Remember Vania Ling from Vancouver? A passion for community, hosts coffee potlucks, lived in Dublin? Anyways, she put me in touch with her good friend, Robin, who she met during her time in Ireland. Robin Hoshino is an illustrator, transplanted from one island to another and now pursuing her dreams in Kyoto. She actually came to meet me at Clamp Coffee (from the previous post), and suggested our next stop be Café Phalam just a few blocks over where she had some great connections.

As we arrived, the two of us were greeted by 3-time national barista competitor, Mai Oguni, and I knew we were in good hands. She took the time to sit down with us and break down the ethos of Café Phalam, her coffee story, and of course serve us some delicious espresso. Huge thanks to Robin’s willingness and ability to translate the trickier parts of the convo.

I learned that the word Phalam is actually Sanskrit for “fruit”, and a fitting name it was with the strong local/organic approach in everything from food to interior design. The café exhibited the approach further with their use of wood and natural materials while holding true to a “seed to cup” sense of coffee equality as Mai went on to explain.

“When I used to work for Café Time [local roaster and shop], they sent me to Nicaragua on an origin trip, and I had an amazing experience. I also really liked the connection between the barista and the customer, and this pushed me further in coffee too.”

Some of the local partnerships and collaborations they have going on included sourcing bread from Panscape, coffee pairing events, film directors talks, and even live music. The owner of Phalam is all about facilitating people’s passions, and allowing them to bring whatever they want to do into reality. This concept is applied to everything in the café including food, plants, coffee – everything is in some way locally or directly sourced.

CAFE PHALAM with Mai Oguni

Brodie Vissers © 2024