After more than 40 years of effort, Tokunoshima Coffee is finally available for purchase.

Many of Japan’s favorite things to eat and drink are also things that the country takes great pride in producing. Rice and green tea are the two most obvious examples, but foodies in Japan also sing the praise of Japanese-grown fruit and vegetables, and in recent years there’s been a growing fanbase for Japanese-produced black tea too.

One thing you’ll hardly ever find, though, is Japanese-grown coffee. That’s not because Japan doesn’t like coffee, as you’ll actually come across more specialty coffee cafes than tea ones. The issue is that there are very few places in Japan with a suitable climate for cultivating coffee plants.

But “very few places” means that there are indeed a handful of spots in Japan where farmers grow coffee, and one of them is the Kagoshima Prefecture island of Tokunoshima. If that’s not a name you’ve come across while skimming through Japan travel guides, it’s probably because Tokunoshima is part of the remote Amami Island chain, which is part of Kagoshima but actually closer to Okinawa.

▼ Tokunoshima is about an hour away by plane from Kagoshima City.

Tokunoshima’s warm subtropical weather patterns make coffee cultivation a possibility, but the process hasn’t been easy. The island is typhoon-prone, with high winds bringing the potential to damage or destroy the plants, and local agricultural and distribution infrastructure is limited as well. Since 1982, though, Japanese food and beverage company Ajinomoto has been providing funding and assistance in an effort to make Tokunoshima-grown coffee a viable reality.

▼ A Tokunoshima coffee farm

It took four years until the first beans could be successfully harvested, and many more until yields were strong enough to bring Tokunoshima Coffee to market. Last year, it was finally offered for sale for the first time, and today our taste-testers are going to be trying a cup.

Tokunoshima Coffee is offered in drip coffee bags, and we got ours for 300 yen (US$2). As soon as we opened the package, we were greeted by an enticing aroma, and we waited in anticipation as the brew dripped into our cups.

Taste-testing duties fell to our Japanese-language reporter P.K. Sanjun and SoraNews24 owner Yoshio. Yoshio didn’t snag this assignment strictly through his authority as our boss, but because he’s a coffee enthusiast who used to work at Starbucks before various turns in his career path led to him founding our site.

So what did Yoshio have to say about Tokunoshima Coffee?

“It has a chocolatey taste, but there’s also a sensation of acidity to it. The acidity is especially noticeable on the left and right sides of the tongue, but it’s not at all unpleasant, and the flavor comes to a clean finish. This is a high-class coffee, and it wouldn’t be at all out of place as a special coffee of the day at Starbucks.”

P.K. was impressed too. Compared to the coffee he grabs at 7-Eleven every day, the richness here is on a whole different level, and while that might not make it a great match for something to thoughtlessly gulp down for a daily caffeine jolt, he thinks Tokunoshima Coffee is a properly special coffee for special times.

Links for online sale sites can be found at the bottom of the official Tokunoshima Coffee webpage here.

Related: Ajinomoto
Tokunoshima coffee farm photos: Ajinomoto
All other photos ©SoraNews24
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