Roger OngOgawa Coffee is one of the pioneers who brought fair trade coffee to Japan. They began around 2004 when the term “fair trade” wasn’t even heard of among the Japanese population. Not only that, through their coffee, Ogawa Coffee has positive impacts in both social and environmental aspects, from providing shade-grown coffee that supports biodiversity to supporting education and health welfare of developing countries.
In this visit to Ogawa Coffee Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe, Takanori Masuda, the General Manager of General Development Department from Ogawa Coffee, revealed to us the efforts that Ogawa Coffee puts in to bring us ethical coffee. He also shared with us why they are going beyond to create a store that would sustain for the next 100 years.
Kyoto, coffee and climate change
Ogawa Coffee celebrates 71 years of delivering the best coffee to Japan and overseas this year. While it is amusing how it is considered a young Kyoto brand (it is said any brand younger than 100 years in Kyoto is still growing!), Ogawa Coffee was at the forefront as a major coffee supply chain at the advent of Japan’s new coffee era.
Masuda: “Ogawa Coffee was established in 1952. Back then, there were few ‘real’ coffees available. Many concoctions then were coffee that was mixed with substances cooked from other ingredients, so there was a shortage of authentic coffee. Ogawa Coffee wanted to bring the taste of real coffee to Japan.”
Ogawa Coffee is a pioneer in the success in promoting coffee culture in Kyoto. Coffee saw its popularity boom in Japan around the 1960s, and today, Kyoto Prefecture consumes the most coffee products, which may sound surprising considering Kyoto’s long history with tea. But precisely because of Ogawa Coffee’s experience in the industry, it is also sensitive to the topics surrounding coffee production.
Masuda: “In the early 2000s, we had the coffee crisis, where there was a big fall in the prices of coffee, and the coffee shops began doubting their survival. Our awareness of environmental issues also heightened, especially how coffee plantations affect their surrounding environment and ecosystems. We are aware of social injustices that are linked to coffee production too. These are strong motivations for us to take action to protect Japan’s coffee culture and the coffee producers.”
And the coffee crisis is not the first crisis that Ogawa Coffee is facing. The climate crisis is hot on the heels of the coffee industry today, as it is predicted that coffee production will drop by half by the year 2050 from the effects of global warming. It will affect millions of people linked to the coffee trade, including coffee producers, many of whom are already living below the poverty line.
Enjoy the taste of ethical coffee from Ogawa Coffee in Kyoto
Ogawa Coffee opened the Ogawa Coffee Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe in February 2022, aiming to be an ethical coffee shop that will be responsible towards the environment and society. Of course, this is not Ogawa’s first attempt at a sustainable cafe, because Ogawa has long promoted fair trade and organic coffee, from dedicating the month of May for Fair Trade Month to supporting the welfare of coffee-producer communities.
GRANCA, Ogawa Coffee Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe’s ethical coffee series
However, the Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe takes its coffee up a notch. As you approach the entrance, you see a line of white cans of coffee beans. They are Ogawa Coffee’s ethical GRANCA series, a handpicked series of five unique coffee that are organic, international fair trade certified, Bird-friendly certified, and participates in the Orangutans Coffee Project. While we may be familiar with the terms “organic” and “fair trade,” the latter two have significant impacts on biodiversity.
The Bird-friendly certification for coffee approves of shade-grown coffee. Shade trees protect coffee fruits from extreme heat and harm from wind, while the trees allow migratory birds to coexist and feed on pests that threaten the fruits. Orangutan Coffee Project is particular to Indonesia, where Ogawa Coffee contributes to protecting the environment critical to coffee production, but more urgently to preserving the habitat for the critically endangered Sumatran and Tapanuli Orangutans.
Masuda: “However, the certifications are not the only reason Ogawa Coffee chose them. Taste is a standard that Ogawa Coffee refuses to compromise, and we make visits to the plantations themselves, ensuring the quality sustains from year to year while maintaining good relationships to give feedback to partnered coffee farmers.”
Ogawa Coffee SDGs Declaration
Besides the above contributions, the brand has also made its Ogawa Coffee SDGs Declaration (which includes fair trade and organic commitments). They actively participate in social good, including supporting activities to improve health conditions for women working in coffee production regions through Grounds for Health. A visit to any Ogawa Coffee cafe is highly recommended on 21st of every month, as that is when they will hold the “Mari Rouge Day” in support of One of Love Project to improve the educational environment of children in developing countries.
