GLITCH COFFEE & ROASTERS opened in 2015 in Jimbocho, the Tokyo neighbourhood where Japan’s kissaten coffee culture is still alive, a short walk from the Imperial Palace and Yasukuni Shrine. Its motto is “To serve a cup for your valuable time”. GLITCH works only with single origins and roasts them light, to bring out the character of each producing area, and it dedicates its work to carrying the effort and passion of each farm into the cup.

The coffees fall into four groups. Competition holds coffees that won awards at producing-country competitions and lots used in barista championships, such as a Tolima lot from Colombia that placed first at the 2023 Cup of Excellence. Hard to Find covers geisha and other rare farm lots and auction lots. Innovation is for farms that research their own processing, and Traditional for coffees processed in the traditional way, where the terroir and roots of the producing country are easiest to taste.

The Jimbocho shop always has more than ten coffees on the shelf. It serves hand drip, with a brewer that changes with the day of the week, and espresso drinks, and the baristas suggest a coffee to suit each customer. GLITCH now runs three coffee shops in Tokyo, in Jimbocho, Nihonbashi, where the shop trades as GLITCH TOKYO, and Ginza, plus one in Festival Tower West in Nakanoshima, Osaka, and one in the Meieki district by Nagoya station.

GLITCH also roasts for cafés, offices and hotels in Japan and abroad, as guest beans or on monthly projects, and offers staff training, help installing machines and advice on opening new coffee businesses.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: GLITCH COFFEE & ROASTERS