The word โpassageโ brings connection and movement between placesย to mind. Passagesย connect buildings and rooms, as well asย the people who traverse between them. Itโs a space whereย transitions happen.ย This is the idea behind Passage Coffee, the newly opened coffee shop along the bustling Sakurada Dori in Mita. The street is full ofย business people, students, and locals moving between stations, offices, universities, and homes. Cafe owner Shuichi Sasaki sees his shop as a passage between any two points.
If his nameย sounds familiar, it probably is: Heโs the 2014 World Aeropress Champion. But long before that, he was a student with a part-time job at Starbucks who fell for coffee, worked for Japanese coffee chain Doutor, and eventually settled at Paul Bassett before opening Passage. Last year was when heย first started to feel the pull to do his own thing.
โIt was around summer [of last year] that I really decided,โ he says. โOpening a shop was always at the back of my mind, but I didnโt feel the needย for a long time. But last year I realized I wanted to have my own space with my own style. I wanted to create a place for that.โ
Sasaki says that the new store is a chance to express himself, his style, and his favorite coffees. He says he wants Passage to feel open, simple, and easygoing.
โI donโt like things too messy or complicated,โ he says. โI wanted something simple. Easy to enter and easy to navigate. Easy to get in and easy to get outโa simple spot that could easily become a part of everyday life.โ
But itโs not just about self-expression. Sasaki chose Mita as a location because itโs an area with a lotย of busy people and no specialty coffee. Like many young crusaders of the Tokyo coffee scene, Sasaki wants to bring Third Waveย coffee to a new and otherwise unrepresented area. Itโs an idea that goes hand-in-hand with the small-scale coffee seminars heโs started after hours.
โThere didnโt seem much point to opening in a place like Shibuya or Shinjuku, where thereโs already a lot of coffee,โ he says. โThere arenโt many coffee shops here [in Mita], but youโve got businessmen, students, and locals, and thereโs a good feel to the place. Itโsย a good chance for us.โ
While speaking toย Sasaki about his shop, I start to think of his shop less as the passage itself, and more like a new painting on the wall of that passage. Itโs something that brightens your day and makes itself a part of your journey. This idea of bringing something new to an otherwise ordinary journey is just one of the things Sasaki likes about working with coffee.
โFirst and foremost, I like the act of making it delicious,โ he says.ย โI like the complexities of roasting and I like brewing because both of these things are so important to the expression of a source location and its flavor. But I also like introducing new coffees to people, and being a personโs first specialty coffee experience.โ
Heย says itโs not easy making a business out of coffeeย orย making a living from it, either. Itโs growingย in popularity, but itโs still an everyday struggle to increase the number of drinkers. At the same time, itโs clearly something heโs passionate about. As I watch passersby drop in to sit and chat or get their coffees to-go, it seemsย that maybe this is what all the best coffee shops are:ย Passages that donโt just link one location to another, but make the journey that much more enjoyable.
Hengtee Limย (@Hent03) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in Tokyo. Read moreย Hengtee Lim on Sprudge.
Photos courtesy of Kazu Poon.