The timing couldnโt have been better; Hiroshi Sawada was in Chicago for the weekend, tending to recipes, food, and business, when I reached out to Sawada Coffee. The awesome folks at Hogsalt Hospitality, owners of West Loop staples Au Cheval and Green Street Smoked Meats, put us together with a translator. A little catch-up, for those who arenโt familiar: Hiroshi Sawada, Sawada Coffeeโs namesake, is an acclaimed Japanese latte artisan and coffee fanatic (and theย 2008 Free Pour Latte Art World Champion). This past December, he and Hogsalt collaborated together to open Sawada Coffee in Chicagoโs West Loop.
Sawada himself comes offย just as hard as his caricatured logo showcases. Yet that grit and determination is directed solely at coffee. Outside his craft, heโs humble, shy, soft, and fantastically kind. When he arrives in Chicago, he tends bar and chills with the baristas; crew and customers alike pine for his next visit. His other passions? Skateboardingโthough thanks to outdated laws in Chicago, he wonโt attempt it thereโand documenting moments through an Olympus OM-D with the gentle care youโd expect when heโs behind bar.
Hogsalt and Sawada came together out of persistent luck, and his caring touch is exactly what helped bring the concept of Sawada Coffee to life. Brendan Sodikoff and Jean Tomaro of Hogsalt were in Japanโfantasizing about starting their own coffee shop in Chicagoโand sought out Sawadaโs Streamer Coffee Company cafe for inspiration. They were in awe of the quality and beauty of the teamโs coffees, even without Sawadaย present. Once backย Stateside, they reached out, translating their note to Japanese. Unsure of exactly how to begin aย coffee shop, the twoย were positive of one thing: they had to have Sawadaย train their staff on how to do it properly. He agreed, came to train, and was blown away by the quality level of food and service for which the Hogsalt restaurants were known.
To the lanky, unassuming latte artist, Chicago was intriguing; he knew of La Colombeโs investment in the city alongside Intelligentsia Coffee’s fame and felt that the cityโs broad shoulders held up a diverse coffee culture. It was a community that would be open to two powerhouse cultures melding together: Tokyo and Chicago, East and West.
The team got together and began searching for the perfect spot. According to Sawada, the West Loop was appealing because it was โsuch a culturally rich, restaurant-oriented neighborhood that I just wanted to be a part of that culture.โ Hogsaltโs pedigree opened up a lot of doors, and as luck would have it, they had the perfect space: a terrible black room, without any natural light, where Green Street stored their beer.
Obviously some work had to be done, but even initially, the cohesion of Green Street Smoked Meats and the West Loopโs edgy, industrial heritage with Sawadaโs love of atmosphere and skateboarding made perfect sense. Throw in graffitied walls, a great deal of foot traffic, a Divvyย bike-share station, and the loaded-with-international-guests Soho House hotel across the street, and Sawada was set to go. Interior walls were knocked out, revealing a huge open space that leads down into swaths of tables and Green Streetโs counters, exterior windows were put in place. Sawada-adorned skateboards spill over the walls in back, with an old-school pinball machine up against the bar (“The Getaway”, Williams, 1992). Even the Hario pour-over station is doused in black, skulls, and a board.
The real beauty of Sawada Coffee comes in the form of a partnership with local craft specialistsย Metropolis Coffee. Despite having access, of course, to Streamer Coffee, Sawadaย and Hogsalt wanted the coffee in Chicago to be fresh from Chicago. Therefore, Sawada, Sodikoff, and Tomaro worked closely with Tony Dreyfuss at Metropolis to develop Project XโSawadaโs special blend, a rich, low-acidity coffeeย designed to resemble the flavors and characteristics of his signature brand from Tokyo, but with a Midwestern twist. Along with the beans, a shop from such a pedigree comes with the associated bells and whistles: a customizedย Nuova Simonelli Black Eagle machine, Hogsaltโs own Doughnut Vault doughnuts and baked goods, Mahlkรถnig Guatemala grinders, and a skateboard inspired pour-over station.
The menu is as basic as it can get, outside of the additional tea drinks headed up by the Military Latte, a matcha-style drink mixed with espresso. Under Sawadaโs guidance, Sawada Coffee has developed a cold brew mixed with either shลchลซ, a special Japanese liquor, or kuromitsu, a Japanese simple sugar, both drinkable atย every occasion. Tomaro explains, โGuests’ favorite drinks at Sawada Coffee are the Japanese-influenced items like the green tea latte, the Military Latte, and now the Tokyo-style cold brew.โ These items are a combination of Sawadaโs experience and knowledge that are then mixed with local and accessible ingredients.
Sawada Coffeeโs influence over Chicago culture is making itself known, from a proliferation of matcha-style drinks to an exploration in diversity in flavors and tastes. Sodikoffย and Tomaroโs values of tradition, quality, and generosity seem to beย syncing up perfectly with Sawadaย and the West Loop (#westloopisbestloop). Unfortunately, for the Second City, we may soon start having to share Sawada’s US visits with New York Cityโas the team have aย concept planned for the East Coast.
My final thought is please, let Chicago relax its repressive laws against skateboarding, so that we may see Hiroshi Sawada around town a bit more frequently.
Adam Arcus (@aarcusphoto) is a journalist andย photographerย based inย Chicago. Read moreย Adam Arcus on Sprudge.