© Blue Bottle Coffee Japan / Photography: Takumi Ota

Although not as much revered as (green) tea, Japanese consumers surely love coffee, and lots of it. Banking on this continuing infatuation is Blue Bottle Coffee which has just added a ninth outpost in the port city of Kobe. The café is situated in the old part of town that’s known historically as the place where foreign traders settled during Japan‘s transforming Meiji era. Situated smack in the middle of the city’s leading shopping grounds – mind you, BAO BAO Issey Miyake is right next door, and Dior can be found across the street – it aims to provide a spot where to recharge in between shopping sprees – on the ground floor of a modern nine-storey building, it measures 218 sqm. (2,347 sq.ft.), and features an interior design by Schemata, a Tokyo-based practice which has designed all of Blue Bottle Coffee‘s branches in the country.

A brass-clad service station, replete with canopy, stands at the very centre, and is joined by display crafted the same material. It’s flanked by seating arrangements, mostly tables and chairs, but also sofas at the far end of the café, seating a total of 63 guests. The backdrop comprises of pristine white walls, concrete flooring, and in stark contrast, an exposed ceiling with steel beams and utility pipes. The new Blue Bottle Coffee café serves the brand’s full range of coffee beverages and products, pastries, and also a few extras. In celebration of the opening cold brew coffee jelly and a green tea mint cookie has been put on the menu, and collectors memorabilia, including a Blue Bottle Coffee steel travel mug, created in collab with Miir, and stagg pour-over kettle with copper finish, created in collaboration with Fellow.

Blue Bottle Coffee
1 Maemachi (Chuo-ku)
Kobe 650-0039
Daily 8-7

© Blue Bottle Coffee Japan / Photography: Takumi Ota