The US-born coffee shop "Blue Bottle Coffee", also known as the "Apple of coffee", has landed in Japan. The first store "Blue Bottle Coffee Kiyosumi Shirakawa Roastery & Cafe" will open on February 6th.

What caught the hearts of Americans in Blue Bottle Coffee? This summer, including a report of a store I visited in San Francisco , USA, I am fascinated by its appeal.


◆ What is Blue Bottle Coffee?

Blue Bottle Coffee was founded in 2002 in Oakland, California, USA. There are 14 stores in the United States, and among the many coffee shops including fast food, it is so popular that you can line up. Founder James Freeman said he was influenced by Japanese tea culture. It is said that the current form has been completed in combination with the free and open culture unique to the Bay Area represented by Silicon Valley.

Blue Bottle Coffee is also the driving force behind the coffee movement called the "third wave." The characteristic of third wave coffee is that it uses "single origin" beans that value "who, when, where, and how", not just the country or area, so beans like wine. You can enjoy the taste that comes from the difference. We are very particular about the quality of the beans.

The pursuit of “quality” and sustainability were supported, and we succeeded in raising about 2 billion yen in 2012 and about 2.5 billion yen in 2014. Many of the investors are IT-related people who have been running Silicon Valley for a long time.

◆ I went to a store in San Francisco

Blue Bottle Coffee's commitment is to "strictly select coffee beans and brew them by hand drip using only those within 48 hours of roasting in order to provide" high quality coffee "." At the San Francisco ferry building store that the club visited, it was impressive that the clerk who likes coffee carefully brews coffee one cup at a time, makes latte, and treats customers with a smile.


The store has a "general" main counter that sells coffee made from blended beans and a "repeater" counter that sells single-origin coffee. Unlike Seattle coffee (Starbucks, etc.), which has a lot of deep roasted and bitter coffee, you can taste the individuality of beans by changing the degree of roasting according to the beans, which seems to be one of the attractions that attracts repeaters.

◆ Why in Kiyosumi Shirakawa?

The first overseas store and the first store in Japan will open in Kiyosumi Shirakawa, Koto-ku, Tokyo. Located on the east side of the Sumida River, it is a quiet town between Ryogoku in the north and Monzennakacho in the south. When it comes to new coffee shops and cafes, the image is that Omotesando and Harajuku are chosen, but why is Kiyosumi Shirakawa (Fukagawa area)?

"Kiyosumi Shirakawa may look unique as Japan's first landing site, but it's the best production base," said Freeman. In order to provide fresh coffee using freshly roasted beans, a production base = roastery was needed.

In fact, the Kiyosumi Shirakawa store has a roastery, which is about three times as large as the cafe area. Like the roastery in Auckland, beans are roasted every day and served at the cafe along with pastries (cookies, granola, etc.) that go well with the coffee.


This store is located halfway between Kiyosumi Garden, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, and Monzennakacho Station. It may be a new spot where you can relax with a cup of coffee on your way home from the museum.

◆ The second store is in Aoyama, an “adult town”

The opening of the second store has already been decided. The second store is "Aoyama Cafe" which will open in Minami Aoyama on March 7. This is only a cafe space, and coffee roasted in Kiyosumi Shirakawa is used.

“We are very pleased to open these two different stores that reflect the colorful faces of Tokyo,” says Freeman. Will it be loved by repeaters like the United States, become a "coffee shop that you want to go all the way", and make a big "wave" in Japan?

Kiyosumi Shirakawa Roastery & Cafe is located at 1-4-8 Hirano, Koto-ku, Tokyo. Business hours are scheduled from 8:00 to 19:00. The silhouette of the blue bottle is a landmark of the store.