What Makes This the Most Expensive Coffee in Japan?

At The Münch, a home-roasting shop in Yao, Osaka, the most expensive coffee in Japan is called Phantom Creation, a low-temperature long-aged brew. Aged beans stored 15 to 30 years are deep-roasted and brewed through a flannel filter into a 1:1 concentrate, then aged 20 to 30 more years in coffee wooden barrels held at minus 3 degrees Celsius.

That means the youngest liquid in the barrel has passed 35 years. A 40-milliliter serving sells for 100,000 yen, with a tasting pour at 2,000 yen. The coffee brewing method departs sharply from standard pour-over ratios: owner Mr. Tanaka uses 100 grams of coffee powder, a 1:1 ratio and a one-hour extraction before barreling.

What's the most expensive coffee you've ever had? In Yao, Osaka, there's a home-roasting shop called "The Münch" that sells the most expensive coffee in all of Japan—the "Phantom Creation" low-temperature long-aged coffee. This coffee is made from aged beans stored for 15-30 years, deep-roasted, brewed with a flannel filter into a 1:1 super-concentrated liquid, then placed in special coffee wooden barrels and aged for 20-30 years in a refrigerator at minus 3 degrees Celsius. By that calculation, the youngest coffee in the barrel has already gone through 35 springs and autumns. 40ml sells for 100,000 yen, with a tasting price of 2,000 yen. What does it actually taste like? And what kind of persistent shop owner stands behind it? Let's step into Mr. Tanaka's coffee world together.

In Yao, Osaka, Japan, there's a home-roasting coffee shop called "The Münch." This shop sells the most expensive coffee in all of Japan—the "Phantom Creation" low-temperature long-aged coffee. Just how long is its production cycle? First, you have to select aged coffee beans that have already been stored for 15 to 30 years, deep-roast them, and then brew a super-concentrated coffee liquid with a flannel filter. After that, borrowing the winemaking approach, the concentrated liquid is put into special coffee wooden barrels and then placed in a refrigerator at minus 3 degrees Celsius, where it is stored for 20 to 30 years to age. By this calculation, the youngest batch of coffee in the barrel has already passed through 35 springs, summers, autumns, and winters.

- Shop owner Mr. Tanaka and his aged coffee made in Heisei 7 (June 1995)

The brewing method for coffee used for aging also completely exceeds our everyday understanding of coffee extraction. Normally, when we make a pour-over coffee (standard method), the dose is about 13 to 20 grams, the coffee-to-water ratio (the ratio of coffee powder weight to the weight of the brewed coffee liquid after extraction) is about 1:13, and the total extraction time is about 2 to 3 minutes. For flannel brewing (standard method), the dose is about 20 to 25 grams, the coffee-to-water ratio is about 1:10, and the total extraction time is also about 2 to 3 minutes.

But when Mr. Tanaka brews coffee that needs aging, he uses 100 grams of coffee powder, extracts at a 1:1 coffee-to-water ratio, and the total extraction time is as long as one hour...!!!

Is aged coffee expensive? If calculated by age, 40ml sells for 100,000 yen (about 5,500 yuan RMB at today's exchange rate), and the tasting price is 2,000 yen (about 110 yuan RMB). It seems... maybe... still fairly reasonable. After all, time is money.

- The 40ml version

So what does it taste like? It is said (when the writer gets a chance to taste it in person someday, they will definitely write another detailed experience article! Definitely! And describe their feelings in great detail, pinky promise) that this coffee is like noble rot white wine, leaving an endless aftertaste of fruity sweetness between the lips and teeth. The aged coffee smells very heavy, but after the coffee enters the mouth, the unique aroma instantly spreads out. Its fruity sweetness gives people the illusion of drinking wine, and it is very sweet, extremely sweet (the sweetness of the returning aftertaste).

- The version for tasting just a few drops

Very thick? Yes, indeed very thick. The coffee liquid has a syrupy viscosity, and every cup is extremely rich and substantial. The shop owner says this brewing method comes from an accidental experience during Mr. Tanaka's coffee training when he was young—after drinking coffee at a famous shop in Ginza, he was deeply inspired, so he spent 8 years researching the flavor he envisioned in his heart and vowed to make the best-tasting coffee in all of Japan. (Although whether it tastes good or not is a personal experience, I believe that people who pursue coffee will definitely brew coffee with their own unique character.)

- This brewing volume is very Dubai!

With such a long coffee extraction time, customers must be very bored... Not at all! A friend who has been there told the writer that Mr. Tanaka is very talkative and also very friendly and warm to foreigners. The whole waiting process is not boring at all. He will chat with customers about his stories and about how he kept his promise to coffee.

During the conversation, Mr. Tanaka asked the writer's friend whether they were interested in inheriting this coffee shop. At the time, they were also very surprised by this joke. Mr. Tanaka said that his wife and son had already gone to heaven, and no one would inherit this coffee shop. One day, when he could no longer work, the shop would have to close, and he felt very reluctant about that. Perhaps everyone thought Mr. Tanaka was joking, but maybe Mr. Tanaka truly hoped someone could inherit this craft and inherit the production technique for aged coffee.

The shop's name comes from a limited-edition, out-of-production Münch motorcycle placed inside the shop. According to Mr. Tanaka, this is a motorcycle manufactured in the former East Germany (German Democratic Republic). There is only one in all of Japan and only five in the world. It is also the world's first two-rotor motorcycle.

From this motorcycle, you can see that Mr. Tanaka was a motorcycle enthusiast when he was young. When talking with customers, Mr. Tanaka likes to take out photos of himself when he was young and talk about his life; he also takes out poems he wrote and tells about the bits and pieces of life.

- Mr. Tanaka when he was young, quite handsome!

Every cup of coffee here tells the story of Mr. Tanaka's unrestrained and free life. From coffee brewing to the making of aged coffee, Mr. Tanaka has not been bound by frameworks, but has done what many people dare not do. Perhaps many people will say this is a gimmick, but Mr. Tanaka dares to break through.

Just like the Chinese-style stewed coffee previously created by a Shanghai uncle, he did what others had not done, dared not do, or would not even think of—that is innovation! Rather than being limited by existing extraction methods and extraction theories.

Image source: Internet

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