Ifni x Maruasa Kit
A limited edition kit of some of our favorite coffee craftsmen in Japan.
After a year traveling and embedding in the Japanese coffee community, this kit is the first in our series of Japanese coffee experiences.
In it you'll find:
Beans - 200 grams of a light roast blend from Papua New Guinea and Myanmar.
Cup - limited edition porcelain coffee cup
Yokan - Japanese confection with a coffee twist
Enjoyed together we hope to give you a sense of being in a modern coffee shop in Shizuoka, Japan.
Inside the Kit
All the pieces of an authentic coffee experience - beans, a cup and a paired treat, hand picked and thoughtfully brought together for any coffee lover
The Papua New Guinea coffee is a mix of two types—natural and washed—that are roasted together, then blended with washed Myanmar beans.
On several trips to Southeast Asia, I came across a wild Arabica varietal—an original subspecies of the now-rare Typica—growing naturally in the national forests of Papua New Guinea.
This is a coffee made primarily from wild, naturally growing beans, not from plantation farms.
The taste of this blend, which brings together two rare beans processed with different methods, offers a flavor that feels both nostalgic and juicy with a refreshing new character.
It is finished with a light roast that highlights the natural qualities of the beans.
Yokan (羊羹)
We've paired this coffee with “yokan” (羊羹, yōkan), a Japanese confection made from azuki bean paste and sugar. Yokan is a traditional Japanese sweet originating from China over 1,000 years ago. Over the centuries the yokan was refined into its contemporary form and became associated with the Japanese tea ceremony thanks to its elegant shape and sweetness.
Often infused with different flavors, IFNi make their own using coffee from their own roasted beans, with no synthetic ingredients.
Why Coffee from Japan?
Japan changed the way we at Kaiten see and experience coffee.
Despite its long standing history of tea, a surprisingly rich coffee culture has been evolving in Japan.
With roots in 17th century Nagasaki, unique wartime coffee-jazz-bars, ingenious pour-over devices, journeying through Japan lead us from the kissa (traditional) through the “modan” [modern] to today’s prominent coffee roasters.
In our travels we got to meet remarkable roasters, innovative designers and inspiring ceramists. It gave us a deep appreciation and new perspective on a world we thought we knew.
So we decided to start our coffee series in Japan to share that world with you.
About the Makers
IFNi Roasting & Co
from Shizuoka, Japan
The coffee in our first kit comes from IFNi, a small-batch coffee roaster based in Shizuoka. IFNi was founded in 2001 by Masakazu Matsuba, who, after having gained experience in coffee roasting, opened his own little café, roastery, and coffee delivery service in the outskirts of the city, at a repurposed industrial space: a former sandal factory.
Masakazu chose the name "IFNi" as a tribute to the Moroccan region. Having studied in Egypt, he learned about the region’s history - a once peaceful seaside oasis for nomads, known for issuing world peace commemorative stamps. Coffee passed through the region, arriving via caravan trade. Despite eventual periods of war, its Berber residents enjoyed "coffee breaks" as symbols of resilience and hope for a bright future. The Ifni region was recognized by the United Nations as a non-colonial territory in 1969.
Inspired by this story, Masakazu chose the name "Ifni" with the idea in mind of offering "gentle life with coffee." He has been collecting Ifni stamps for 30 years, reflecting on their history during his roasting work.
Maruasa Porcelain
from Gifu, Japan
The porcelain cups in our kit come from the iconic Maruasa factory, from the Gifu region, known for its’ pottery production.
The Maruasa factory was founded in 1916 by Asaichi Matubara, who began making white porcelain in charcoal kilns. His son modernized the factory, increasing production to up to 20,0000 units per day. However, in the early 2000’s, Asaichi’s great-grandson, Keishiro Matubara, brought Maruasa back to its origins as a small-scale, artisanal factory specialized in porcelain cups made for coffee.
Maruasa is located in the Gifu region, the largest producer of porcelain and ceramics in Japan. The pottery made in the region, known as “Mino yaki” or “Mino ware” in English, dates back to the 7th century. The region has high-quality deposits of kaolin clay, perfect for pottery production, and access to pristine water and wood for traditional kiln firing.