Akha Ama Coffee Kagurazawa

Akha Ama Coffeee is a cozy cafe specialising in beans from Thailand. This is quite the niche - I don’t think I have ever seen Thailand beans in Japan. As it turns out, Akha Ama is originally a cafe from Thailand that has since opened two stores in Tokyo - this one here in Kagurazawa, and another one near Waseda. The owner sources their beans from the Akha people, an Indigenous tribe in the North of Thailand, and the owner of the chain is a member of the tribe himself (there is even a BBC article about it). The “Ama” in the store’s name means “mother” in tribute to the owner’s mother. The store aims to produce coffee in an ethical and sustainable way - something I can always get behind. The bean choice is a little overwhelming, but they had a choice of both blend beans for pour-over (700 - 830 yen, light to dark roasts), plus a series of microlot single origin beans (all light roast) which were also reasonably priced in a similar range. Microlot beans - Excuse the blurry photo I asked…