Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
coffee (Page 20)
Kohei Matsuno is no ordinary barista. What started as his way of sprucing up an ordinary cup of complimentary coffee for patrons at his part-time job has blossomed into a form of creative expression that has people around the world smiling. Known as “Mattsun” by his Internet followers, Mr. Matsuno brings life and whimsy to an otherwise ordinary cup of joe. Come with us now for a sneak peek at the work that goes into some of Japan’s most beautiful latte art.
There has been a lot of latte art featured on the Internet lately, but the coffee created by Japanese barista, Yuuichi Ito, are some of the best we’ve seen. Mr. Ito is serving works of art by the cupful at Belcorno, an Italian restaurant located in Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture. Taking on the role as owner, chef, and barista at Belcorno, Mr. Ito is able to recreate popular characters from Disney, anime and manga out of foam, adding colorful accents and shading. Much like chalk drawings, it’s understood that latte art is not permanent, but it still seems a shame to destroy such beautiful masterpieces. At least we have the following pictures to enjoy!
Starbucks and virtually every other coffee shop worthy of faux hipster attention (the real hipsters having moved on to places that use siphons and play accordion music) have become synonymous with scenes of people using laptop computers in recent years, with rows of patrons sipping from paper cups while idly clicking, scrolling, pinching to zoom and staring lazily at their screens. Some even make temporary offices out of their few square feet of space, paying their rent in cups of joe and watched by hawk-eyed staff whose warm smiles drop a millimetre for every second a small cafe latte is nursed just that little bit too long.
For the rest of us, though, these table-hogging laptop luggers are a source of genuine intrigue. “What on earth could they be doing?” we wonder to ourselves, irked that they’ve taken all the good seats. “Are they actually working over there or are they just scrolling through photos on Facebook and tapping LOL into comment boxes?”
Japan’s My Navi News too was keen to know exactly what the folks who camp out at Starbucks are actually doing while the rest of us are engaging in conversations or staring awkwardly at the floor after making eye-contact one too many times with the cute barista, and put together a survey to find out. Let’s take a look at their findings.
In Western countries, they say that “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Oddly enough, Japan uses the similar phrase: “Otoko gokoro wo tsukamu ni wa ibukuro kara,” or “you can snatch a man’s heart if you start with his stomach.” A local Twitter user managed to find a store in the Okubo area of Tokyo that might have taken this phrase a step too far, however.
Included on the store’s outside sign board, where normally you’d find today’s specials, was the coffee shop’s secret recipe for catching a man:
Tea is the first beverage that comes to mind for most people when they think of Japan, followed closely by sake, beer, chu-hi, and a plethora of other alcoholic beverages for those who spent time at a Japanese university. There are plenty of coffee drinkers in the country too though, with Yuki Jirushi (“Snow Mark”) Coffee’s café au lait being a steady seller in supermarkets and convenience stores for 50 years.
With such a long history, however, the company thought the product’s image could use an updating, and they asked artists to submit their designs for a new mascot to be called Yukiko-tan (-tan being an even cuter version of the already cute Japanese name suffix –chan). Six finalists remain in the contest, and Yuki Jirushi recently held a promotional event to help the undecided pick a favorite by utilizing the tentpole that seemingly all major Japanese marketing campaigns are built around: cute girls.
Starbucks Refreshers, fruit juice-based beverages lightly caffeinated with green coffee extract, went on sale last year in the United States and have finally made their way over to Japan. Packaged in 200ml cans, the drink will go on sale at Seven Eleven’s nationwide for 191 yen excluding tax (about US$2) from June 25.
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What do you do when it’s late into the evening the day before a big project is due? If you’re a good little worker, you rest easy because everything is already taken care of, but for those of us who have perfected the art of procrastination, it’s time to pull an all-nighter. And what is your beverage of choice when you want to stay awake? For a lot of people, the answer is a strong cup of coffee.
However, what many view as a miracle mug of liquid energy can actually have the opposite effect! In Natsuko Kasai’s book Sweet things are Bad for the Brain, the certified nutritionist and meal counselor explains how drinking coffee has an unexpected side-effect that can wear you out more than wake you up.
With locations all over the world, Starbucks has become many people’s go-to joint for a cup of joe. Even international travelers who find themselves in regions where sanitation standards may not be quite up to their own personal ones feel safe visiting the local branch of the Seattle-based coffee giant, where you can always expect a clean interior, friendly service, and fresh beans sourced from around the world.
Plus, if you visit one particular Starbucks location in Hong Kong, coffee brewed with water from a public restroom.
People in Japan love Starbucks coffee and their cute, branded drinking tumblers. In big cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka you can even buy limited edition tumblers with different local designs. The regional travelling cups are sold at a number of stores though, so they’re actually not that difficult to come across. For die-hard fans looking to get their hands on the Holy Grail of Starbucks drinking vessels, you’d be better off heading to a store at Haneda airport, the one place in the world that sells this very exclusive tumbler.
