Centenarian Coffee worker: the only thought in my life is to make the coffee.

Professional barista communication, please pay attention to coffee workshop (Weixin Official Accounts cafe_style)

Although coffee originated in Europe and America, after it was introduced into Japan, the Japanese invested in coffee with a unique professional spirit, from the selection of beans, roasting to brewing, paying attention to details, almost demanding, that is, the professional "". Ginza's Amber Coffee, which has been in business for 67 years, is the best embodiment of the spirit of coffee professionals.

"I was born to explore the nature of things."

It was not a philosopher who said this, but Ichiro Sekiguchi of Ginza Hachome Amber Coffee, and by "things" he meant coffee. Born in 1914, he is over a hundred years old. Although he has handed over the management of the cafe to his nephew Lin Fujihiko, he still sits in the cafe several days a week. He has an irreplaceable place in Japan's roast coffee world, and for him, the only thought is how to make coffee well.

"The only thought in my life." he said. Ichiro Sekiguchi graduated from Waseda University's Faculty of Engineering, where he learned how to master the essence of things and then create his own coffee flavor through his enthusiasm.

You can understand Ichiro Sekiguchi's intentions from beans. In general, European and American coffee lovers like the "New Crop", which is regarded as a better coffee bean due to its higher moisture content, richer taste and aroma. The Japanese prefer "Old Crop" coffee beans harvested more than two years ago, which have less water content and lighter taste and flavor.

Amber coffee uses not only old beans, but also so-called "aged coffee beans." This kind of coffee beans need to be placed in a certain humidity and temperature environment, in this era of emphasis on speed, it is very difficult to get. Amber coffee, the most valuable bean, is even as old as forty years. Aged coffee beans are like aged wine, with a ripe and mellow flavor, time has removed excess acidity and moisture from the beans.

In addition to his insistence on beans, Ichiro Sekiguchi found that grinding beans into powder, the thickness can not be the same, and some of the coffee fines (called micropowder in Japanese) can be over-extracted during the brewing process, resulting in too bitter coffee. In order to solve the problem of fine powder, he gave full play to his expertise in engineering and developed a machine different from the general grinding bean grinder. He used rotating centrifugal force to make coffee powder reach a certain thickness and be thrown out of the filter screen to minimize the amount of fine powder.

However, the coffee ground by the bean grinder invented by Ichiro Sekiguchi cannot be brewed by siphon, because for old beans, such a method cannot show the mellow beans, but can only be manually brewed by letting water pass through the layers of powder and dripping amber juice through the filter.

Amber Coffee is located in the middle of Ginza's back alley, which is more special than the bustling and lively Central Street (the morning is crowded with boutiques, and the night is a lounge with flowers blooming). The décor of the cafe is reminiscent of coffee: dark brown wooden doors, nostalgic space arrangements, brightly colored geometric tiles with wooden walls. The space in the store is divided into a bar and a separate seating area. The dark red sofa is equipped with a solid wood bar, giving off a warm, calm and elegant feeling.

Coffee only, own roast, and hand drip. This declaration is the difference between Japanese coffee and European coffee. Europe and America's fine coffee is mainly popular with a single variety, while Japan is popular with coffee professionals 'coffee blends. Each café owner chooses the blend that best suits his style. There is no one else, no semicolon, and no copy.

Hand brewed coffee is the characteristic of amber coffee, adhere to a cup of coffee beans only ground coffee powder, not for convenience first ground up, because beans into powder, because of air humidity will produce taste changes. Here, one guest at a time, his beans are prepared, his hot water is boiled, his coffee is brewed by hand, and this coffee is precious in an age of novelty, speed, and convenience. Looking at the current store manager Fujihiko Hayashi, who carefully and accurately controls the flow of water, his focused expression naturally connects people with the spirit of work. He inherits Ichiro Sekiguchi's work and hopes that everyone who enjoys coffee can feel his enthusiasm and heart.