#KurasuPartnerRoaster for March is Nonstop Coffee Stand & Roastery from Ishikawa. Stroll down a little deeper into the tourist area of Higashi Chaya District, you'll find a circle of people chatting over coffee. With a concept of “making Kanazawa the number one coffee town in Japan like Melbourne'', they are building a good local community- and it actually feels like a little Melbourne there.
The owner and the roaster, Yamamoto-san, worked as a systems engineer in Japan for 6 years before moving to Melbourne on a working holiday visa to learn English. Back then, Yamamoto-san wasn't that into coffee- but after meeting a Japanese housemate who was a barista, Yamamoto-san was gradually intrigued by the world of coffee. “I was very impressed how my housemate was serious about the job, and what they love- I neve knew barista was such a cool job”, Yamamoto-san looks back.
Inspired, Yamamoto-san also started working as a barista at several coffee shops in Melbourne, and starting from not knowing anything about coffee, he won first place in an operation competition called LaMarzocco CTR Melbourne. “Setting myself a goal of winning some title before I move back to Japan helped me stay focused”, he reflects.
After returning to Japan, Yamamoto-san opened his shop in Kanazawa, far from his hometown of Kumamoto. “Kanazawa has very few specialty coffee shops and is a popular tourist spot, so it was a perfect place to open a shop to share specialty coffee with many more people” he says- in 2023, Yamamoto-san hosted the Kanazawa Coffee Festival, inviting emerging coffee roasted from around Japan. He also hosted a public competition, The Nonstop Coffee Brewers Cup, in hope of letting more people know about coffee and barista as a cool profession.
In the town of old and new coexisting, Yamamoto-san and his challenges are a breath of fresh air- he believes that the best way to convey the wonder of coffee is to serve coffee as a barista, and he always considers himself not as an entrepreneur, CEO nor a roaster, but a barista.
“I also make sure to visit Melbourne at least once a year to catch up with their leading coffee scene- I can’t explain why I’m so obsessed with Melbourne, but my shop is like an epitome of Melbourne’s coffee scene. If you visit Kanazawa, be sure to visit our store and experience the atmosphere”, he smiled.
