MEL COFFEE ROASTERS with Masahiko Fumimoto

MEL COFFEE ROASTERS

with Masahiko Fumimoto

After a few laps around the little star on the map on my phone, I finally came across the small patio and 10 square-metre shop that is Millpour Espresso. As the story goes, Toshiharu Furushou popped up 7 years ago, pushing things forward in the local coffee scene and providing a quiet place for patrons to take a break from the Osaka hustle. Toshi, runs an analog only establishment…

“I don’t use Instagram. I don’t even have a cellphone.”

…but he did mention that his lead barista just opened a new coffee corner a few blocks away; a place I likely would have never found if one of Toshi’s other baristas hadn’t kindly led me there on his 10-speed.

Our story continues with Masahiko Fumimoto and his beautiful brainchild Mel Coffee Roasters.

“In Japanese, ‘Melbourne’ sounds a bit weird, so we went with ‘Mel’.”

Masa’s story is oddly familiar. Quitting his job in Japan, traveling the world, and finding himself in Melbourne, Australia, he continued to learn English and study management while working at a Subway. Australia was a strategic choice for Masa as it’s quite easy to get a visa, and there aren’t as many Japanese people there to compromise his language learning.

Naturally, he also fell in love with coffee. Though receiving a barista certification and handing out more than 100 resumes, still not a single café would hire him – this was Melbourne after all, disputably the birthplace of modern specialty coffee. Fortunately, this didn’t seem to faze him, and after volunteering at a friend’s café for a bit and continuing to practice on his home machine, he tried again.

By this time, it had been 2 years and he needed to move back to Osaka for personal reasons, but the spark that had been ignited in the Land of Oz set flame in the City of Os as he immediately began the search for a property. He was starting his own cafe. While working at Millpour with Toshi, he acquired experience in Japanese coffee culture while also working at Toyota in the meantime to earn more capital.

When did you start this café?

We opened almost 3 months ago on January 21. It took us 4 months to do everything, but we did it all ourselves; design, renovations, all the details. I even roast my own beans.

Wow, that’s amazing. How did you learn to roast?

I taught myself by going around and watching other roasters and learning from others who were doing it. There was a place where you can rent a machine, but I decided to buy my own Probat from the 60’s.

The roaster took a year and a half to ship from Germany, but now he and his wife, Rie, are living the dream. She had actually wanted to start a café even before Masa was into coffee, and here they are.

They’ve already started participating in events as well. Coffee Table Experience invited Masa to make coffee at their upcoming event on May 5 and to sell his beans, and I’m sure there are many more collaborations to come.

Thanks to Toshi from Millpour to giving Masa the final training and encouragement he needed to set up his own little coffee corner, and thanks to Masa and Rie for sharing their story!

You’re a huge precedent and inspiration to any micro-roaster cafe.

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