ROASTER'S COFFEE BAISENYA

Roaster’s Coffee Baisenya or Baisenya, “roastery” in Japanese, was established in Fukuoka prefecture in 1988 as a specialized store that only sold coffee beans, a rarity at the time. More than thirty years later, they are still one of only a few standalone roasters that don’t have an attached cafe, or sell their coffee beans online. “We are a little bit clumsy.” We speak with Mr. Kenkichi Hirayama, the second-generation owner who continues to preserve the tradition at Baisenya.  ※ Titles in the text are omitted. Not relying on the power of coffee beans as ingredients.  Mornings at Baisenya begin with Kenkichi and his father Satoru hand-sorting coffee beans. This is necessary to pick out unripe or insect-eaten beans called defective beans from producers who don’t use pesticides on...