WP6 nationalpost.com NATIONAL POST, SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 2018 KOPI LUWAK IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE COFFEE IN THE WORLD DUE TO ITS UNORTHODOX ORIGINS. IT’S PRODUCED FROM THE COFFEE BEANS DIGESTED AND EXCRETED BY AN INDONESIAN CAT CALLED A CIVET CAT. ITS HEFTY PRICE TAG CAN RUN FROM $100 TO $600 A POUND, ACCORDING TO CNN. rom Tokyo’s classic Press), coffee has been con- spiralling out of the drip. The Café de l’Ambre, where sidered an ordinary, every- pinching of the water kettle Learning how F centenarian master day Japanese beverage since spout so it exudes just the tini- Sekiguchi Ichiro still roasts the early 1900s. Unlike other est stream of water. At a good the beans, to sleek specialty imports – such as the dining shop it’s like a ballet. It’s just coffee shops and retro-cool room table or men’s dress suit beautiful to watch,” she adds. to espresso kissaten (traditional coffee- – that retained their Western Kissaten offer a unique cof- houses), Japan is home to one “scent,” she says that coffee fee experience, says Michie of the world’s most exciting became naturalized quickly. Yamamoto, owner of Tandem yourself coffee cultures. It evolved from being used Coffee in Toronto. Originally This may come as a sur- as a medicine in its early days from Shizuoka (a city between prise to the uninitiated, who (the late 1500s) to “a drink for Tokyo and Nagoya), Yama- Confessions of a coffee-hating assume green tea is the chief pleasure” roughly 70 years moto visits family in Japan caffeinated beverage, but later when the Dutch, Japan’s regularly. And when she does, Italian Vanessa Hrvatin Japan is among the world’s sole trading partner during it’s the kissaten she favours largest importers of coffee. the Edo period (1603–1868), over contemporary cafes. Experts at manual brewing started giving it as presents You can usually identify a techniques such as siphon to prostitutes in Nagasaki, kissaten by its retro stylings eople never seem to believe me when I and pour over (a.k.a. hand White explains. – the décor and furnishings tell them I’m Italian. It could be my Slo- drip), Japanese coffee-making “Japan’s first coffee shop of commonly date back to the P venian last name or my blonde hair, but I has had a far-reaching effect record” was founded in 1888: 1950s or 60s, she says. They really am Italian. on the modern movement. Kachiichakan in Tokyo. By have a comfortable, nostalgic My dad moved to Canada from northern Coffee equipment compan- the end of the nineteenth cen- vibe and a slower pace than Italy when he was six, and my mom was born ies such as Hario and Kalita tury, Brazil – today’s largest modern coffee shops. Some- in Montreal after her parents moved from Italy are the go-to for specialty- coffee producer – had chosen times, the owner-master will several years before. My entire family is loud coffee enthusiasts around the Japan “as their first targeted, be wearing a tuxedo complete (we talk over one another). We love to eat. My world. And coffee pioneers overseas market.” with a bow tie. Nonno firmly believes that any sickness can be including James Freeman, In 1907, the first coffee “The atmosphere is so cured with a shot of grappa. And of course, we founder of Oakland, Calif.- chain in the world was estab- amazing. They have many all love coffee. based Blue Bottle Coffee Com- lished in Tokyo and Osaka: the regulars from a long time ago. Well actually, not all of us do. I can’t stand it. pany, credit Japan as a major Paulista group. It was a huge That’s part of their morning I don’t like the smell, the taste, or how jittery it source of inspiration. success, White says. Adding (ritual). Every morning they makes me feel. At its best, Japanese cof- that today’s coffee connois- go and chat and have a coffee This, of course, has caused some problems fee exhibits the extraordinary seurs – in Japan as anywhere and maybe smoke some ciga- for me over the years. In my early teens I would care taken at each stage of the else – much prefer independ- rettes,” Yamamoto says. choke down a cup of coffee just because I didn’t process: from bean selection ent coffee shops to chains, “Most of them make (hand) want to feel left out. Eventually I stopped drink- to the level of roast and grind, whether local or imported. drip coffee. That’s their trad- ing it all together. and finally the technique and “Specialist coffee in Japan itional style, especially the My Nonno in Montreal loved making cap- skill of the maker. was way ahead of the arrival older shops. Last time when puccino for everyone. In the evening, he