Coffee Knowledge | Was hand brewed coffee invented by the Japanese?

Coffee was introduced to Japan during the Edo period, and then the world's first coffee chain and the first canned coffee appeared. Next, we will talk about the coffee brewing method that makes the Japanese people crazy - hand brewed coffee .

// Inventions//

Did the Japanese invent hand-poured coffee? Of course not! Perhaps because it is so popular in Japan, some people mistakenly think it was invented by the Japanese.

In fact, its inventor was a German housewife, Melitta Bentz . In 1908, she punched a few holes in the bottom of a copper cup, tore off her son's homework paper, and pasted it on the bottom to filter coffee, which changed the way coffee was brewed in the 20th century. Later, she also invented the fan-shaped filter cup and established the Melitta Company.

// develop//

Although hand-brewed coffee changed the way people brew coffee, it gradually declined in Europe and the United States around the 1960s, and was replaced by fast-extracted and commercialized Italian coffee.

// Prevalence //

It wasn’t until the 1970s and 1980s that hand-brewed coffee in Japan enjoyed a second spring.

The temperature, time, extraction, and brewing method of hand-brewed coffee all determine the success or failure of a cup of coffee, and the Japanese people's focused and cautious character has led to the popularity of hand-brewed coffee.

As one of the important cultural skills of Japan, the tea ceremony emphasizes slowness and subtle adjustments. This coincides with the spirit of hand brewing, and successfully laid a solid foundation for hand brewing coffee in Japan.

// Mentor//

Although there is a foundation in tea ceremony, the popularity of hand-brewed coffee is thanks to two mentors.

Sekiguchi Ichiro

In the previous article, we mentioned Ichiro Sekiguchi, the founder of Amber Coffee, Japan’s first coffee shop.

After the war ended in 1945, Mr. Sekiguchi returned to his hometown and served his guests at the company instead of the usual tea. This made many guests fall in love with his coffee. In 1948, he founded Amber Coffee with everyone's support.

Later, he not only designed the Grid Mill coffee grinder by himself to sift out fine powder to make the coffee purer, but also the Crane's Beak hand brewing kettle , which is convenient for adjusting the amount of water injection and allowing stable control of the water flow; he also created the drip method, gate flow and other hand brewing methods.

The coffee at Amber Cafe is also very unique. Not only does it use traditional flannel filter cloth to extract rich-flavored coffee, but most of the beans are aged and are roasted after being left to rest for several years. The taste is light and mellow.

Amber Café's persistence in hand-brewed coffee also confirms the Japanese people's support for it and Mr. Sekiguchi.

Taguchi Mamoru

I guess everyone is familiar with this guy. Even if you haven't seen his name, you've heard the name of his book. As the "Japanese Coffee Master", Mamoru Taguchi not only wrote many books on coffee, but also served as the president of the Specialty Coffee Association of Japan (SCAJ) in 2010.

In 1968 , in order to realize his coffee dream, Mamoru Taguchi and his wife Fumiko Taguchi founded Café Bach .

In fact, many people don't know that Baha Cafe had a predecessor called SHIMOFUSAYA Cafe . At that time, SHIMOFUSAYA Cafe adopted a low-price strategy, which was very successful at the beginning. Later, because the government renovated the lanes, the cafe happened to be within the scope of the renovation, making it impossible to park nearby, resulting in a situation where fewer and fewer customers.

At this time, Mamoru Taguchi made a huge decision - transformation. Not only did he sell coffee, he also roasted and sold coffee beans himself.

In order to let customers enjoy coffee better, the store also makes desserts. Mamoru Taguchi is also very particular about the supply of desserts. The desserts that complement each other can make the coffee more layered , so as not to have the opposite effect.

You can probably understand how persistent he is about pour over by reading his book, which covers everything from green beans, processing methods, roasting, cupping, sales, water-to-powder ratio, temperature, Golden Cup theory, etc.

List of Mamoru Taguchi's works

2004 Coffee Encyclopedia

2009 Coffee Tasting Collection

2011 Coffee Basics

2012 Taguchi Mamoru's Specialty Coffee Collection

2013 100 Years of Coffee: The Sustainable Management Philosophy of the Coffee God Mamoru Taguchi

2014 Cafe Opening Textbook

2015 Mamoru Taguchi's Coffee Formula

2015 Cafe Bach recipes for making delicious desserts with aromatic coffee

2016 Café Bach Paper Filter Coffee Extraction Technology

In the Japanese lifestyle information program "What the Teacher Didn't Teach You", Mamoru Taguchi also mentioned his secret of hand-washing:

After the first steaming, a small hill will appear, and the subsequent water injection should not exceed the upper limit of the height of the first small hill.

Today, Baha Café has more than 100 branches, and Mamoru Taguchi is nearly 80 years old. Even so, he still insists on teaching everyone from entry-level to advanced level. Whether it is Japanese hand-poured coffee or the world's hand-poured coffee, he has made a great contribution!

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