October the 1st is International Coffee Day
Launched in 2015 by the International Coffee Organization, International Coffee Day is a day not only to celebrate the joy of coffee, but to reflect on and talk about the issues we face as an industry.
With this day just around the corner, we'd like to share a bit about little things we do as our share of making coffee's future better.
We Start with Green Coffee Sourcing
It is sometimes said that every purchase is a vote. As a coffee roaster, we have always believed that what we buy—and how we buy it—matters. That is why, rather than simply purchasing coffee that has already been imported, Kurasu has made it a priority to visit origins ourselves and build direct relationships with producers.
FAF Coffees in Brazil, one of Kurasu’s long-standing partners, is a perfect example. One of the farms they work with, Sítio Joaninha—meaning “Ladybug Farm”—is a small, family-run farm. Its owner, Valdir Ferreira, wanted to bring back a sight his mother remembered from her childhood: countless ladybugs flying around the farm. To restore the land, all weeding is done by hand, the soil is enriched with natural compost, and the farm operates entirely off-grid, with all of its electricity generated by solar power. Little by little, as if responding to these efforts, the ladybugs have begun to return.
Members of the Kurasu team have visited the farm ourselves, hearing Valdir’s story directly from him and meeting other producers in the surrounding area who are similarly working to regenerate their soil. The producers spoke with pride about seeing their own names and the names of their farms printed on coffee sold by roasters around the world. Some even described it as “something like a miracle.” The choices we make when selecting coffee are genuinely connected to the lives and aspirations of producers thousands of kilometres away.
And these relationships at origin extend far beyond Brazil. This year, we have travelled to producing regions including Indonesia, Thailand, El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica, experiencing firsthand the climate of each place and the ingenuity of the people who grow coffee there.
Rather than simply accepting what we hear from others, we want to see things with our own eyes, build relationships, and choose coffee according to Kurasu’s own standards. By approaching sourcing this way, we hope to stay connected to the lives of the producers behind every cup and continue moving forward together. We believe this, too, is one of the things we can do for the future of coffee.
The Challenge of 2050 Coffee
While we have continued to build relationships with producers in this way, each visit to origin has also made us increasingly aware of the limits of scale. Coffee is a crop highly vulnerable to climate change, and it is said that by 2050, the amount of land suitable for growing coffee could be reduced by nearly half. We came to realise that deepening individual relationships one by one, while important, would not be enough to keep pace with a challenge of this scale.
That realization led us to launch our sister brand, 2050 coffee. 2050 coffee was created to make sustainable specialty coffee approachable and accessible, even for those who may not know much about coffee. It began with a single location in Kyoto, but as more partners have connected with its vision, the brand has continued to expand with new locations both in Japan and overseas.
While Kurasu continues to deepen each individual partnership, 2050 coffee expands the scope of what we can do. With the two brands standing side by side, we believe we can bring our efforts toward the future of coffee to many more people.
Meet Us at SCAJ 2026
From Wednesday, October 14 through Saturday, October 17, 2026, Kurasu will be exhibiting at SCAJ World Specialty Coffee Conference and Exhibition 2026, one of Asia’s largest specialty coffee events, held at Tokyo Big Sight.
Through coffee, equipment, and encounters with makers from around the world, we will be creating a multifaceted experience where you can taste, touch, compare, and talk.
This year's theme is "Brew the Future", and our booth also reflects how we envision our next 10 years through our 10th anniversary theme, "Reflection."
If you are in the area, please drop by to say hi!
