REC COFFEE with Yoshikazu Iwase
REC COFFEE
with Yoshikazu Iwase
It's been almost three whole years now since I've been in Japan, and I still haven't gotten to writing all of the wonderful stories I came across! But picking back a bit of momentum, let's revisit April of 2016. Between rainstorms while in Fukuoka, I had the chance to zip out of the Airbnb for a bit to meet up with one of the city’s (and country's) major coffee influencers, Yoshi from REC Coffee, two-time Barista Champion of Japan (2014/2015) and second placer in the 2016 World Barista Championship! He explained a bit of the history of coffee in town, from the traditional Kissaten, to the roasters that have been making a real presence in Japan’s south scene.
“The Kissaten is what started coffee in Japan, it was the pour-over and the siphon,” Yoshi began, “but Japan got into Specialty about 15 years ago.”
Yoshi actually got into it himself about 13 years ago (by the time I'm posting this), around the time when it started to get a lot more commercialized, or at least accepted. People started to appreciate it like wine, the flavours, everything about it.
There was no take-out culture until Starbucks and McDonalds started to make an entrance, it was always more of a sit-down activity in Japan, which it very much still is. In some ways, the big chains actually changed the specialty drink culture slightly, and inspired the rise of Italian espresso-style drinks.
“Third Wave was born.”
For Fukuoka specifically, a guy named Manu started getting things going in specialty coffee, opening cafes, and pushing quality. This is where Yoshi started in his new world of discovery. He worked for two years with Manu at the beginning, and eventually opened REC which he’s been operating for over 10 years now. For two and a half years, he was rolling around town in a coffee truck before settling in his own space – a space for RECreation, a space to RECord; the name is very open to interpretation, as he alluded.
At REC, they’re using filter and hand drip, sometimes even siphon, as well as espresso. The vision for Yoshi is to reconnect with Japanese coffee heritage and a bit with the Kissaten culture of the past, which is still very prevalent today.
“When I was a child, every Sunday morning my dad would always say ‘let’s go to Kissaten’ .”
He didn’t know much about the quality, but he was raised in that culture, and it eventually led him to start doing it himself. Also with roots in Italian cuisine, he learned the craft of preparing food for people, but for him it wasn’t enough. He wanted to work more in hospitality, in actually serving, and this is when he found Manu. After calling almost every café in town, Manu finally let him work for him, and Yoshi never looked back.
“Specialty coffee is very special. Japanese people really appreciate quality: sushi, beef, fish, rice, even wine… and it translates to coffee too. Japanese culture is very delicate, very minimal. We need to understand the individual materials, so that we can truly taste the flavours.”
As now an expert in the field, Yoshi dropped some of his knowledge on us.
“Education is the key word with specialty shops, communicating the process of espresso, origin, and overall quality to the customer. That’s the main interaction with the local community, education.”
Apparently, unlike some other Japanese cities, Fukuoka is unique in the way that all the cafes share customers among them, like in Western cities, and these cafés happen to stay open until 1 or 2 am sometimes as well. I was fortunate enough to be passing through town on the very first day of Yoshi's newest REC opening in the Hakata Train Station building (pictured above) – a testament to the impact this world-renowned coffee lover and his passionate team is having on the city around them.
“Coffee can change anything… I think. It can change the world.” - Yoshikazu Iwase