Japanese Roasters, Ranked by Mentions in 22 Reddit Threads: 12 Names
26 sources researched
The same question keeps arriving on r/pourover: which Japanese roasters to buy from on a trip. Across the 22 threads Glitch is mentioned in 49 separate comments, and the rest of the list is not the export shelf's order either. Two kinds of name stay off it: Blue Bottle and Verve are American chains, and Koffee Mameya, mentioned in 10 comments, serves other roasters' beans rather than its own.
Quotes
Quotes“I bought glitch beans and tho they were great I wished I would have bought more from Kurasu”
“Try Acid Coffee Tokyo. Huge selection of beans. You buy 2 bags, you get 1 free drink. It’s my favorite cafe/roaster out of all in Japan.”
“Leaves was EXCELLENT when I went. One of the few shots of espresso that have rivalled my home Decent/Bentwood combo.”
“Their drinks are consistently mid, no brewing defects, but not very exciting either.”
“My top picks would be Philocoffea, Brewman, Leaves and Apollon’s gold.”
20 most mentioned Japanese roasters
1 mention = 1 Reddit comment naming the roaster, replies included; 22 threads posted 14 Mar 2024 – 16 Oct 2026, 541 comments read 21 Oct 2026.
| Roasters | Mentions |
|---|---|
| 49 | |
 Acid Coffee |
28 |
| 27 | |
| 18 | |
| 17 | |
| 14 | |
| 11 | |
| 11 | |
| 10 | |
| 9 | |
| 9 | |
| 9 | |
| 8 | |
| Coffee Swamp |
6 |
| 6 | |
| X Coffee Ginza |
6 |
| 5 | |
| 4 | |
| 4 | |
| 4 |
Related beans
Glitch
Colombia Tolima La Negrita “Red Geisha”
Sherry · Apricot · Mandarin
50g · 6200
Leaves Coffee
Colombia El Casino
100g · 2000
Onibus
El Salvador La Joya
Hazelnut · Green Apple · Maple Syrup
100g · 1593
Raw Sugar Roast
Kenya Gakuyuini
Cherry Tomato · Blood Orange · Plum
100g · 1400
Fuglen
Ethiopia Banko Gotiti
Peach · Coconut · Japanese Citrus
100g · 1580
Apollon's Gold
CGLE Geisha
Lemon · Jasmine · Passionfruit
100g · 4500
Kurasu
Colombia Sebastian Ramirez Geisha
Jasmine · Pineapple · Orange Wine
100g · 42.9
Coffee County
Ethiopia KURUME Honey
200g · 3000
Facts
FactsGlitch and Leaves — Glitch's newest listing is a competition-tagged Colombia Tolima La Negrita "Red Geisha", a nitrogen anaerobic natural from 1,900 m sold only in 50 g at ¥6,200. Leaves' newest 100 g bag is Colombia El Casino at ¥2,000, published with no variety, process or tasting notes.
Tokyo and Osaka — Acid Coffee sells through a Tokyo storefront and gives 1 free drink with every 2 bags bought. LiLo roasts in Osaka and shows up in the threads mostly as a bag people bought rather than a shop they sat in.
Kurasu and Coffee County — The resident's year-long review scores Kurasu 5/5 for roast quality and 3/5 for value, and Coffee County 5/5 for roast, value and cafe alike after its beans stood out at an SCA Japan expo cupping.
Fuglen and Onibus — Fuglen's newest bag is Ethiopia Banko Gotiti, washed, from Gedeb at 2,000–2,280 m, ¥1,580 per 100 g. Onibus lists El Salvador La Joya, a washed Bourbon from 1,500 m, at ¥1,593 per 100 g.
Voices
VoicesVerdict · Reddit · r/pourover — Glitch, then Kurasu — The most-named roaster is not the one people wish they had bought more of: "I bought glitch beans and tho they were great I wished I would have bought more from Kurasu" (
comment).Reaction · Reddit · r/pourover — Acid is the favourite — Its strongest endorsement is also the corpus's most upvoted: "It’s my favorite cafe/roaster out of all in Japan", at 22 upvotes, in a reply that also counts the free drink (
comment).Verdict · Reddit · r/pourover — Leaves converts the espresso — "Leaves was EXCELLENT when I went. One of the few shots of espresso that have rivalled my home Decent/Bentwood combo." A buyer in another thread found the pour-over merely average (
comment).Objection · Reddit · r/pourover — Mid drinks, thin value — The resident review likes Fuglen's rooms more than its coffee — "Their drinks are consistently mid, no brewing defects, but not very exciting either" — and measures every bag against a ¥1,000 per 100 g line (
thread).
AI-written from public sources and may contain errors. Check the sources yourself.
