat Cafe. I started this cafe with my sister-in-law, my brother’s wife, Ailey Kim. This probably started from an idea that became more serious back in 2022. Since then, it took a few years to get approval with permits and construction, but we officially opened our doors in March of 2025.
The mission—and the reason why we even wanted to start this cat cafe—is because we both have a heart for rescue animals. We essentially want to be a safe space and a foster home for adoptable rescue cats to be featured. Customers can come and just enjoy time with cats or get to know them if they’ve never owned one before. Maybe they do own one and just want some extra cat time, but the ultimate goal is getting them adopted out to forever homes.
We also really pride ourselves in our Korean heritage. We wanted to make the cafe Korean-inspired, from the aesthetic to the drink ingredients, to replicating as much as we can of the cat cafes that are in Seoul, Korea. A little bit more about the name Nabi: it means “butterfly” in Korean. We love the symbolism of freedom, lightness, and the aesthetic of the butterfly. But it’s also a fun fact that it’s a commonly used name for stray cats on the street in Korea—kind of like a pet name or pseudonym. We just thought it was very fitting.
Vrinda: Yeah, and you just mentioned this, but I read in an interview you did that you sourced your matcha from Jeju Island instead of Japan. I was wondering, how important is it for you to incorporate Korean culture into your cafe? Did that idea play a role in your initial decision to start the cafe at all?
Christine: Definitely. I think each of our specialty drinks has some sort of tie to Korea. Like you mentioned, our matcha is sourced from Jeju Island. We know matcha is having a moment right now, so after a ton of research and samples, we were able to find the one brand and source we really liked.
Even something as simple as our strawberry latte—it’s essentially strawberry milk, but we get good feedback on that. It’s a very classic drink in Korea as well. So even if on the surface it doesn’t seem very Korean, it’s super important for us. Right now, we’re very grateful for how accepting America is of different cultures. Growing up, I would never have expected K-pop or K-culture to blow up the way it has. Especially in California, we’re very grateful, though we do think the Bay could continue to use a little bit more Korean awareness. It’s always very rewarding and fulfilling when people ask us, “What does yuja mean?” Yuja is the Korean word for yuzu, which we use in our lemonade. It’s been very cool to see it being incorporated.
Vrinda: That’s really great. We were also wondering what inspired you to save rescue cats and have them at the cafe, and how have you established partnerships with rescues to foster a home for these cats?
Christine: It all started because I adopted my own rescue cat. After visiting a lot of cat cafes and getting comfortable with them, I ended up going to a shelter to adopt my cat, Misu. The tiramisu drink is named after her. I feel like that was a pivotal moment for me; I grew up without many pets in the house. The moment I adopted her and started living with her, it truly changed my outlook on how important animals are. To care for something outside of yourself was super special.
We are very big on “adopt, don’t shop.” Ailey, the other owner, also has two rescue dogs from Korea. There’s always such a big need for these animals, and we wanted to spread the joy and personal happiness we’ve received from our own pets. Especially for our generation nowadays, pets are truly family—they’re like actual furry babies to all of us.
We look for any opportunity to help ease the burden on shelters, as a lot of them are overcrowded. The rescues we partner with are able to take overflow cats from the shelters, get them healthy, vaccinated, and adoption-ready, and then they come to our cafe to find homes. Finding the right partners was a big process; we reached out to a ton of rescues in the Bay. The current two partnerships we have are Scritch Kittens and Pink Paws for the Cause. They’re both 501(c)(3) nonprofit rescues. All the adoptions are handled directly through them, and all adoption fees go back directly to them as well.
Vrinda: That’s super great. Going back to your drinks and Korean culture, how did you go about initially curating your menu and coming up with specific drinks that are original to your cafe? Did they come from your childhood or other things you wanted to emphasize?
Christine: It was a lot of online research combined with personal experience. Ailey was the one more in charge of the drinks because she has a barista background and she’s also “more Korean” than me! It was just about trying to be creative. We see a lot of trends and we want to be on top of them, but we also want unique offerings. For example, Einspänners or cream-top drinks are very trendy, but we put our own spin on it. I don’t think any other cafe does it with a Yakgwa. Yakgwa is a traditional Korean cookie, so we incorporate those flavors—brown sugar, honey, and cinnamon—into a cream top.
In terms of creating the actual drinks, both of us have a philosophy of quality over quantity. Even our specialty drink menu, we try to keep it to around seven to nine drinks. If we introduce a new drink—which we probably will soon for winter—we’ll take one out to replace it. We want to make sure every drink is the best version of itself. There were a lot of trials and a lot of days where we had too much caffeine or sugar for our own good! We got a lot of feedback from friends and family just to make sure we had the perfect drinks to release to the public.
Vrinda: Now going back to the cat side of the cafe, how do you educate your visitors about cat welfare and adoption? And how do you encourage visitors to maybe adopt a cat?
