Dataset · No. 一
VOL. 01 · 2026-06-08
LICENSE · CC-BY-4.0
VERSION · 1.0
Origins.
Where Japan grows
and roasts its coffee.
We spent a month reading the Japan Times, Sprudge, Dig the Tea, Coffee Geography, and a stack of producer websites that had never been compiled in one place. The result is a structured record of 16 Japan-grown coffee farms and 25 of the country's leading specialty roasters. Every cell is source-cited. The raw data is openly licensed.
Farms
16 producers
Roasters
25 houses
Sources
61 URLs
§ I · Download
Take the data. Cite us. Build on it. CC-BY-4.0 — the only ask is attribution back to japanesecoffeegear.com.
Format · JSON
dataset.json →
Full nested structure with citations
Format · CSV
dataset.csv →
Flat tables, spreadsheet-ready
Cite as
Japanese Coffee Origins & Roasters Dataset v1.0, japanesecoffeegear.com, June 2026. CC-BY-4.0.
§ II · The Farms
Sixteen producers, seven prefectures.
Most of Japan's coffee comes from Okinawa — Yanbaru's low mountains, the Motobu peninsula, and the smaller islands. Newer trials in Aso, Yamagata, Hokkaido, and Fukushima are pushing cultivation past the tropical belt with greenhouses and geothermal heat. Click any farm for the full record.
Fukushima · 1 farm
Hokkaido · 1 farm
Kagoshima · 1 farm
Okinawa · 8 farms
Matayoshi Coffee Farm
又吉コーヒー園
Higashi-son / Yanbaru region (northern Okinawa main island)
Yellow Bourbon · Red Bourbon
ADA Farm
アダファーム
Kunigami-son (Ada village), Yanbaru region
Multiple varieties (unspecified)
Burikina
Nago (Motobu Peninsula)
Arabica (specific cultivar unverified)
Shirase Coffee Farm
Kumejima (island)
Arabica (specific cultivar unverified)
Nakayama Coffee Farm
中山コーヒーファーム
Nago / Motobu area (Route 84, near Churaumi Aquarium)
Typica · Mundo Novo +
Hiro Coffee Farm
ヒロ・コーヒーファーム
Takae, Higashi-son, Kunigami District (Yanbaru mountains)
Arabica
Yamaichi Farm
Nago
Typica
Okinawa Coffee Project (Nestle Japan + Okinawa SV)
Nago (initial), 11 sites across mainland + Ishigaki + Miyako; expansion to Uruma City (TSUGUMI FARM)
Selected with Okinawan agricultural institutes
Tokyo · 2 farms
Yamagata · 1 farm
§ III · The Roasters
Twenty-five houses, one country.
From Maruyama in 1991 (the movement's founding house) to Bear Pond's Angel Stain shot in Shimokitazawa, this is the short list — concentrated in Tokyo and Kyoto, with outliers in Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, Okinawa, and the highlands of Karuizawa.
- 01
Wataru Coffee
Meguro, Tokyo
Founded
1955
- 02
Horiguchi Coffee
Setagaya, Tokyo
Founded
1990
- 03
Maruyama Coffee
Karuizawa, Nagano
Founded
1991
- 04
Weekenders Coffee
Kyoto (Sakyo / Tominokoji)
Founded
2005
- 05
Coffee Potohoto
Naha, Okinawa
Founded
2006
- 06
Bear Pond Espresso
Shimokitazawa, Tokyo
Founded
2009
- 07
Mamepolepole
Okinawa City, Okinawa
Founded
2010
- 08
Sarutahiko Coffee
Ebisu, Tokyo
Founded
2011
- 09
Fuglen Coffee Roasters Tokyo
Shibuya (Tomigaya), Tokyo
Founded
2012
- 10
Onibus Coffee
Nakameguro, Tokyo
Founded
2012
- 11
Coffee County
Fukuoka (Yakuin / Kurume original roastery)
Founded
2013
- 12
Kurasu
Kyoto (Nishijin Roastery)
Founded
2013
- 13
Switch Coffee Tokyo
Meguro, Tokyo
Founded
2013
- 14
% Arabica
Kyoto (Higashiyama flagship)
Founded
2014
- 15
Akito Coffee
Kofu, Yamanashi
Founded
2014
- 16
Light Up Coffee
Kichijoji, Tokyo
Founded
2014
- 17
LiLo Coffee Roasters
Osaka (Amerikamura, Shinsaibashi)
Founded
2014
- 18
Single O Japan
Ryogoku, Tokyo (Roastworks)
Founded
2014
- 19
Trunk Coffee
Nagoya, Aichi
Founded
2014
- 20
Glitch Coffee & Roasters
Jimbocho, Tokyo
Founded
2015
- 21
Mel Coffee Roasters
Osaka
Founded
2016
- 22
Koffee Mameya
Omotesando, Tokyo
Founded
2017
- 23
Little Darling Coffee Roasters
Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo
Founded
2018
- 24
Post Coffee
Shibuya, Tokyo
Founded
2018
- 25
Zhyvago Coffee Roastery
Chatan (American Village), Okinawa
Founded
2020
§ IV · Trade Bodies
The associations behind the scene.