Responsible coffee preparation
Ogawa Coffee’s flannel drip preparation is one of the most defining features of Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe. Their coffee’s smooth yet flavorful taste, which many have fallen in love with, is achieved through the skillful control of the flannel drip, which would not be an exaggeration to call the baristas “coffee artisans.”
Masuda: “We have machines that can brew coffee, but flannel drip takes a lot of skill because of the difficulty. An artisan in Okayama designed and produced the flannel dripper for Ogawa Coffee’s use.”
The Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe also makes an effort to reduce waste. Customers are welcome to bring their personal bottles to fill. If any customer has a need, they offer paper cups at a cost. Are you interested in buying coffee beans? You can purchase their GRANCA series by weight. Highly recommend you bring a container!
“A cafe that will last for the next century”
The Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe is a significant milestone for Ogawa Coffee because it embodies the concept of “a cafe that will last for the next century.”
Masuda: “We want to protect the coffee culture in Japan and connect it to future generations.”
While any location will have its unique coffee culture, Ogawa Coffee hints at what an ethical and sustainable coffee culture in Japan could look like a century later.
Uncompromising on tastes, responsibility to stakeholders
We discussed ethical coffee and Ogawa Coffee’s responsible approach above. The firm commitment to making coffee for ethical consumption from Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe gives us a glimpse of the coffee culture they want to create.
For Ogawa Coffee, partners and customers are important stakeholders in their success too. Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe is dependent on coffee partnerships focused on organic and fair trade. Excellent taste is a stance that the cafe will not compromise, and the partnerships create a virtuous cycle that heightens quality production and delivery of coffee excellence to customers.
Achieving long-term sustainability with modern technology
We have explored how centuries-old companies can sustain for as long as they have, finding the balance between keeping tradition and adapting for the future. If taste and ethical coffee beans are the traditions, where would adaptation be?
Masuda: “Innovation is important for Ogawa Coffee, and why we opened the OGAWA COFFEE LABORATORY in Tokyo. Their concept is ‘open innovation,’ where we research with coffee roasting machines or devise new recipes for coffee cocktails. We are constantly challenging ourselves, which is impactful and fun.”
“Tradition was also once an innovation. It became a tradition after constant innovation, until it became accepted. Then the next cycle of innovation begins.”
“And we look to technology for these innovations. Ogawa Coffee doesn’t stray from our mission of providing real, tasty coffee to our customers. However, technology keeps us improving, from the production stage to coffee roasting to packaging.”
Everyone is a coffee artisan
Masuda: “We call our employees ‘coffee artisans.’ And we mean every staff. They know about coffee well, and even the staff sitting in the back office knows how to hand-drip tasty coffee.”
In fact, because everyone in Ogawa Coffee is knowledgeable about the business they are in, there has been no resistance to introducing new sustainability measures within the company in the past few decades, including the beginning when they brought in fair trade coffee.
Furthermore, this is a very healthy foundation for the future of coffee. Ogawa Coffee’s work culture is leaning more and more towards sustainability, growing the employees as ethical coffee artisans. These artisans will share their knowledge with customers, especially at Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe, slowly cultivating an ethical coffee culture, experienced eventually by Ogawa Coffee’s fans. Surely the coffee culture Ogawa Coffee cultivates will naturally become an ethical one.
A future where sustainability becomes a natural part of daily life
Masuda: “Taste of coffee is critical. We can achieve the highest standards sourcing for fair trade and organic coffee beans, but customers will not drink our coffee if it isn’t delicious. But what if we can make delicious coffee from ethical ingredients as a part of a coffee culture at the same time?”
A coffee culture that is naturally sustainable
We don’t want you to get the impression of aggressive messaging to get customers into sustainability after all this coverage. For Ogawa Coffee, whether we enjoy a cup of coffee at the cafe or at home, it would be ideal to fit organic and fair trade coffee into our habits without feeling forced.
Masuda: “It would be wonderful if sustainability became part of daily life. We shouldn’t need to attach terms like “SDGs” or “sustainability” to what we do.”
Kyoto has a strong cafe culture, as you can see from its cafes, both new and old. The reasons customers visit cafes differ from person to person, but the need for connection is usually a motivation: a place to connect with others. Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe wants to become such a place for the residents around the area, to become a daily part of the residents to have a coffee at Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe that just happens to be good for society and the environment. We find the same sentiment in the cafes’ bread made from Kyoto’s wheat.
