“Fukuoka’s espresso scene is healthier than Tokyo’s.”
So stated my barista, whose identify should not be talked about.
Fukuoka Metropolis—AKA Hakata—is a kissaten city. This status stems from establishments like Café Brasileiro, Espresso sya Noda, and Espresso Hiiragi: venerable kissaten famed for his or her Shōwa mise-en-scène and siphoned or Nel-dripped “deep roasts.” Kyushu’s largest metropolis has many kissaten, however Muneo Morimitsu’s Espresso Bimi, based in 1977, stood out early for thoughtfully choosing seeds to be roasted in-house at a time when many noticed espresso as little greater than an inexpensive commodity.
Fukuokans have lengthy had an easy regard for high quality, and this has led to some thrilling outcomes. Tokado Espresso’s Naoki Gotō, for instance, received the 2013 World Espresso Roasting Championship (WCRC), whereas Fukuoka-born Hidenori Izaki clinched the 2014 World Barista Championship (WBC) title.
Prizes are splendid, however the spirit that wins prizes is even higher. WCRC-winner Naoki Gotō skilled at COF-FUK, a volunteer group fashioned in 2007 by Noriko Sunaga, Yumiko Koga, and manucoffee’s Sōshi Nishioka. The group’s free cuppings, blind tastings, and seminar note-sharing periods incubated not simply Tokado Espresso, but additionally Rec Espresso and Manly Espresso. Who is aware of if these locations would have survived in Tokyo’s chilly, aggressive wards?
Comparability needn’t be the thief of pleasure, so be a part of us in Hakata, sip from every store on our Information, and resolve for your self which metropolis has the higher drinks. Right here, you received’t discover $14 ‘spros or romanticized “kodawari” drinks—solely glad cafes whose house owners craft espresso with ineffable honesty.
Lets Bachata en Fukuoka?
Manly Espresso
“MANLY COFFEE.”
“You need to go to Manly.”
“Manly is one of the best!”
It appeared like at any time when I requested somebody the place I ought to go first to get espresso in Fukuoka, all of them stated, “MANLY”.
I admit to being hesitant to suggestion, however the suggestions had been honest. Noriko Sunaga is a member of the COF-FUK group, and Manly Espresso is her retailer, first opened it 2008. Right this moment it appears each Fukuokan is aware of this place, and feels sturdy about volunteering it as a first-stop vacation spot for these visiting seeking nice espresso.
“I wish to be one of the best on this planet at one thing,” she instructed me. “However I don’t get obsessive about that. I see it as a method to maintain difficult myself.” And who can argue with development? When Noriko proposed I attempt “one thing new” in lieu of my normal espresso order, I listened.
Whereas ready for my drink, I observed, on the bar, Rwandas prepared for the AeroPress and Brazils to be pulled on the La Marzocco Linea—seeds roasted on the Loring S15 Falcon related to Cropster for monitoring. “However I nonetheless write all the things down by hand,” Sunaga provides.
Noriko decanted a caramel-rich elixir right into a cup and dusted it with cardamom—this was my Brazilian Milk Chocolate/Minas Gerais milk brew. One sip, and I too joined the choir:
“Go to MANLY COFFEE!”
Basking Espresso
When in Fukuoka, a precedence must be to go to Ōhori Park. Its path encircles a heron-haunted pond, its waters divided by a Amanohashidate-looking strip of land like one thing out of a murals. For a close-by cup, stroll south to Basking Espresso Ropponmatsu; you may’t miss the constructing’s coloured, louvered shutters.
Founder Keita Enohara appeared to wander in life earlier than selecting espresso. In his twenties, he performed in a punk band whereas working at Honey Espresso. He traipsed the globe—together with Central America’s coffee-producing areas—and after arriving again house in Chihaya, Keita thought, “I wish to personal a espresso store.”
So, in 2014, he opened one. Three extra would observe.
Basking’s fourth department in Ropponmatsu is boho-chic with its Edison bulbs and aspleniums and many pots of espresso. Once I entered, Yūki welcomed me from the register, beside the store’s Synesso S200. I obtained an Indonesia doppio, its flavors refined with cream and sugar and heightened by my servers’ humor, my little cup of pleasure ready me for the following leg of my journey.
Lose your self in Ropponmatsu’s streets at evening, or loll on Basking’s patio late—this department is open till 7 p.m.—and who is aware of? A cup may encourage you to wander into your subsequent journey.
Rec Espresso
Reco Espresso is a nine-shop worldwide chain with branches in Tōkyō and Taiwan. That’s lots for an organization that started off as a espresso truck. Yoshikazu Iwase, Rec’s co-founder, went from struggling to pay the payments to successful the Japan Barista Championship twice and inserting second within the 2016 WBC. After bouncing between kitchen jobs and cafes for years in Fukuoka, Yoshikazu and co-founder Osamu Kitazoe purchased, with a mortgage, an outdated takoyaki truck and refurbed it right into a moveable cafe. The gamble labored. In 2010, Rec moved into its first brick-and-mortar retailer in Yakuin.
In line with Fukuoka’s custom of the “closing espresso”, Rec Espresso Yakuin Station is open till midnight or 1 a.m. most days. Rec additionally has a prodigious choice of single origins: two espresso choices and 6 filter coffees, on the time of my go to.
Emerson stated that “the outcomes of life are uncalculated and incalculable.” One sip of Rec’s excellent Brumas Gesha Apple Anaerobic left me certain this place was one thing particular.
Cs Somme Café
“At occasions, we Japanese overdesign.”
That’s what an architect instructed me whereas we had been ready in line at Hakata Rāmen Shin-shin.
