There's a spirit of openness in the Tokyo coffee scene at the moment that's really quite refreshing. Rather than jealously guarding their secrets, the current crop of baristas and specialty roasters are talking, sharing and egging each other on.
The staffers at Glitch Coffee, which opened in Tokyo's bookish Jinbocho neighborhood in April, have taken this idea further than most. The menu (single-origin coffees and chunky artisanal cakes) and setting (a converted bread shop from the early-1970s) are all very on-trend. But there's one big difference here: the sleek black Probat roaster that dominates one side of the shop is communal property.
"It's a shared roaster," says Kiyokazu Suzuki, Glitch's head honcho. "People who are starting their own shops can come here to roast their beans."