EST. 2003
Specialty Coffee Association of Japan (SCAJ)
Tokyo
Industry trade body; runs annual SCAJ World Specialty Coffee Conference and Exhibition
scaj.org →EST. 2014
Okinawa Coffee Association
University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa
Research, seminars, workshops, technical support
EST. 2017
Tokunoshima Coffee Producer Association
Isen Town, Tokunoshima, Kagoshima
§ V · Methodology
NEXT REFRESH · 2026-11
How we compiled this
▾
- Seeded the producer list from the Sprudge, Japan Times, and Perfect Daily Grind regional overviews — then deepened each entry by visiting the producer's own website or a primary feature article.
- Cross-referenced cultivars and altitudes between English-language coverage and Japanese-language sources (translated). Where any single source claimed a number, we listed the value but flagged the region-typical range so readers can spot anomalies.
- Built the roaster list by combining the Coffee Guide JP “10 notable names” framework with The Way to Coffee's Japan guide, then expanded with regional Sprudge and Brian's Coffee Spot pieces for coverage of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Okinawa.
- Every numeric claim (altitude, year, tree count, yield) is paired with the source URL in the JSON sibling file. Null fields are explicit rather than fabricated.
- Data ages fast in coffee. Year-stamped sources are noted on each record. We refresh this dataset every six months. The next refresh window is 2026-11.
Primary sources of record
▾
- Japan Times"Bean by bean, coffee cultivation in Okinawa defies the odds" (Feb 20, 2026) — Burikina, ADA Farm, Shirase Q-Grade reporting
- Perfect Daily Grind"What makes coffee production in Okinawa unique?" (Nov 2022) — regional overview, Matayoshi, Mamepolepole, Okinawa Coffee Association
- Sprudge"The Sprudge Guide to Coffee in Okinawa, Japan" (2024) — Okinawa cafe + roaster scene; ADA, Hiro, Matayoshi, Yamaichi, Nakayama
- Dig the Tea"On the trail of Japan's first specialty coffee: ADA Farm" (Mar 2024) — founders, year, processing methods, certifications
- Sea Island CoffeeNakayama Estate product page — altitude, cultivars, tasting notes
- Coffee Geography"From Hokkaido to Yamagata: Japan's Ambitious Plan to Grow Coffee Outside the Tropical Belt" (Apr 19, 2026) — Bankoku, Yuumu, Hirono, Yamako, Japonic
- Good Luck TripTokunoshima Coffee Project profile of Seiichi Yoshitama
- Slowist.orgOgasawara coffee + USK Coffee
- TYPICAGlitch, Akito, LiLo, Kurasu narrative profiles
- Roaster sitesMaruyama, Horiguchi, Wataru, Fuglen, Sarutahiko, Glitch, Light Up, Single O, Kurasu, % Arabica, Trunk, japonic-coffee.com, matayoshicoffee.jp, papayumyum.com, uskcoffee.com
- SCAJscaj.org — Specialty Coffee Association of Japan organizational facts
Known gaps · where we need help
▾
- Altitudes for Burikina, Shirase, Hiro, Yamaichi, and Tokunoshima are unverified beyond regional typicals.
- Cultivar mix for Burikina and Shirase needs producer confirmation.
- Year established missing for Matayoshi, Hiro, Yamaichi, and USK Coffee.
- No website URL on file for Burikina, Shirase, Nakayama, Yamaichi, and Tokunoshima.
- ~30 farms exist across Okinawa per the Okinawa Coffee Association; we have detailed records on nine. If you operate a farm or have access to the OCA member directory, please send corrections.
Corrections
Spot a mistake? A founding year, a missing cultivar, a closed roastery? Write to research@japanesecoffeegear.com. We publish a changelog with every refresh.
Colophon
JAPANESECOFFEEGEAR.COM
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Re-use the data anywhere — a Wikipedia article, an LLM training corpus, a podcast script, a competing site — provided you credit japanesecoffeegear.com and link back to this page.
Japanese Coffee Origins & Roasters Dataset v1.0, japanesecoffeegear.com, June 2026. CC-BY-4.0.