Fine Coffee Culture the History of Coffee and Tea in Japan

Compared with coffee, Japanese tea culture is more traditional and far-reaching, so if we want to mention coffee, let's first learn about Japanese tea culture. Tea has a very long history and origin in Japan. Japanese tea was introduced from China in the 8th-9th century because of the exchange of Buddhism. At the same time, people also brought tea seeds into Japan. By the 12th century, tea had been grown in Japan. Even at that time, tea was quite expensive, so it was a privilege enjoyed by the privileged class, such as the royal family, the aristocracy and the samurai class. In Japan, the tea ceremony is called sado, and it can be regarded as a symbol of Japan from some point of view, which was formed in the late 15th century. Tea ceremony culture also has a far-reaching influence in Japan, especially among the privileged class.

In the first page of the 18th century, people invented the natural treatment of tea, which continues to this day, and this cheap tea treatment makes it affordable for more people to drink tea. Ocha ("tea" in Japanese) is very important in Japanese culture and is still used today. If the Japanese say drinking Ocha, it includes drinking both tea and coffee. Today, in Japan, especially in big cities, drinking tea itself is not so formal, more often people say drinking tea or coffee, often just drinking tea bags, or some bottled drinks. And because of the fast-paced life, people drink less and less tea and coffee at home.

The Japanese tea ceremony can be said to be purely ceremonial, and the ceremony itself goes beyond the tasting of tea. Tea ceremony plays a very important role in Japanese culture. This is a bit similar to Japanese kimono culture. Compared with Japanese tea culture, the history of coffee is negligible.

Origin: coffee was first introduced to Japan and is widely believed to be in the middle and late Edo period in Japan, which is equivalent to the end of the 18th century. At that time, Japan was a closed country, isolated from the rest of the world, and established trade relations with only the Netherlands. Even so, the Dutch were only restricted to Nagasaki's Dejima, a man-made island on which the Dutch could only stay in Japan. The first time coffee came to Japan, it was a Dutch businessman at that time who brought coffee to Dejima just for himself. At that time, a Japanese official went to Dejima and was invited to have coffee for the first time. He later described the coffee as something burnt and hard to swallow. Coffee at that time was not a luxury, but was mainly used for military and medical purposes.

In 1854, several Japanese ports in Nagasaki, Kobe and Yokohama were open to foreigners (mainly Europeans). Within a few years, more and more Europeans have settled down in Japan, Western-style restaurants have emerged in Kobe and Yokohama, and more and more Japanese have been exposed to coffee. In the 1870s, some shops selling tea in Kobe and Tokyo also began to sell some coffee, often called Chakan. Later, in 1888, a special coffee shop was opened in Tokyo, called Kissaten, which was the prototype of the traditional Japanese coffee shop. But as not many people drank coffee at that time, the cafes were soon closed. In the next 20 years, more and more people began to drink coffee, so cafes slowly developed.

Development and frustrations

In 1911, Ginza in Japan opened a coffee shop called Caf é Plantin, imitating the form of a coffee shop in Paris. At that time, the Brazilian government agreed to import coffee beans to Japan, and in return, Japan opened up its immigration policy to Brazil. At first, the main guests of the coffee shop were intellectuals and people of status, but with the development, college students and ordinary people gradually became guests of the coffee shop.

It can be said that Caf é Paulista's is the ancestor of Japanese cafes, and she is regarded as the seed of Japanese coffee culture. Between the 1920s and 1930s, all kinds of cafes could be seen everywhere.

UCC, one of the largest coffee companies in Japan, also emerged at that time, founded in Kobe in 1933. However, at that time, because the whole of Japan was shrouded in the haze of war in the late 1930s, it also had an impact on the development of coffee culture. Since 1938, the import of Japanese coffee has been restricted, and with the outbreak of the second World War, the import trade has been banned.

At that time, the Japanese tried to replace coffee beans with a variety of other materials, such as roasted soybeans, but coffee shops that really focused on the quality of coffee were basically closed and switched to other professions. All kinds of Western-style bakeries are also closed.

In 1950, the trade in coffee resumed and many coffee shops returned to their old business. Around 1960, all kinds of Japanese cafes became popular again. Some are jazz, some are more traditional, and some have a dynamic style of rock and roll, where people not only enjoy the coffee, but also feel the atmosphere. Many cafes also welcome guests to sing in the shop, and this form has been accepted by more and more people and become very common. In 1969, UCC first introduced bottled coffee drinks with milk to the world.

