Hi All,

This is a nutty one - I am going to a birthday party in Tokyo tomorrow and want to buy a good gift for a Japanese person who loves coffee A LOT. Now, I could go out and get some good coffee, right? But maybe there is something related to coffee that has some Japanese feel to it and is not obvious to everyone? It doesn't have to be anything utterly special but the person should feel that I didn't just grab the first thing I saw in a coffee shop.

Any tips as to what turns Japanese coffee lovers on?

Thanks!

When it comes to stuff like coffee, isn't something very European and idealized the universal aim? It's been successfully branded that way, I think. Culturally. Like France and pastries.

Check HARIO. It is a Japanese company making excellent products for coffee lovers.
here some links.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/magazi...f=magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/magazi...nce&st=cse
http://www.harioglass.com/THIRD_WAVE_COFFEE.pdf

The コーヒーもう一杯 manga?

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B3%E...0%E6%9D%AF

Lots of slightly wierd, vaguely coffee-related stories, you can see the style at the author's blog:

http://yamanao.exblog.jp/

you might have to check their bookshelves first to make sure they don't have them already...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

I think you should just find a very おしゃれ coffee shop and explain the situation to the person working there.

kainzero Wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

I'll second this... it's no joke. Very smooth, full flavor.

If they don't have a way of making espresso style coffee already, a moka pot is cool, I got one as a present and was v happy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_pot

Thank you all, great advice!
I eventually ended up with some weird non-related stuff plus some great Indonesian coffee delivered on time from Bali
I'm going to use your tips for myself and others in the near future.