I’m going to visit Bolivia on my first ever trip to a coffee origin.

I’m very honored to be able to travel to a coffee origin for the first time as part of a documentary-filming project.

Thank you TYPICA for giving me this precious opportunity!

I’m going to write this blog post under the theme of “prologue.”

I want to share with you what I feel, see, hear and things I didn’t know before.

It’s been 10 years since I entered the coffee industry as a barista.

Initially, I thought coffee was a bitter drink to force down your throat. But that idea was turned upside down after I discovered specialty coffee. Now, I perceive coffee as something sweet like fruits.

I was impressed with the acidity-mixed sweetness. Then I started to brew coffee with various beans and different brewing tools to enjoy my coffee.

I came across coffee when I was looking for something I loved, something I could absorb myself in, thinking that life would be fun if I did what I loved for a living. Attracted by the process of making coffee for someone else, I became a barista.

I see coffee as something that is not absolutely necessary to live but can enrich your life.

But I believe that having coffee there with us can enrich our lives.

Coffee is such an attractive drink. That’s why people around the world enjoy drinking coffee.

We are the connector.

If nothing happens, the present just fades into the past. We are the connector to the future. Take the Earth’s environment for example. If we think and become a bridge to the future, we can realize an environment where we will be able to drink coffee forever.

What coffee means to us

Coffee has shaped my life in so many different ways. It has created an opportunity for me to start a business in my hometown, Kyoto, to build an amazing team of 40 globally and a community of thousands we have fostered a relationship with through our shops and online store. 

What coffee means to the people who drink it and myself. 

Do the producers appreciate and know the significance of what their fruit has brought us? Even if they did, it would not be enough. Let us take part in sharing our experience and gratitude. What you have produced has ultimately created us. We are the fruits of your labor. 

New Beginning

Rather than finding a special taste, 

I want to share special moments.

My Thoughts before Traveling

First and foremost, I was very surprised when I received an email nominating me for the TYPICA Lab project. That was when Japan was still reeling from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and there were tight restrictions on overseas travel. I remember feeling bright and hopeful for the future, as I penciled in this positive schedule.

TYPICA always has unexpected tricks up its sleeves. Whatever they do, I thought I wouldn’t be surprised that easily. But I was even more surprised when I heard the details during a briefing session. The idea behind this project is simple. In a nutshell, “Roasters will get together, travel to coffee origins, meet farmers and see their work firsthand.” I was also told that our trip will be documented with an intense focus as part of the project. Roasters from the past to the present have always visited coffee origins. But I think there haven’t been many instances where a filming crew travels along with a team of roasters.

So I will be traveling with members of diverse backgrounds and characters, including roasters, importers, producers and filming staff, in an environment with such unique realism. As you all know, the world you’ll see during a trip can change in different ways depending on your travel companions. I hope that there will be a lot of fun and learning to be gained from this rare opportunity.  Visiting specialty coffee production and processing sites, seeing them firsthand, learning about them and tasting coffee there – I’m looking forward to these experiences and meeting new people on this trip.

Travel is a very interesting thing. Put yourself in the perspective of a traveler, then you have fresh surprises and discoveries when you see and learn things. At the same time, there is a big limitation, too.There are things only locals can know and people from the outside can’t feel. Travel leaves behind a percepcion that’s biased one way or another in the minds of the traveler. But I think getting this skewed impression is the beauty of travel. Embracing that is human life.

From 1cup to the world