Bread made from Kyoto flour
Masuda: “Coffee and bread are major elements of Japan’s kissaten culture. So, we wanted to create a bread using local ingredients for local production, local consumption.” (Kissaten translates to be “tea-drinking shop,” but really means a cafe where coffee is drunk too.)
Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe sells two kinds of bread: whole wheat bread and bread made with 100% Kyoto wheat.
The later was developed through rigorous R&D. They had to go through repeated trial and error because the bread dough could not rise well using Kyoto wheat. Normally, bakers would call it quits, but Ogawa Coffee stayed the path. Even though time was against them, perseverance won, allowing the new Kyoto bread a permanent position on the new cafe’s menu.
But why invest so much into what most people will not think about trying? The motivation goes beyond food self-sufficiency.
Masuda: “It is our goal to create a bread that customers will not get tired of eating. Like Japan’s rice, we want the bread to become a part of daily life even after 100 years.”
In a machiya that is more than 100 years old
Part of coffee culture is, of course, the physical location. But how does the physical space fit into Ogawa Coffee’s vision of sustainability?
The Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe is located in a prime location in Kyoto, a little north of the famous Nishiki Market. Nishiki Market is visited by many, from residents looking for their favorite food products to tourists interested in experiencing the historical merchant street. While the choice is strategic, it also plays out the role of a casual hangout for residents who live nearby. The cafe is a convenient spot for these residents to consume ethically.
And if you look carefully at the cafe space itself, you find the structure is modified from a traditional machiya, expertly hidden behind modern Japanese aesthetics.
Masuda: “The first floor used to be occupied by a popular cake shop. We moved in when the owners left, and the machiya was over 100 years old. We tried to maintain as much of the building as possible. Many parts of the machiya had to be replaced with new material, [the window frame] are parts of the old building we kept. We also kept healthy parts of the beams of the ceiling.”
The creative director and interior designer responsible for Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe’s design wanted to continue the machiya’s history and memory, retaining what they could use from the century-old building itself. On top of that, the rustic yet chic beauty they’ve instilled into the new interior will continue to age well even after a century. Again we see how Ogawa Coffee took a tradition and made it relevant for the future.
Collaborations for sustainability
In Kyoto, partnerships for sustainability are essential building blocks, and that includes Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe.
The artisan Itsunari Nishiyama mastered Kyoto’s wheat to make bread unique to Ogawa Coffee. Food Director Chihiro Maruyama came in to make menu options that bring out the best of the bread. Brass artisan Lue from Okayama Prefecture was commissioned to create the original flannel dripper used by the cafes. To revive the machiya with modern sensibilities, Creative Director Takayuki Minami and Architectural Designer Kazuya Sasaki came in to lend their expertise. Of course, carpentry artisans’ skills brought the vision into reality. There are more strong partnerships, like in the area of art and music, too.
Ogawa Coffee also built an event space on the second floor, behind the fancy seating. The space is cozy with a high ceiling, again reflecting the Japanese aesthetic that resonates throughout the machiya cafe. Events are of the same motif: to share Kyoto’s spirit of tradition and innovation.
Continual challenge for “a cafe that will last for the next century”
Ogawa Coffee wants to continue challenging itself so that sustaining a 100-year-old cafe through protecting old traditions and creating new ones will also become natural.
Masuda: “Ogawa Coffee wants to continue providing delicious coffee in the future. We want to protect coffee from the climate crisis too. As an era demands it, circumstances will require us to make adaptations. But we are also sure of our core: to sustain Japan’s coffee culture.
“And that brings us back to the discussion of tradition and innovation. Eventually, the two boundaries of those two will become seamless for Ogawa Coffee. That is how Ogawa Coffee wants to leave the coffee culture for the future generations.”
Visit Ogawa Coffee Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe
Address: Kikuyacho 519-1, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto (Google Map)
Opening Hours: 7 am ~ 8 pm (Last Order 7.30pm)
Bring: Tumbler and containers for takeaways when using TOGO menu (takeaway menu)
[Website] Ogawa Coffee Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe Webpage (Japanese)
[Instagram] Ogawa Coffee Sakaimachi Nishiki Cafe Instagram
