Coffee in Japan

Brooklyn Zelenka

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m crazy about coffee. I’ve never been in the coffee industry, but it’s certainly a passion. Vancouver is blessed with a number of really excellent third-wave cafes and local roasters, and I practically lived out of a handful of my favourites in Gastown.

Naturally, I was curious about the Japanese coffee scene. The North American style of cafe has been slowly permeating through the rest of the world, and coffee has been popular worldwide since the 20th century. Here are some of my observations:

Café Coffee

“Specialty Coffee”

The term “café” means something different here — essentially just “small restaurant”. They generally sell coffee, but by no means a places that specializes in coffee. In fact, when Googling for places to try, I have more success with “speciality coffee” than “cafe”.

Espresso

Espresso is much less popular than various drip methods. That’s right: it’s quite common for a café to lack an espresso machine! The places that do have espresso tend to be decent, though a Starbucks-quality latte is the easiest to find.

I have had some really exceptional espresso-based drinks. Of note are Granknot in Osaka, and Bear Pond in Tokyo. For the Blue Bottle fans out there, Tokyo features two busy locations, as well.

“Hand Drip”

The pour over reigns supreme in Japan. They call it “hand drip”, which is a much more descriptive term IMO. Almost every cafe has some hand drip coffee available, probably because it’s relatively simple to make, and has a strong dependency on the bean.

Light roasts appear to be the most popular, and many shops will have a house blend. For equipment, there are a ton of cone-droppers (often V60s), aeropreses are fairly common. While available, Chemexes are more rare.

Notable examples include Fukusu Coffee, Fukuoka (a hidden gem), and Satei Hato, Tokyo (Shibuya).

Siphon

I’ve been very surprised by the number of siphon mahines that I see in windows when walking down the street. Certainly not every cafe, but enough to take notice. It appears that they are often features at the style of cafe that also serve food, rather than at specialty shops.

These machines are somewhat of a rarity in North America. For the uninitiated:

Home Coffee

Drip Bags

These things are absolutely brilliant! Essentially, they’re little filter bags with handles. You can get them on their own, or with pre-ground coffee in them. They let you make a (basically) a single-cup of pour-over. They’re insanely convenient, and should be made more available in North America.

I’ve already dropped some off in Vancouver for some friends a few months back, and I’m going to look for them when I eventually move back. Blendy is the dominant brand, though smaller roasters also produce their own. If you happen to be in Kobe, definitely pick up some bagged Motomachi roast from Greens Craft Coffee, which is housed in a super tiny, unassuming storefront near the harbour.

Bottled/Canned Coffee

Bottled coffee is a huge deal over here. You can get it in any grocery or convenience store, and being Japan, in vending machines (both hot and cold). The most heavily advertised brand is Boss.

I can’t really recommend it as a go-to, despite the low expense, high availability, and general convenience. The coffee tends to be pretty acidic, but it gets the job done. If you’re looking for black coffee, you must look for branding with “black”. Everything else is full of sugar, even if it doesn’t indicate a sweet drink.

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