In the 1970s, coffee shop chains emerged and grew rapidly, such as Coffee-Kan and Caf é Colorado, which were the forerunners of today's coffee shop chains. At that time, many people wanted to quit their jobs and open a coffee shop. Opening a coffee shop is considered to be a good investment, and many people feel that it does not require much expertise and enjoys it.

Later, comic coffee appeared in Nagoya in Japan (guests can read comic books in the store), which is the predecessor of today's online cafe. At the end of the 1970s, a table video game called SpaceInvader was very popular. In order to attract customers, many coffee shops also installed game consoles in their stores. At that time, people's yearning for the quiet and leisurely environment of coffee shops faded, and at the same time, the consumer market of instant coffee, as opposed to traditional coffee production, rose rapidly.

New external influence

In the 1980s, more and more self-service coffee shops appeared. DoutorCoffee, the largest coffee shop chain in Japan, first appeared in the 1980s. Self-service coffee shops are mainly popular with the new generation of business people, and seem to spread to every corner overnight.

Fall. It is obvious that the rise of new self-service cafes must lead to the decline of traditional Japanese-style cafes. The convenience of the new cafe service and the greater emphasis on the atmosphere make it better than the traditional full-service Japanese-style cafe.

After Tully's and Seattle'sBest, Starbucks Coffee also entered Japan in 1996. In such cafes, they provide ladies with lattes and cappuccinos. At that time, coffee shops offering lattes and cappuccinos were rare. At that time, this coffee drink was widely favored by women. Although Starbucks's Japanese managers mainly provided lattes and cappuccinos for women at that time, such drinks soon became popular with many men and became suitable for both young and old. Although traditional Japanese cafes have lost part of the market, the coffee market in Japan as a whole is growing.

Today's Japanese coffee

Due to the emergence of self-service cafes, those traditional Japanese cafes with mediocre quality and very expensive prices are constantly being eliminated. While those traditional Japanese cafes that attach importance to quality and reasonable prices still have a place in the whole market, most of these cafes still follow the traditional method of siphon or hand brewing to make coffee.

Three main modes of coffee shops in Japan

The first model is the new self-service cafe, which is efficient and convenient, and usually uses a coffee machine to make coffee. In Japan, "self-service" means faster and more convenient. In this type of store, guests need to come to the counter to order and pick up their own drinks and food.

The second type of shop is the individual shop, which is usually named after Caf é. The products in such stores are mainly espresso as the core, as well as its derivatives, and most of the services are self-service. This kind of shop usually attracts customers with its individual decoration style and unique atmosphere.

The last category is the traditional Japanese cafe, which follows the traditional method of making coffee, using siphon or hand brewing to make coffee. Usually this kind of store provides guests with comprehensive service, guests only need to sit in their seats, and the service staff will provide customers with ordering, table service, etc., of course, the price of the product is usually 2-3 times that of the self-service store.

Although we have mentioned three types of coffee shops, in fact, the first and second are self-service and can be broadly grouped into the same category, and the number and product sales of these two stores far exceed those of traditional Japanese cafes. The difference in quantity does not mean that the new type of cafe is superior to the traditional form, which depends on the specific situation. Most of the new cafes are located in business districts and places with convenient transportation, such as around shopping malls or subway stations. People usually wait for people here, so it is natural to sit in the cafe for a while. While most traditional Japanese cafes pay more attention to coffee products themselves, most of them are located in secluded places, which are very suitable for a few friends to meet and talk.

Coffee shop shuffle

So why on earth is the number of traditional Japanese cafes declining? In fact, the reason is very simple, traditional cafes used to be the right choice for Japanese people who wanted coffee, almost in a monopoly position. When new cafes emerge, they provide more choices for the Japanese, which will naturally weaken their original market share. On the other hand, because new cafes abound, they are faster and cheaper, so more people are willing to drink coffee. In fact, the entire coffee market in Japan has expanded, although the market share for traditional cafes has become smaller.

Due to the change of market conditions, many so-called "top" traditional Japanese cafes closed down one after another in the 1970s and 1980s, but there are also many professional traditional cafes. They pay attention to service and coffee quality, and finally get out of the shadow of the market. And run it very well.

For example, EvianCoffeeShop in Motomachi in Kobe is a typical traditional cafe that has been famous for its high-quality siphon pot for making coffee for more than 60 years since it was founded in 1952. Japanese coffee culture has not died out with the emergence of new forms of coffee shops, and those traditional Japanese coffee shops that are still booming in the market are the symbol of Japanese coffee culture.

