Specialty coffee in the land of the rising sun

摘要

Gonzalo Hernandez describes the unique speciality coffee culture of the booming Japanese market. I will never forget my amazement when, some seven years ago, while watching TV in my hotel room in Tokyo, I saw Winona Ryder, the famous Hollywood actress, in an advertisement for a well known local coffee brand. Later on, I also saw famous actors like Bruce Willis and Tommy Lee Jones, golfer Tiger woods, and singer Mariah Carey, in ads for competing coffee brands, and I thought to myself that in Japan they really take their coffee seriously. This kind of marketing investment is just a sign of how alive coffee is in Japan.