Bona Fors

Freshly Roasted Coffee

The local coffee roaster, Bona Fors, roasts the coffee you want (and even suggests one for you if you aren't sure) while you wait. The coffee snob in me couldn't wait to try this even though there was a chance it could totally ruin my instant coffee habit and budget. I have mostly converted to the supermarket coffee for hand drip or cold press/mizu dashi at home, so why not. Coffee can be purchased with a minimum of 200 grams. While obviously (about three times) more expensive than a bag of ground coffee in a supermarket, the prices are comparable to what you'd pay at a Kaldi coffee or Starbucks, and much more fresh. For 200 grams at Bona Fors, you'll pay at least 600-700 yen. We went with the bitter Guatemala blend, for enjoying with dessert, or as recommended for ice coffee. After waiting less than ten minutes, our pale raw coffee beans were roasted, ground to our request, and sealed in a bag. The smell of the freshly roasted and ground coffee was amazing - even in the sealed bag. I wanted it to sit in my clothes drawer so it could infuse everything with its awesome perfume. There is a small area to sit and enjoy coffee by the cup, if you want to try some while waiting for yours to roast or don't want to bring some home. The owner seems to be the only one who works there, and throws in the occasional English word to clarify. Hours are 10:00-19:00; on Tuesdays and national holidays the shop is closed. Unfortunately, the technicality of measuring the correct proportions of coffee and water made the awesomeness of fresh roasted coffee not so obvious. I was informed that for a mug that holds 200 ml, about 12-13 grams of coffee was appropriate. But my ability to measure something like grams is more like... how about a big spoonful? I think the coffee ended up too weak, although still fragrant and tasty. Not as magical as I had hoped. Armed with a coffee measuring scoop from a 100 yen store and math skills, I tried the appropriate amount of ground coffee and had way yummier results. Yokatta ne. http://bonafors.jp/