Starbucks is well-known for taking up residence in some unusual places. They’ve had a pop-up store in Tokyo and they even have a historical western-style house house in Kobe. But in the beautiful mountain village of Ubud, Bali, there’s a more subdued Starbucks. Set up in an old storehouse, and blending perfectly with the environment, you wouldn’t instantly think this was part of a global coffee franchise.
We went to check out this unique coffeehouse and found it to be incredibly beautiful and serene. Out of all the Starbucks stores we’ve visited across the world, this is by far the one we recommend the most. With an exceptionally unique atmosphere, we bring you four reasons why this may very well be the best Starbucks in the world.
Starbucks prides itself on letting customers customize their drinks and offers a lot of choices: no foam, no whip/with whip, double blended, two pump vanilla, extra shot and extra hot to name but a few. Never one to shy from a challenge, we decided to test just how far Starbucks was willing go in ensuring that visitors to its coffeehouses get just what they want.
Our request? A no caramel, no whip, and–are you ready for it–no coffee Caramel Frappuccino.
Kao Japan is preparing to release the newest addition to their line of Healthya brand health drinks. In addition to their existing collection of waters and teas, things are getting a little more flavorful with fat-burning “Healthya Coffee.”
Saying customers were complaining about its cups being too full, Starbucks Japan started reducing the amount of java in each pour of drip coffee this month. According to the company, feedback pointed out their full-to-the-brim cups left no room for adding milk and were too easy to spill. Some customers, however, are voicing displeasure about the unannounced reduction to their caffeine fix.
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Pop psychology is popular in Japan. If you’ve lived long enough in this country you will most certainly have had a conversation about which blood type you are and whether you match the personality type for it. There are books and more books written on what it means to be a certain blood type.
Along the same lines, Japanese psychology councilor Toshikazu Asano believes there is deep meaning in the way men chose to brew their morning cup of Joe.
Niconico news sat down with Mr. Asano and asked him to explain how the darkness of the coffee we brew can reflect the very darkness brewing in our hearts (figuratively speaking, of course).
Just a little bit curious? Read on and see what he has to say about how telling brewing coffee really is. Read More
It came as an enormous shock to the entire team to hear that the legend that is Mr. Sato rarely visited Starbucks coffee houses.
Surrounded by the well-dressed, coffee sipping elite and with fancy lingo like “tall” and “grande” being thrown around, our reporter felt completely out of his depth at Starbucks and rarely dared to set foot inside even to grab a quick take-out coffee.
But after playing a lot of Black Ops 2 on the new office Wii U, a brilliant idea came to us…
Japanese people often get a hard time for their lack of English language skills. But with so few Japanese ever setting foot outside their own country, it’s little wonder that one of the most frequently heard reasons given for struggling with the language is the lack of opportunity to use it.
Just last night, in fact, I was completely caught off guard when a teenage girl in my local convenience store seized the opportunity to break out her English and asked me whether I needed a plastic bag. Unfortunately, I was completely unprepared for the question and it was only after she had repeated herself three times that I realised that a) she was speaking English and b) I’d probably just ensured that she never dare to do so ever again.
But perhaps the prospect of a free cup of coffee would rekindle her enthusiasm for language?
As part of a promotional campaign for the launch of its new ReFLEX language learning software, Rosetta Stone is opening a special limited-time-only cafe in a Shinjuku book store, giving customers the chance to use their English, and doling out free cups of coffee to those who can.
You, Me, And a Tanuki is a weekly featured blog run by Michelle, a Californian who is currently one of only two foreigners living in Chibu, a tiny fishing village on one of the Oki islands in Japan. Check back every Saturday for a new post or read more on her website here!
You can get coffee just about anywhere in Japan thanks to the millions (yes, millions) of vending machines littered around the country. ”How convenient,” you must be thinking. Yeah, if you like drinking awful coffee.
Starbucks Japan has teamed up with Spanish luxury leather designer Loewe to produce a range of sexy leather sleeves for its paper coffee cups, it was announced yesterday.
The limited-edition sleeves are part of a programme designed to provide financial support to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami that stuck north-eastern Japan in March last year.
Starbucks Japan invites you to enjoy a “supreme espresso experience” at the chain’s first-ever pop-up store in Tokyo. Created by designer Oki Sato, co-founder of design company Nendo, and nestled in the trendy Harajuku district of Tokyo, this unique Starbucks event is aimed at providing visitors with a memorable coffee drinking experience. Visitors can enjoy back-to-basics coffee drinks which highlight the richness of Starbucks espresso and are even able to try their hand at making Starbucks coffee and sample Starbucks Via flavored coffee in the second floor’s “experience space.”
Are you familiar with the Q-pot brand of jewelry? It could get a bit sticky if your tried wearing it on your next night out on the town, but it certainly is attractive, and tasty!
That is because Q-pot Cafe arranges chocolates, cupcakes and macaroons into delightful rings, bracelets, and necklaces! Never before has there ever been such delectable mouth-watering jewelry, something that is served up in the most appealing manner at the Q-pot cafe. Read More
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