Why Does Japan Rely on Greenhouses for Planting Coffee Trees?

A farm in Okayama City has harvested coffee cherries grown on Japanese soil for the first time, with the green beans sold through pre-sale at 2,750 yen per 100 grams, roughly 1,500 yuan per kilogram. The batch sold out immediately, and supply is too small for most domestic buyers to obtain.

Cold winters make Japan unsuitable for coffee outdoors, so the plants were raised in greenhouses, following the same farm's earlier work with pineapple and mango. That gives the beans a cost profile shaped by controlled growing conditions rather than open-field agriculture, and the operator had years of tropical crop research behind the attempt.

Japan has successfully grown and harvested coffee beans on its own soil for the first time, achieving a historic breakthrough. Because Japan's winters are cold, coffee trees struggle to survive outdoors, so this entire batch of coffee cherries was cultivated in greenhouses at extremely high cost. The head of Yamako Farm already had experience growing tropical crops such as pineapple and mango in Okayama City, and this time introduced coffee trees into the same production area. At present, the farm's official website has officially begun pre-sales of this batch of green beans, with a tax-inclusive price of 2,750 yen/100 grams, equivalent to about 1,500 yuan per kilogram in RMB. Although the price is lower than some people expected when joking it would be "sold by the bean," the yield is extremely small, and the pre-sale sold out instantly, so domestic consumers will likely find it hard to get their hands on it in the short term.

For most people, a coffee tree bearing fruit is nothing unusual. However, for Japan, this is a historic leap—they have successfully cultivated coffee trees and obtained a harvest on their own soil for the first time.

The Japanese archipelago has harsh winters, and these natural conditions are not suitable for coffee trees to grow and survive. Therefore, although Japanese people have accumulated extensive research experience in coffee cultivation over many years, they have never been able to grow coffee beans on their own territory, and related research often has to rely on overseas land such as Taiwan, China.

- Coffee cherries grown on Japanese soil

The ability to harvest coffee cherries on Japanese soil this time came at a considerable cost, because these plants were grown in a greenhouse environment throughout. The head of Yamako Farm has long been engaged in research on domestic tropical crop cultivation in Japan, such as pineapple and mango. These crops are also unsuitable for cultivation in cold regions, so the person in charge selected Okayama City in southern Japan, where the climate is warm, with abundant sunshine and winter temperatures higher than in other areas.

Before planting coffee trees, the farm had already successfully cultivated tropical crops domestically. With this precedent to follow, another attempt at domestic coffee cultivation in Japan became possible. After years of exploration in coffee cultivation research, this spirit of perseverance is truly admirable, and setting other factors aside, the news of successful cultivation is indeed worth celebrating.

- The farm head and Japanese-grown coffee trees

After the news came out, what everyone cared about most was naturally the pricing of this batch of coffee beans from a Japanese production region. After all, with greenhouse cultivation plus a rare yield, price is the focus. Now, Yamako Farm's official website has officially opened pre-sales for this "hard-won" batch of coffee beans! As for the price... (tax included) 2,750 yen/100 grams of green beans (about 150 yuan RMB/100 grams), equivalent to about 1,500 yuan RMB per kilogram.

Of course, although it was a pre-sale, because the yield was too small, it sold out in the blink of an eye, and friends in China probably will not have the chance to spend that money in the next few years.

Is it expensive? In fact, the price is lower than many people expected, because many people's psychological expectation was: sold by the bean!

Image source: Yamako Farm official website, internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.