STiR coffee and tea magazine

64 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 5, 2018 (October / November) T By Josh Doyle he Japanese believe a person can never truly master any skill. You can con- stantly improve, but there is no limit – no end point for your mastery. This applies to everything — martial arts, making sushi, and of course, brewing a great cup of coffee. In line with this idea, it's safe to say the best coffee in the world is being brewed in Japan. Coffee auctions since 2018, whether they happen in Guatemala, Mexico, or Costa Rica, have all been dominated by Japanese buyers. Brands like Maruyama con- tinue to break records each year as it nabs top-scoring lots judged by Cup of Excellence tasters. Japanese brands increasingly also take home the second and third place picks. You'd be hard pressed to find a country that has transformed its specialty coffee industry as quickly as Japan. In the 20 years between 1996 and 2016, import quantities of coffee beans in Asia grew from 8 million 60-kilo bags to 19 million – an increase of 139%. To put that in perspective, growth in North America during that same time registered a mere 44%. Europe moved even slower. Much of this growth has been led by Japan, the world's fifth ranked importer of coffee beans, ahead of the UK and Belgium, and the largest importer in Asia. In 2014 the country imported 7.5 million bags of coffee to its shores. Large growth is attrib- uted to healthy markets in ready-to-drink (RTD) and specialty coffee, both of which adapted well to the Japanese obsession with quality. Now Japan's coffee industry is shifting. Once a drink for young crowds to enjoy at cafés, people are now looking for ways to bring coffee into the home and drink it on the go. Japanese brands are innovating ways to entice coffee drinkers who want a high-quality brew, without the barista. Quality brews, minus the café In 2014, the Japanese consumed 11 cups of coffee per week. What shocked market re- searchers was that according to the All Japan Coffee Association, approximately seven of those cups were consumed outside a café. In that same year 7-Eleven released a filtered coffee at the irresistible price of 100 yen ($0.90). Marketers targeted Japanese coffee drinkers who were too busy to wait in Home Brewed Japan's next coffee wave will bring barista quality brew into the home Convenience is key to market success

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