Christine: I think it comes down to our staff. We always have a staff attendant in the cat lounge who can answer any customer questions. Some of the staff will kind of nudge people—like, “Hey, I see you’re really bonding with this cat, would you consider adopting?” Not trying to go into used car salesman territory, but just funny jokes like that!
A lot of customers come in who are interested in cats but have never interacted with them. We set up the lounge to be more home-like so customers can enjoy a relaxing setting to see what a “day in the life” would be like with a cat. Morning customers get to experience the “zoomies” and playfulness, while afternoon customers see the more relaxing, napping, cuddly side.
We also try our best to educate customers about the adoption process. Since all adoptions are handled through the rescues, we are essentially the liaisons. We can answer questions about specific temperaments since we are with them day in and day out. We can help match a cat to a customer’s needs and bridge the connection to the rescue. In general, if people have questions like, “Should cats go outdoors?” we share our strong belief that cats should stay indoors and discuss care for food, water, and dental health. Most of our team owns cats or has gained that knowledge working here.
Vrinda: That’s really great. It’s good that people can experience what it’s like to be with these cats before adopting them. So, what’s your personal favorite menu item? And do you have any other cat-themed items besides the one named after your cat?
Christine: My current personal favorite is our honey pear espresso tonic. I don’t have very mainstream taste; I don’t really like milky lattes or very sweet, decadent things. I can do plain black coffee very well. I love the tartness of the espresso tonic paired with the honey pear. That drink has become a mini cult favorite; people who like it come back week after week for it. Whenever someone orders it, I’m like, “Hey, I hope you really enjoy it!”
We also train a lot of our baristas to do cat latte art. If anyone orders a hot drink, we attempt our best effort to make a cute cat drawing on the top. In the future, we’re brainstorming ways to incorporate more cat themes or aesthetics into the drinks themselves to further the connection.
Vrinda: The cat latte art sounds really cool.
Christine: It’s funny because I’m still relatively new to coffee. The times when I make my worst version of the cat latte art, the customer gets so excited and says, “Oh my gosh, this is so cute!” and I’m thinking, “I wish I could have drawn it better for you, this is truly not my best.” Then, when I do my best latte art ever, customers will just look at it and move on with their day! I’m like, “No!”
Vrinda: It’s so funny how that works. For you personally, what’s your favorite part of running this cat cafe?
Christine: I would say getting that personal human connection is very fulfilling. As of today, I just did a count with pending adoptions, and I believe we have 52 cats adopted since we opened. Whenever we take a step back and think of that number… sorry, I think I’m allergic right now too… I just feel so much disbelief and gratitude. That’s 52 cats we’ve gotten into permanent, forever-loving homes.
It’s really cool because sometimes we’ll actually meet the person who ended up adopting. We recognize the name paired with the cat, and sometimes they’ll come back to visit just to hang out. We’ll ask, “How is so-and-so doing?” and they’ll share stories. It’s always so heartwarming. On the drink side, it’s also fun building relationships with our regulars where I recognize your face and can start making “the usual” without asking.
Vrinda: This is more of a trivial question, but have you ever developed a personal connection to a cat where you were a little bit sad when they got adopted, even though you were happy for them?
Christine: Oh my gosh, that’s a great question! All of us try our best not to get attached, but it’s hard. We had one cat named Macy who was there for four or five months. We all got so attached. She finally did get adopted; we were so happy for her, but we definitely felt a huge void.
Personally, we had a litter of five really cute cats get adopted, but the rescue still had the mom cat in foster and she wasn’t being adopted. I personally felt very attached—I have a heart for adult female cats with black noses, I don’t know why! She fit that exact description. I ended up fostering to adopt her, and we adopted our second cat recently. It was a surreal moment: “I helped adopt all five of your babies out, and now I have the mom.” We always joke with the team that I definitely have a “type” when it comes to cats.
Vrinda: That’s amazing. For our last question, how should people support Nabi Cat Cafe and your mission of re-homing cats?
Christine: Just coming to visit our cat lounge is truly the biggest support. Each ticket sale helps make this cafe flourish so we can continue to provide premium food, litter, and care supplies. It also keeps our doors open and allows us to have baristas who work very hard on our drinks.
We’re also in awe of the power of social media. We were lucky to have a few viral videos when we first launched, which helped us gain traction. Word of mouth is always super important. We’re very appreciative of every story or post people share about their experience here. Coming to support us in person would be the best.
Vrinda: Okay, that’s all the questions we have prepared for today! Thank you so much for sitting down with us and offering your unique perspective. The premise of your business is really unique and also so amazing. We’re really grateful to have heard from you today!
Christine: Oh, yeah, no problem! We love being able to share our story. Thank you so much for choosing us and for the opportunity. I’m super excited to see when it’s released. If there are any follow-up questions or things you want me to dive deeper into before the article is published, I’m more than happy to talk or clarify anything.
Vrinda: No problem! Thank you so much! Bye-bye.
The Megaphone 