A BRIEF HISTORY OF COFFEE DRINKING IN JAPAN

The coffee we take for granted today arrived on Japan's shores in the Edo period (1603-1867). At first what was a surprising taste to the Japanese gradually caught on. We talked to Akio Yamaoka, curator of the UCC Coffee Museum, about that evolution and more.

Instant coffee was invented by a Japanese

In 1899, Dr. Sarutori Kato invented "soluble coffee" by vacuum- drying brewed coffee to eliminate its water content and reduce it to a powder. In 1906, however, a U.S.-based chemist and inventor who had developed instant coffee by use of a different method received a patent for it, and Kato's name became a mere footnote in the annals of coffee history.

Coffee and culture mavens

In 1911, Cafe Printemps opened in Tokyo's Ginza as a members-only club, and soon garnered a name for itself as a salon for the intelligentsia, who sipped coffee as they discussed the arts. Members included writer and military surgeon Ogai Mori, novelist Kafu Nagai, artist and politician Kiyoteru Kuroda, author Hakucho Masamune, and artist Kotaro Takamura. Monthly dues were a princely 50 sen. Essayist Torahiko Terada wrote in Kohi tetsugaku josetsu (Introduction to the Philosophy of Coffee), "For me, coffee is philosophy, religion and art."

Japan's first cafe also had a bath

The first cafe in Japan opened in Tokyo's Ueno district in 1888. Called Kahi Chakan ("coffee teahouse"), it was built by Eikei Tei. It had a salon atmosphere, complete with books, a billiard table, a bath and even Cuban smokes. Coffee sold for twice the price of a bowl of noodles, quite a luxury at the time.

Coffee was an acquired taste

"Beans were roasted and ground into powder and flavoured with white sugar. It had a burnt smell and the taste was intolerable," wrote the poet and fiction writer Nanpo Ota in the earliest known review, from 1804, of the drink called "kauhi." At the time, coffee was brewed by boiling grinds directly in water and serving the infusion without filtering. To the tea-loving Japanese, who had no custom of using milk, it must have been a strange drink indeed.

During World War II, dandelion root was used as a coffee substitute

The supply of coffee imported to Japan came to a halt with the onset of the Pacific War. By then, the Japanese had embraced the beverage, and were left to find ingredients to make a similar bitter brew. Dandelion root, lily bulbs, waste beans, chicory, acorns, pumpkin seeds and more were tried, a situation that continued until 1950 when coffee imports resumed. Today, dandelion-root coffee is still enjoyed as a healthy caffeine-free drink.

Learn everything there is to know about coffee at the only coffee museum in Japan

Take a trip to Japan's only coffee museum, located in Kobe, to find out all the lore you never knew about this beloved brew. The museum's cafe, Coffee Road, serves special types of coffee available nowhere else. Tasting sessions, roasting workshops and other special events are held on the premises.

Text by Discover Japan, translation by Deborah lwabuchi in " Discover Japan", August 2016, vol. 8, excerpts 21-24. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.