Beans Kitami

A less than 30-minute train ride from Tokyo’s Shibuya station, Kitami is located in the western outskirts of Setagaya Ward. While being just across the river from the upscale residential area of Seijo, Kitami still retains its natural beauty and human touch. In this peaceful neighborhood, where you can find unmanned vegetable stands on side streets, there is a roastery long committed to custom roasting: Beans Kitami, founded in 1988. On weekends and holidays, customers wait for their orders for up to three hours. And that’s just business as usual at Beans Kitami.The shop is currently run by three people: sisters Norie Shimizu and Sayuri Shimizu, and the so-called “big brother” Nobuto Miyashita. Through interviews, we set out to find out how they became fascinated by custom roasting, and...