Specialty Coffee in Japan

[Jim Schulman]

Cafes: The $5 to $10 per presspot places that dominated high end coffee ten years ago have largely disappeared. These were the province of company men, who are no longer cultural heroes they were, and therefore do a lot less conspicuous consuming. Now it seems the bulk of cafes are from chains. Starbuck's isn't dominant, but one of many players. The espresso is uninspiring, but absolutely everyone does latte art cappas.

Restaurant coffee is surprisingly well brewed, possibly an artifact of better, smaller volume brewers and vacuum flasks rather than hot plates. The coffees are solid 80 to 85 point specialties. The best I got was Kenya AA, the most common blend seemed a Major Dickinson style, but lighter roasted, Indo-Guat blend.

Roasters: This is where the so called "inefficient tertiary sector" shows off its charms. Tokyo is a railroad neighborhood and suburb town, and each station has it's own arcaded twisty little streets neighborhood filled with tiny stores. A coffee roaster will always be one of these. The smaller stations will have roasters who display roasted generic (e.g. Guatemala SHB) beans, and charge around $10 to $25 per pound. The larger stations also have higher end roasters who sell estate beans roasted to order in small batches in sample sized roasters. These display the coffee green, and may be the reason "Japan Prep" is a trade category. Japanese consumers never buy foods that are non-uniform or discolored.

[trish]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlAuwKZ_y2k

[trish]

we're:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXPUkrz7Uow

[onocoffee]

Winter cityside,
Crystal bits of snowflakes all around my head and in the wind,
I had no illusions,
That I'd ever find a glimpse of summers' heatwaves in your eyes,
You did what you did to me,
Now it's history I see,
Here's my comeback on the road again,
Things will happen while they can,
I will wait here for my man tonight,
It's easy when you're Big In Japan.

When you're Big In Japan tonight,
Big In Japan, be tight,
Big In Japan, oooh, eastern seas so blue,
Big In Japan, alright,
Pay, then I'll sleep by your side,
Things are easy when you're Big In Japan,
When you're Big In Japan.

Neon on my naked skin,
Passing silhouettes of strange illuminated mannequins,
Shall I stay here at the zoo?
Or shall I go and change my point of view for other ugly scenes?
You did what you did to me,
Now it's history I see,
Things will happen while they can,
I will wait here for my man tonight,
It's easy when you're Big In Japan.

[Jim Schulman]

I skipped "lost in translation" Japan, and stayed in the boring old real one instead.

On the other hand, a lot of Japanese seem ready to move. The most popular play in Tokyo right now has a Japan-English title "Hard, no flat." The plot involves people moving between the anime world ("flat") and the real world ("no flat"). The title says it all. Also, the recent real estate developments in Ripongi and Asagaya are "flat adjacent," to say the least.

[trish]

Jim-san,
Have you visited one of those traditional syphon pot coffee houses?
My friends tell me that acidity is a bit controversial in Japan...they have a different relationship to it. I'm constantly being warned.

Jay-san,
thanks for the lyrics...what the hell do they mean?

[Rich Westerfield]

When you're Big In Japan tonight,
Big In Japan, be tight,
Big In Japan, oooh, eastern seas so blue,
Big In Japan, alright,
Pay, then I'll sleep by your side,
Things are easy when you're Big In Japan,
When you're Big In Japan.

The sad thing is, I have this on vinyl. Bought it for this single, in fact.

But since we're posting on this subject, culturally, is the Japan roasting scene pretty much the same as Taiwan's (the Barismo version) or markedly different? We've been intrigued by the roasting convo on Jaime's blog recently, if for no other reason than a different perspective.

[Jaime van Schyndel]

Rich,

We discussed Simon at times and he has definitely gone out of his way to help us(read the upcoming Bmag) and share a better understanding of new coffee styles. If he is the 'barismo version' that's fine but Simon is unique in his approach and should not be representative of his entire coffee culture anymore than you or I would be of ours.

[Jim Schulman]

Jim-san,
Have you visited one of those traditional syphon pot coffee houses?
My friends tell me that acidity is a bit controversial in Japan...they have a different relationship to it. I'm constantly being warned.

I visited a few that had presspots (and one with a vacuum brewer) about 9 years ago. They seem to have died out this time around. As I said above, while upscale consumption is rising, the sort of places frequented by company men are doing very poorly (the whole thing of company men swaggering around like outtakes from West Side Story seems to have disappeared).

There's still lots of black brewed coffee available, and it is mostly light roasted and acidic. However, the big growth sector are the US style cafes and chain versions of European style coffee and cake places. Most people who go there order milk drinks.

I didn't have a chance to visit you guys (sorry). The only competently prepared espresso I found was at Lavazza stores (I won't discuss their blend), of which there are quite a few. Even there, ordering a straight shot had the employees in a huddle, deciding who was most qualified to do the honors.

I got the feeling, although I couldn't confirm it, that "gourmet espresso" may be a seen as contradictory in terms of market segments. Espresso is for the younger, coffee as soft drink, crowd; while gourmet coffee is for old fogeys. Of course, your experience running the stores there will let you know exactly what people are expecting.

[Marshall]

How about sweetened coffee/milk drinks in a can? UCC's seem very popular around Little Tokyo in L.A.

[trish]

How about sweetened coffee/milk drinks in a can? UCC's seem very popular around Little Tokyo in L.A.

RTD coffees in vending machines are very popular, but the market research is telling us that the demand has leveled off, but not yet declining. Also says that RTD coffee drinkers are not the same as the specialty or coffee bar customer. As Jim-san says, it seems the younger, hipsters who are new to drinking coffee in urban settings are going to cafes. The older generation, (for want of a better term) are sticking with their favorite RTD vending machine coffee.

On another note: the RTD green teas in Japan are lovely. You can get so many of them unsweetened and all are properly brewed...no bitterness!

[Jim Schulman]

How about sweetened coffee/milk drinks in a can? UCC's seem very popular around Little Tokyo in L.A.

The hot vending machine drinks seem more like what people have at home than a competitor to any style of cafe. Hot water dispensers are found in every home and inn room There's always green tea bags or powder available. Western style hotel rooms also have ground coffee packets. The homes I visited had press pots, grinders and bean coffee.

I'm not sure if this level of coffee making is typical in Japan. The people I visited frequently travel to other countries on business, and pick up habits from all over.

In any case, I'm sold on hot water dispensers as counter top appliances. They make press pot coffee as fast as a regular coffee maker does drip, and can be used for all other hot water needs as well. Though they could use a programmable thermostat instead of the preset 95C, 90C and 80C settings.

[Andy Schecter]

I'm sold on hot water dispensers as counter top appliances....Though they could use a programmable thermostat instead of the preset 95C, 90C and 80C settings.

Send me one, Jim, and I'll PID it for you.