The Japan Collection: Cherry Blossom Season
Cherry Blossom Season: A Celebration of Our Brooklyn × Japan Partnership
For more than a decade, Brooklyn Roasting Company has partnered with an incredible team of coffee professionals in Japan. What began with the opening of their first café in Osaka in 2012 has grown into a collaboration built on shared standards, shared passion, and a deep respect for the craft of roasting coffee.
Today, the same coffees are roasted on opposite sides of the world. The beans are sourced from the same farms, roasted using the same recipes, and prepared on the same equipment. Whether you’re enjoying a cup in Brooklyn or in Japan, the goal is the same: a coffee that tastes unmistakably like Brooklyn Roasting Company.
Maintaining that consistency across oceans takes real dedication. Our CEO regularly travels to Japan to work closely with our partners and ensure our roasting standards remain perfectly aligned. Over the years we’ve also hosted barista exchange programs, sending Brooklyn baristas to Japan and welcoming members of the Japan team here. It’s one thing to collaborate from afar, but experiencing each other’s cafés firsthand has made the partnership even stronger.
Roasting coffee is an art, and both teams take it seriously. At the same time, we believe great coffee should always remain approachable. Delicious, thoughtful, and unpretentious. Serious about quality, never snobby about it.
Why Cherry Blossom Season?
We chose cherry blossom season as the moment to celebrate this partnership because it carries meaning in both places we call home.
In Japan, cherry blossoms, or sakura, symbolize renewal, beauty, and the fleeting nature of life. The blossoms appear briefly each spring, reminding people to slow down and appreciate the moment.
Here in New York, the arrival of cherry blossoms signals something just as important: the end of winter and the return of warmer days. After a long cold season, the first blooms across the city feel like a collective sigh of relief.
Our bloom season in Brooklyn comes a few weeks after Japan’s, but the feeling is the same on both sides of the world.
Spring is finally here.
Coffee Culture in Brooklyn and Japan
Café culture runs deep in both Brooklyn and Japan, though it often takes different forms.
In Japan, traditional coffee houses known as kissaten have been serving carefully brewed coffee since the early 20th century. These cafés are known for their calm atmospheres, dark wood interiors, jazz playing quietly in the background, and an unwavering focus on well-prepared coffee. Many specialize in hand-drip brewing methods that highlight the nuance and character of each roast.
That attention to craft feels very familiar to us.
At Brooklyn Roasting Company, we share that same belief that coffee deserves care and attention, while still being welcoming and accessible to everyone. Great coffee should invite people in, not intimidate them.
Because of that shared philosophy, these coffees are especially wonderful when brewed as pour-overs, though they’re versatile enough to shine in just about any brewing method.
The Japan Collection
To celebrate our partnership, we’ve assembled a trio of blends that represent different roasting styles and flavor profiles.
Tokyo Blend
The lightest roast of the collection, Tokyo Blend combines Ethiopian Nura Korate Washed with Colombia Tolima. The result is a bright, floral cup with notes of milk chocolate, honey, and flowers.
Japan Custom Roast
A medium-dark roast that has become a favorite year after year, this blend combines sweet Ethiopian Naturals with chocolatey sun-dried Brazils. The cup is balanced and approachable, with notes of chocolate, cherry, and cashew.
Shay Shay (Osaka) Blend
The darkest roast of the trio, Shay Shay Osaka Noir is built from three aromatic South American coffees from Peru, Brazil, and Colombia. The result is a rich, full-bodied cup with notes of caramel, chocolate, mixed nuts, and a subtle citrus finish.
This blend is especially meaningful to us. Named after both our CEO’s daughter in Brooklyn and a member of our Japan team who shares the same name (Shay), the Shay Shay Blend represents the connections that have grown out of this partnership.
Until now, Shay Shay has only been available in our cafés. For the first time, we’re offering it online as part of this cherry blossom celebration. It will not be joining our permanent lineup, making this a rare chance to experience it outside the café.
A Season Worth Celebrating
There’s a lot to celebrate in a partnership that has lasted more than a decade. What began with a shared love of coffee has grown into something much bigger: a global collaboration built on trust, craft, and mutual respect. Cherry blossom season is the perfect time to recognize this connection.
Wherever you are enjoying these coffees, whether under the blooming trees of Brooklyn or across the ocean in Japan, we hope they remind you of the shared love of coffee that brought this partnership to life.
