PORTERS COFFEE

Specialty Coffee Roasted and Dripped by a Top Barista

After a 3−minute walk from Nishi Kunitachi station, there is a coffee stand where you can drink coffee roasted and dripped from high-grade beans. It is called “specialty coffee.” Let’s talk to the barista of the bar and find out his belief.

A coffee bar that has a light blue wall catches your eye. The to-go coffee is handed from the small window. Bring your own tumbler and get 100-yen discount.

Mr. Shun Kurosawa is the owner of the bar and Ms. Kanae Suzuki is the barista. Mr. Kurosawa is at the counter on Tuesdays and the second Saturday of the month.

The sun lights up the room. In addition to counter seating, there is also table seating. Fire King cups and saucers on the shelves are so cute.

Mr. Kurosawa was an office worker. He quit the job and moved to a coffee shop serving Nel drip coffee. He devoted himself to becoming a barista. “I am a person I throw myself into what I like.”

Drink with a vintage cup a light roasted coffee from Ethiopia called Yirgacheffe Kochre. The beans have elegant flavors and sour berry tastes. The price is 550 yen.
 

The bar opened in 2016 and was renewed in 2021. Ms.Suzuki carefully selects 6 to 10 kinds of beans. She roasts them in different ways for each bean. She calls these coffees “specialty coffee”. She is not only careful about the quality of coffee, but also careful about the price. “I will keep the price “fair” so that the people on coffee farms make a good living, and I tell that to our customers.”
She could not drink coffee. When she travelled to Italy, she was so fascinated with delicious Italian coffee that she went to Australia to study coffee and work as a barista for one year. “I want to serve tasty coffee to those who don’t like coffee and want them to like coffee,” she said brightly.
Truly good coffee is clean and free of unpleasant elements. It is important to control the heat, extraction, and temperature of the hot water for the right amount of time. Now, she is a top barista, who won the Japan hand drip championship in 2020 presented by Japan Specialty Coffee Association. Mr. Kurosawa said, “I wish the bar to be loved by people in Tachikawa and the next shop will be opened in the center of Tachikawa.”

※The content of the article is as of the time of publication. (Posted in February 2023)