The story of a coffee man: one cup of coffee at a time, one cup for one person

It is said that there are more opportunities in big cities, but sometimes you also feel that you are superfluous people in this city?

Walking in a familiar and unfamiliar city, there are no peer friends, no people to rely on, no warm hugs, no sense of belonging.

No matter how late you come home, there is no lamp, no one, not even a cup of coffee waiting for you.

His name is Wan Zhigang, and like many people, he is also a person who feels extremely confused and lonely in the city. But because of a centenarian, a cup of coffee, changed his later life, let him understand the meaning of loneliness.

One night two years ago, he came to Ginza, one of the three bustling centers in the world, and walked into an old cafe around the corner.

When he went in, he was a little surprised that the seemingly unattended shop was full of people, and everyone was engrossed in the small white cup in front of him, silent and respectful as a prayer, and the scene was as sacred as if it were in church.

An old man came solemnly and asked him, "We only have coffee, no other drinks, and no cakes, okay?"

Out of courtesy, he braved to order a cup of coffee.

Unexpectedly, it was this cup of coffee that changed his later life.

"I've never had coffee like this, with a soothing aroma of the earth, natural, balanced, citrus and floral, and finally caramel of berries and chocolate," he said. "

"I want to bring the world a really good cup of coffee."

He later learned that this Amber Cafe, which is incompatible with Ginza, the bustling center of the world, was opened by a national treasure craftsman on a par with the Japanese god of sushi, and had an irreplaceable position in the Japanese coffee industry. Every day, guests from all over the world come to the shop for coffee.

The owner is Ichiro Kanaguchi, who is 103 years old. He is obsessed with coffee. Because he adheres to the ingenuity of "one cup of coffee at a time, one cup for one person", his shop never uses machines or fancy tricks, so over the years, very few people can taste his coffee.

The secret of this good cup of coffee comes from the fact that after the end of World War II, the pass accidentally opened a bag of coffee beans left by the United States Army.

This belongs to the "secret of time", Guankou full of praise: "these old coffee beans are like wine, can grind a fuller, more round flavor and aroma."

However, using old coffee beans to make coffee is not recognized by the outside world, and many people say that this is the imagination of the pass.

What change will time bring to coffee? This is what Ichiro Kanaguchi has been pursuing with all his heart.

In order to prove this secret, he never married all his life, had no children, and spent his whole life exploring the nature of coffee. He is like a cup of coffee, has been waiting for a person, in the center of the world, with the longest love to stick to the most lonely and warm light.

Guankou said, "I want to bring the world a really good cup of coffee."

He mentioned that he had been to a Starbucks, which was full of people, but none of the cups contained real coffee, mostly milk and sugar.

A real cup of coffee

It should be 100% coffee extract without any addition.

To Guankuan's regret, because old coffee beans are precious and scarce, only hand-flushing can guarantee their pure flavor. But in this way, only a few cups of coffee can be made by hand every day, which can not be tasted by more people.

"if only these old coffee beans could be made into hanging-ear coffee, so that everyone can brew a cup of fine coffee like a barista," Guankou said. "

The speaker has no intention, but the listener has the heart.

The most important thing about good coffee is the coffee beans.

After returning home, Wan Zhigang gave up his previous job and founded a small black company. He spent two years exploring and understanding fine coffee. The more he understood, the more he was attracted by the charm of coffee.

Instead of making only one cup of coffee at a time, he wants to make a good cup of coffee that everyone can easily drink.

There is a common theory in the coffee industry:

The first element of coffee is high-quality coffee beans.

Mastering this element is tantamount to qualifying to enter the coffee world.

So, a good cup of coffee depends 60% on the ingredient is beans, 30% on technology is baking, and only 10% on extraction, which is the skill of brewing.

After several twists and turns, he found the extremely precious 90 + brand coffee beans recognized by the industry. The price of a cup of carefully crafted 90 + coffee can even exceed four digits, which is one of the most expensive boutique coffee at present.

Because 90 + coffee beans are all hand-picked and selected from Ethiopian native trees, known for their strong flavor and sparse yield, the flavor and quality are far better than any other valuable coffee, among which aged coffee beans are particularly precious.

At the same time, with the help of many friends, I got in touch with the coffee company of Marubeni Trading Company in Japan. It is the largest coffee supplier in Asia, with first-class equipment and state-of-the-art baking technology, and can produce world-class coffee.

After many sincere exchanges, the two companies finally reached an unprecedented cooperation to produce a unique small black boutique hanging ear coffee.

In order to allow more people to taste a cup of really high quality coffee, although the use of expensive 90 + coffee beans and first-class coffee production and roasting technology, the price of the little black coffee produced is not prohibitive.

The world is not complicated, simple is beautiful.

"when the whole world is doing its best, I especially want to do something simple."

That's what he thought when he decided to make little black boutique coffee.

In China, very few people have drunk fine coffee, it is not that everyone is not used to it, but that the process is too complicated, there are more than a dozen kinds of coffee utensils alone, and they have to learn how to use them, practice their operation skills, familiarize themselves with coffee beans, and so on.

And a barista's course, the threshold is very high, spend a lot of money and time, is not suitable for ordinary consumers.

So after thinking about it, we decided to use the internationally commonly used Japanese patent hanging-ear coffee to obtain professional products in a minimalist way, so that consumers do not have to rely on heavy coffee machines, bean grinders, handcups and other equipment.

In order to make the cafe portable, he discussed with the team to reduce the ratio of professional hand pots.

And equipped with a Jingdezhen special coffee cup along with the gift box.

The cup is not like the fancy coffee cup in the public impression, it is as white as jade, simple and simple, everything is just right. As the original intention, do not rely on gimmicks to win, let the really good products speak for themselves.

In this way, like a skilled barista, everyone can brew a cup of excellent coffee at any time, breaking the conclusion that it is difficult to popularize all boutique coffee and liberate coffee from the bar, baristas and measuring instruments.

Two years of persistence, just for a walking gift.

It took him two years to pursue a boutique cup of hanging-ear coffee, and it was only with the cooperation of the resources of China, the United States and Japan that he finally got this gift to the lonely.

There is only one precious beauty in the world, which is to still love it after enduring the loneliness of persistence.

This gift to the lonely is the first attempt to store old coffee that is not easy to store and is precious.

Due to the storage of old coffee is not easy and backlog cost, so it is rare, and aged beans after a special storage process and years of baptism, retain a strong aroma of coffee, very tasteful.

Along the way from scratch, the process is very difficult, but also to bear the doubts and opposition of the outside world.

Whenever he is in trouble, Wan Zhigang always thinks of the cup of coffee and the old man in Tokyo.

Wan Zhigang and Ichiro Kanaguchi

Why insist?

Think about the beginning, it only takes a second to give up, but it takes a lifetime to persist.

In order to enable everyone who loves coffee to have the purest coffee, he tries his best to make the coffee 90 points and give the remaining 10 points to the brewers.

When you focus on brewing a cup of pure coffee, you can smell the most primitive aroma from thousands of miles away, which is an instant intoxicating aroma.

As long as there is hot water, everyone can brew a cup of mellow fine hanging ear coffee.

If you can't change the status quo of your life, try to change your lifestyle.