New self-service coffee shop

Self-service has become the mainstream form of coffee shops in Japan, and the number of coffee shops continues to grow. DoutorCoffee has more than 1400 stores in Japan and Starbucks has more than 1000 stores. Many small chain stores have also emerged, and most of these coffee shops take Italian coffee as their main product. In recent years, the word Barista has become more and more familiar, the barista profession has become more and more popular, and many young women are happy to work as baristas. Espresso has become more and more important in Japanese coffee culture and has become a part of Japanese coffee culture.

New elements in the process of development

There is a very interesting phenomenon in Japan. Canned coffee drinks are very popular and occupy a large market share, with annual consumption exceeding 700 billion yen. This coffee consumption phenomenon in Japan can be said to be unique in the world, so canned coffee is basically only produced and sold in Japan. This coffee drink is usually a normal temperature drink or a cold drink. Because the Japanese have the habit of drinking cold tea in summer, the Japanese invented this form of drinking coffee. The Japanese first introduced canned cold coffee, CoffeeMilk, in 1920. To this day, the taste of this canned coffee is still what many Japanese remember as coffee. For people in Europe and the United States, coffee should be drunk hot. Even Chinese, who are also Asians, have no habit of drinking cold coffee or cold tea, while the Japanese do the opposite, so it is not difficult for us to understand how to drink cold canned coffee. Another reason is that there are vending machines everywhere in Japan, and canned coffee is easy to retail like cigarettes, which has contributed to the popularity of canned coffee in Japan in another way. Nowadays, all kinds of canned coffee can be bought in many Japanese convenience stores.

Another new element

The first World Beresta Competition was held in Japan in 2007. In Japan, the concept of boutique coffee has been widely recognized for many years, even in the field of traditional Italian coffee, it is also influenced by boutique coffee, which is an important reason why the Priesta Competition is held in Japan. The holding of the Bristol Competition has effectively promoted and consolidated the influence of the Japanese Fine Coffee Association (SCAJ) in the coffee industry, and also promoted the development of the boutique coffee industry throughout Asia.

The future of Japanese coffee will continue to add value to its products.

The number of chain self-service cafes is still increasing, and traditional Japanese-style cafes also have their own market audiences. None of us knows what the coffee market will be like in the future, but there is no doubt that no matter what the form of the shop is, coffee shops will provide more abundant and competitive products. Both new self-service cafes and traditional Japanese cafes will have a place in their own market segments.

However, whether it is a new self-service coffee shop or a traditional Japanese coffee shop, if they only provide mediocre quality coffee, they will not escape the fate of being eliminated. High quality boutique coffee is the current development trend. All coffee shop operators should think about how to increase the added value of their products to attract customers. For example, update the menu, create a more attractive atmosphere in the store, use more beautiful and unique cutlery, be more friendly to customers, and so on. All of these are part of the coffee shop products, and time will finally see which coffee shops will be favored by the market and which will be eliminated.

New market environment

The adaptability of coffee shops to the changing needs of the future society is also an important factor to measure the operation of coffee shops. For example, in Japanese supermarkets, the traceability of agricultural and sideline products is a matter of great concern. Many products are labeled. By scanning the label, you can clearly see how this product is produced and processed. This label is widely used in agricultural products, fish and meat products. Coffee is probably the next product to be tracked.

In Japan, the population growth is negative, and the aging of the population is also a huge problem. This means that in the future, the total number of people drinking coffee in Japan will become smaller and smaller. How to make a smaller population to consume more high-quality coffee is also a problem facing the Japanese coffee market.

Cultivating young people into future coffee drinkers is very important for the coffee market, and Japanese tea is a good negative example. In the past period of time, many adults are no longer willing to pay higher prices for tea, and they drink more bagged tea and canned tea drinks, which causes these adult children to get used to drinking these shoddy tea drinks. when these children reach adulthood, they are used to drinking such drinks. We don't want the same thing to happen to coffee. Although children are not fit to drink coffee, they can still see and smell it when their parents drink real coffee. When they grow up, they will naturally drink real coffee instead of coffee drinks.

For those elderly people, coffee also has a huge market potential, many elderly people, they have the time, but also have some financial strength, they have the conditions to consume higher quality coffee. For young people, they prefer stores with convenient services, and convenience is also important for many older people. What do we need to do to get the elderly out of the house for coffee? More reasonable pricing and more thoughtful service may be needed. In addition, the provision of healthier coffee drinks is also a concern of many consumers.

In any case, whether it is the new store model or the traditional model, we are looking forward to better quality coffee for us to mix.