woodberry coffee roasters tik tok candy tokyo japan hard candy chocolate sprudge

The essence of craftsmanship. It’s there in the simple design of furniture and clothing, or the preparation of food and drink that we love. Itโ€™s the idea that quality material combined with subtle expertise creates synergyโ€”where the whole equals more than the sum of its parts.

It’s something that may not be on your mindย when popping pieces of candy into your mouth, though. Itโ€™s just candy, right?

woodberry coffee roasters tik tok candy tokyo japan hard candy chocolate sprudge

I thought about this as I talked with Musashi Kihara, ofย Woodberry Coffee Roasters,ย about a recent collaboration project of his with handmade candy shopย Tik Tok:ย a single-origin coffee candy.

We walked along quiet streets in Tokyo’s Yลga neighborhoodย toward the Tik Tok shop as Kihara talked about the projectโ€”about the Guatemalan beans, the ultrafine grind size, the experimentation, and the many failures on the road to a recipe. He said the beans, the roast, and the grind were about finding a balance of bitter and sweet.

woodberry coffee roasters tik tok candy tokyo japan hard candy chocolate sprudge

โ€œIt took a long time to get it right,โ€ Kihara said with a bashful smile. โ€œWe ended up going through eight or 10ย batches to settle on a recipe.โ€

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When we reached the colorful candy shop, owner Issei Imai and his brother were preparing a batch of hard candy. Smiley faces, he said. Imai talked as he worked, with practiced hands that ran on autopilotโ€”heating up the candy, adding color, cooling, then cutting.

Imai said heโ€™d made coffee candy before, but had only worked with instant-grade material. Woodberry was his ticket to quality-based experimentation, and a neighborhood collaboration of mutual benefit.

woodberry coffee roasters tik tok candy tokyo japan hard candy chocolate sprudge

โ€œLike coffee,โ€ Imai said, โ€œcandy is about quality. But candy hates being mixed with other ingredients. Itโ€™s a simple, delicate product. If the coffee grinds arenโ€™t right, the shape wonโ€™t hold; it shatters instead of holding shape.โ€

I watched Imai and his brother fold the warm candy mix. Knead, press, roll, fold again. They took their time, getting the color and length just right before putting it all together.

โ€œIn fact, it might be better simply not to add extra ingredients like coffee,” Imai added with a laugh. “But itโ€™s delicious!โ€

woodberry coffee roasters tik tok candy tokyo japan hard candy chocolate sprudge

Kihara worked within the limitations, choosing Guatemalan beans and a darker roast to showcase a harmony of coffee and sugar. The result is a strong-bodied, nutty-chocolate flavor with a gentle sweetness.

In the future, Kihara and Imai hope to experiment with Ethiopian and Kenyan coffeesโ€”a chance to bringย the fruity, floral side of single-origin coffees to a candy.

We watched the candy stretch out and collect in long strips of black and green. Imai said he was grateful to haveย a coffee specialist in the neighborhoodโ€”someone he could work with and learn from. He said that by working together with like-minded craftsmen, they could create things neither could do alone.

woodberry coffee roasters tik tok candy tokyo japan hard candy chocolate sprudge

On my walk home, I looked at the bags of candy Iโ€™d purchasedโ€”a mix of brown hard bonbonsย that hinted at sweetly caffeinated pick-me-ups for long work days.

It wasnโ€™t just candy anymore.ย It was a symbol of collaborative success.

And the promise of further sugary, caffeinated developments on the horizon.

Tik Tok Hand Made Candy is located at Setagaya Yoga 2-29-1,ย Setagaya-ku, Tokyo.

Hengtee Limย (@Hent03) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in Tokyo. Read moreย Hengtee Lim on Sprudge.

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