Overdesign? Japan’s architects have many idioms—one among them is extravagance—however every mode is at all times their very own. Take cafe&bar saino in Tenjin; it’s carved into the nook of a red-and-white brick, metal-finialed, Meiji-era life insurance coverage constructing. Nothing like that would exist within the States.
And neither may Cs Somme Café. Kengo Kuma and Associates (whose CV contains the Japan Nationwide Stadium) constructed Cs Somme with operate and feng shui in thoughts. Exterior, a collection of mesh-fitted arches filter daylight and lend the constructing a fragile musicality. Inside, ivory gleams from each crevice. Large home windows look out right into a backyard. The lengthy, lute-in-profile bar—upon which a La Marzocco Strada shines—provides clients an unmediated view of servers.
Kurasu Kyōto and Rostro present the pour-over and espresso roasts, respectively, and Hoshino Seichaen’s Japanese Tea provides the sencha, matcha, and gyokuro. The style of tea matches handsomely with sweets such because the silky Hokkaido Baked Cheesecake. Drink within the ambiance alongside the espresso. You’ll discover that Cs Somme Café is intelligently designed—not simply architecturally, but additionally gastronomically.
Sym Espresso Roasters
Details of life overseas are sometimes odd to vacationers. Nob Espresso is open for simply three hours on in the future of the week, Letyon’s Espresso Honor System is a 24-hour, unmanned seed dispensary, and Fuk Espresso is airport-themed.
After which there’s Sym Espresso Roasters. In 2025, Ethan Gwon of Momos Espresso in South Korea teamed up with Rui Kondō of Rec to place a Busan bend on the Maidashi district. And the outcomes are, properly, completely different.
How does toast sound to you? At Sym, you will get pizza toast, grapefruit toast, avocado toast, teriyaki toast, and, of all issues, an open-faced strawberry sandwich toast. From 8 to 11 a.m., Sym reductions its “Morning Coffees” (80–150 yen off drip roasts, espressos, and americanos). Should you’d wish to odor any of the grounds utilized in your drink earlier than shopping for it, flip to the Victrola-trumpet-looking Squeaky sniffers and whiff away.
Sym’s shōji-like sliding glass doorways open so extensive, your latte expertise may begin out inside and find yourself open air. And whereas the Victoria Arduino Black Eagle Maverick and Mythos grinders are removed from sudden in a metropolis this dedicated to espresso, I don’t suppose I’ve ever seen an all-white Probat earlier than…
Sym proves it’s OK to be completely different, as a result of what appears completely different isn’t—particularly when seen from a distinct perspective.
Honey Espresso
My Brazil Caxambu solo, one half of a “Flight Set” pulled on the Sanremo Café Racer, got here to me in a Takatoriyaki cup. These ceramics hint again to kilns first fired 4 hundred years in the past on the base of Fukuoka’s Takatori Mountains.
Honey Espresso has an fascinating historical past. Longtime president Katsuhide Izaki set his coronary heart on sharing specialty seeds with Fukuokans after encountering “Seattle-style” roasts. As early as 2001, he joined a web based mailing checklist and a cooperative devoted to sourcing single origins. By 2004, Katsuhide was a Brazil Cup of Excellence choose. By the 2010s, his mentees had turn into legion: Rec Espresso, Manu Espresso, Little Stand Daimyo—even Swap Espresso in Tōkyō. No surprise some in espresso circles name Katsuhide “Hanī Oyaji,” or “Papa Honey.”
After all, Honey nonetheless innovates. New president Yasuhide Izaki has added novel brewing strategies to Honey’s repertoire. On the Honey Espresso Naka Essential Retailer/Roastery & Distribution Middle, for example, patrons should purchase seeds steeped in “The BIRD”: a piston-driven vacuum brewer that extracts a marvelously easy cup.
The nostalgic can nonetheless savor Honey’s beloved French press, a store staple for the reason that ‘90s. And so, Honey Espresso is a macrocosm of the drinks it serves: conventional, but fashionable—a bit of like my Brazil Caxambu solo, or Japan itself.
Faux It Espresso
“Why don’t you go to Faux It Espresso?” my barista instructed me once I requested him the place I ought to go subsequent. “Takuya used to work at Honey. He’s a humble man, and he makes among the greatest espresso in all of Fukuoka.”
Looking back, I ought to have taken a taxi (it was raining), however I used to be glad to reach on the 160-square-foot Faux It. At first, the store appeared like a to-go spot constructed for Higashi-Hie’s employees, so I ordered a takeout. However then I noticed some regulars by the counter, so I sat down with them. Earlier than lengthy, Takuya Ōsera, Faux It’s chief, struck up a dialog with me.
“Fukuoka has a tight-knit tradition,” he defined. “It’s a compact metropolis. Lots of our cafes are bodily smaller in measurement. Clients and baristas are shut.”
Takuya handed me my hand drip: a washed San Pablo Honduras. It had a nectarine readability—a world-class style in a paper cup.
The subsequent time I am going, I’ll need to attempt the “Espresso of the Day”: a rotating choice of single origins brewed on the xBloom, a premium house machine. It doesn’t get rather more down-to-earth than that.
Should you’re in Fukuoka and wish to really feel like a neighborhood, go to Faux It. It’s the actual deal.
These not completed with Fukuokan espresso ought to take a look at Niyol Espresso, Manu Espresso, and Tokado Espresso. Additionally cease by Join Espresso and Espresso County, however anticipate vacationers. Past these, poke round Fukuoka for your self and see what attracts you in.
And don’t neglect Hakata’s meals scene. Mentaiko, motsunabe, and tonkotsu rāmen are must-eat regional dishes—although you’d by no means hear locals brag about them.
Nara ne! (“So long!”)
Michael Joseph is a contract journalist and photographer primarily based in Hiroshima. Learn extra Michael Joseph for Sprudge.
