Connoisseurs savour coffee's third wave

A participant tries her hand at dripping coffee at an event held in Tokyo in autumn. - The Yomiuri Shimbun/ANN

THE so-called third wave of coffee has arrived in Japan. It’s a trend of enjoying coffee by choosing beans based on where they were grown and focusing on the various ways of brewing them. There is a sophisticated way to enjoy the taste of coffee.

The trend first became popular in the United States, with coffee consumers focusing on where the beans are grown, even down to the particular farm, and the way in which the coffee is prepared – such as by hand dripping.