would Although Japan’s taste for of Starbucks. The coffeehouse we went to Asakusa in Tokyo, go around the room, point at each person, and say, “cappuccino?” Everyone would nod. Then he’d get to me. “No grazie, Nonno,” I’d respond. He’d freeze. “No?” he’d say, pure shock in his eyes. Then he’d ask several times if I was sure. After saying no a couple hundred times, he’d shake his head, and move on. This happened every single time I visited. Most of my family still can’t accept that I don’t drink coffee, but maybe there’s a reason for their refusal to move on. After all, coffee is a cornerstone of Italian culture. In the late 1400’s coffee made its way into Italy through Venice, and according to coffee historian Jonathan Morris, this means they COFFEE IS were probably the first country in Europe to get their hands on the beans. For hundreds of years coffee was seen as a luxury, something only accessible to the up- per class. By the time the First World War hap- pened, Italians were advertising coffee as a way to keep soldiers awake and ready to fight, but ITALY WAS LIKELY THE FIRST NATION IN EUROPE KING TO GET THEIR HANDS ON COFFEE BEANS. it wasn’t until after the Second World War that IN JAPAN the Italian coffee craze really took flight. Experience one of the world’s most By this time different versions of the es- presso machine had been developed, a con- fascinating coffee cultures Laura Brehaut traption that was ideal because it produced a concentrated cup of coffee quickly. Then, in 1948, Achille Gaggia developed a machine that created crema – the layer of foam that floats on an espresso. “Because the water pressure (from this machine) is so high, you get the crema on top, which is really what makes an espresso an espresso,” says Morris. coffee is more recent than Eur- was the number one social we went to quite a few kis- By the 1960s Italy had become an industrial- ope’s, cafes were important space, even more than the bar saten but none of them had ized country. Coffee shops and supermarkets spaces in Japanese society well or the beer hall,” she adds. espresso machines.” were common, providing a platform to market before the “Seattle-driven cof- “In the 1970s, there were Coffee masters in Japan the beverage. It was around this time that Ital- fee boom,” says Merry White, three or four coffeehouses historically resisted the es- ians started drinking coffee at home on a regu- professor of anthropology at per city block in any major presso machine, White ex- lar basis. Today, the country produces about 70 Boston University. In Japan, Japanese city. There are maybe plains. Coffee produced with per cent of the coffee machines in the world, coffee shops have flourished two now. But still, this is the a machine wasn’t considered which is one of the reasons coffee is so aligned since the late 19th century. place you go. It’s almost like a handmade product; the de- with Italian culture. White has been sipping breathing… It’s not necessary vice interfered between the But of course, it’s not just the machinery that coffee and observing daily life to be that conscious. Just do it.” coffee and its maker. makes coffee what it is in Italy. “The best Ital- in Japanese cafés for more You could spend nearly Hand drip is the main of- ian espresso blends are harmonious in flavour, than 40 years. She travels to $20 on an exceptional coffee fering of a kissaten, but many and that’s contrary to where the speciality cof- Japan often, conducting re- in Tokyo but options run the also serve morning set: an in- fee world that we’re living in has gone,” Morris search on various aspects of gamut across the country. expensive light breakfast that explains. “When people go to Italy they often modern society and culture. Cold or hot canned coffee is comes with your first cup of find the coffee quite difficult to stomach, just Although she doesn’t re- available any time, anywhere coffee. Both Yamamoto and as when Italians come here they find our mass member how the brew tast- via omnipresent vending ma- White recommend visiting coffee equally difficult to stomach.” ed, one of White’s earliest chines. While convenience Nagoya to experience its tasty Even within Italy, coffee preferences differ Tokyo café experiences dur- stores and homegrown chains take on the breakfast. “There depending on where you live. In Trieste (the ing her first trip in the 1960s such as Doutor Coffee offer are extraordinary kinds of north, where my dad is from), they drink Arab- set the tone for her career in inexpensive (and lower-qual- Nagoya morning set tourism,” ica coffee which has a sweet and delicate taste.