Like most things in Japan, the country’s take on coffee culture is an exquisite display of precision, beauty and craft. Rather than be intimidated, the Californian purveyor Blue Bottle Coffee opened a café in Kyoto this month, its eighth outpost in Japan and the first outside of Tokyo. Situated in a historic 100-year-old building, just mere paces from the 13th-century Nanzen-ji temple and garden, the café provides a spot of tranquility and peace at the end of an unassuming alleyway.
Fronted by a spacious courtyard at the end of a passage, a building type that is known locally as kyomachiya (or an ‘eel’s nest’ because of its narrow opening), Blue Bottle’s new presence is an elegant fusion of the building’s past and the brand’s modern culture. Save for a few glimpses of the company’s logo, the café’s mostly-wood interior stoically keeps in line with the building’s ethos. Exposed patches in the building’s walls and the preservation of intricately carved beams and wooden pillars all pay tribute to the structure’s heritage.
Outside blends seamlessly with in, at Blue Bottle Coffee’s first Kyoto outpost
‘Our subtle modifications to the building marry the tranquility of traditional Japanese architecture with modern comforts,’ says Schemata Architects’ Jo Nagasaka, who lead the design of the space. ‘The entryway and the floor were rebuilt lower in the ground, enabling people wearing shoes to enter the café seamlessly. Outside, spreading paths of terrazzo mixed with crushed white gravel echo the neighborhood aesthetics of old Kyoto.’
In such serene environs, Blue Bottle fans will be able to enjoy not just the label’s signature offerings of coffee, espresso, cold brew and New Orleans-style iced coffee, there will also be a selection of seasonal pastries, like green tea mint cookies, exclusively available at the Kyoto café.
Blue Bottle’s new presence is an elegant fusion of the building’s past and the brand’s modern culture
Save for a few glimpses of the company’s logo (pictured top left), the café’s mostly-wood interior keeps in line with the building’s ethos
The wooden roof is left exposed
Exposed patches in the building’s walls remain
Intricately carved beams and wooden pillars all pay tribute to the structure’s heritage
The building type is known locally as kyomachiya, or an ‘eel’s nest’ because of its narrow opening
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Blue Bottle Coffee website
-
Three new coffee makers for a contemporary brew, from a casual cup to a full-on branded espressoThree new coffee makers, from AeroPress, Jura and Porsche x La Marzocco, range from the defiantly manual to the bells and whistles of a traditional countertop espresso machine
-
Don't miss Luxembourg's retro-futuristic lab pavilion in VeniceAs the Venice Biennale enters its last few weeks, catch 'A Comparative Dialogue Act' at the Luxembourg Pavilion
-
A Berlin park atop an office building offers a new model of urban landscapingA Berlin park and office space by Grüntuch Ernst Architeken offer a symbiotic relationship between urban design and green living materials
-
Elle Fanning and Sofia Coppola unite on a Japanese craft gin inspired by the seasonsElle Fanning and Sofia Coppola collaborate on a campaign for The House of Suntory’s Roku Gin – a seasonal blend inspired by Japan’s floral botanicals
-
30 years of Nobu: chef Nobu Matsuhisa on the trials and tribulations of a culinary empireNobu celebrates 30 years of its revolutionary Japanese and Peruvian cuisine. We speak with co-founder and chef Nobuyuki ‘Nobu’ Matsuhisa on setbacks, special guests and his love for painting
-
Kioku is a spectacular new Japanese restaurant at The OWO, LondonAt The OWO’s Kioku by Endo, James Bond vibes meet Japanese dining and spectacular London views
-
Spectacular spirits for the season of entertainingOur spirits writer Neil Ridley looks back at some of the year’s most spectacular spirits releases – spanning whisky, cognac, rum and tequila – as thoughts turn to gifting and celebrating
-
Ardray whisky reinterprets Scottish traditions with a Japanese approachArdray whisky is the result of an exciting and groundbreaking collaboration between Scottish and Japanese whisky makers that presents new perspectives on a long-lasting tradition
-
Humo, a new Mayfair restaurant, revolutionises wood-fired cookingMayfair restaurant Humo experiments with different types of wood to create unique and delicious flavours
-
Roketsu offers spectacular Japanese kaiseki cuisine in LondonThe new Japanese restaurant in London serves exceptional kaiseki cuisine in an intimate setting for a little slice of Kyoto in the heart of the UK capital
-
Straight up! The best whiskies bar noneOur whisky edit features some of the world’s rarest and finest examples
