On July 7, 2026, a coffee shop called CAFFEINE OASIS opened in Nishinakajima, Yodogawa Ward, Osaka City.

This shop was opened by YUYA IWASAKI .

Having accumulated about 10 years of experience as a roaster at TAKAMURA COFFEE ROASTERS , roasting numerous Cup of Excellence (COE) lots, and consistently placing high in competitions such as the JCRC (Japan Coffee Roasting Championship), this man laughs it off, saying he "quit without a plan."

YUYA IWASAKI , who has been supplying beans as a participating roaster for CROWD ROASTER , was invited to an Instagram Live hosted by Yamamoto of CROWD ROASTER , where he shared his honest thoughts two weeks before the opening of the new store. The conversation continued non-stop for an hour and a half, covering everything from the circumstances of his independence to Manabu 's philosophy on choosing a roasting machine and his questions for the industry.

When IWASAKI first started his coffee career, he said he "intended to become independent soon." He was determined to quit his job as an employee in one or two years and start his own business. That's how ambitious he was.

Before I knew it, 10 years had passed.

"It was really just a sudden trigger that made me realize, 'Ah, I've reached this phase now.' It wasn't something I had planned beforehand; it really happened quite suddenly," ( IWASAKI ).

For about a year after leaving TAKAMURA COFFEE ROASTERS , he continued to say "yes" to everyone who approached him. As an individual with no backing or title, coffee-related work kept coming his way. After that year, one might think he was finally ready to open his own shop—but his own feelings were quite different.

"I'm not sure if you can even call it independence, honestly. It's not something that grand, I think."

That's what someone who's spent 10 years on the front lines of roasting said. That was IWASAKI 's current mindset.

IWASAKI is opening his new store in Nishinakajima, Yodogawa-ku, Osaka City, a convenient location just a 3-minute walk from Nishinakajima-Minamigata Station on the Midosuji Subway Line, and also at the intersection with Hankyu Minamigata Station. One of the reasons he chose the first floor of a newly built apartment building was so that he could completely remake the pristine walls with his own hands.

The person he commissioned to do the interior design was the president of a vintage and antique company where he worked in his twenties. IWASAKI spent a year at that shop, which imported and sold items in containers from Thailand, the United States, and Myanmar, before he entered the coffee industry. He pleaded with the president, who had repeatedly said, "I'm not going to do interior design anymore."

"When I went to ask for their help, they said, 'Alright, I'll do it.'"

All the fixtures are custom-made; there are no off-the-shelf items. The ceiling fans were salvaged from a Japanese ship that was dismantled in Myanmar. The ship, which had originally finished its service in Japan, was dismantled in Myanmar, and the parts salvaged from it were brought back to Japan. "It's kind of like a reverse import," says IWASAKI , but he speaks of it casually, even though it involved a considerable amount of effort.

Even the switch panels are original. The walls of the new building aren't covered in wallpaper, but painted and then given an aged finish. With the desire to "make it look like it's been there for 10 years," Shin new space was intentionally given an aged look.

When a bank loan officer came to inspect the property during construction, he saw the antique light fixture that had already been installed and said, "By the way, are you going to remove this light fixture now?" Of course, it had just been installed.

"The bank staff thought it was leftover material (laughs). I guess it just blended in that well."

He himself admits that once he starts talking about his particular preferences, he can't stop. And that's understandable. Every single thing in this shop has a reason and a story behind it.

The roasting machine is a 1992 Probat 5kg roaster.

IWASAKI has always used the latest roasting machines, including hot-air roasters. He has been involved with rolling and stronghold roasters—machines that are still rarely seen in Japan—from the very beginning. Now, however, he has chosen a machine that allows him to adjust the heat by "visual inspection."

However, this is not merely a hobby.

"Honestly, I personally think it's not interesting when the world becomes all about numbers, to the point where it seems like everyone's only looking at the numbers."

Having pursued reproducibility and competitive precision throughout his career, it sounded as if he was deliberately trying to reclaim some of his intuition. It was also typical of IWASAKI that one of the reasons he chose Probat was "because it looks cool." He laughed and said, "I'll get to know it better as I go along, in terms of ease of use and things like that."

During the Instagram Live session, she brought up a slightly more in-depth topic. She mentioned that she's recently heard from the general public that "there are more and more shops that lack individuality and look the same."

IWASAKI nodded immediately.

"I do hear things like that. People say there are more and more roasters that lack individuality. You can no longer win in a world where you focus solely on coffee quality. I think that's for sure."

Roasting is a processing step that takes only 10 to 20 minutes. Compared to the raw materials, it's a very short process, and the roaster's involvement is not as wide as it is in the farms and processing stages of the producing countries. So, can the average coffee lover find the difference between roasters in a cup? IWASAKI says, "Honestly, I don't think they can."

That doesn't mean we should give up on quality. What IWASAKI wants to emphasize is what comes after that.

"I think the key to differentiation lies in things like packaging, the owner's personality, and the interior design—those kinds of things. I've always thought that way, so I made sure to keep that in mind this time as well."

The specialty coffee industry has succeeded in raising the overall quality level. Even convenience store coffee and instant coffee are now at a level incomparable to what they used to be. In this era, what is it that attracts people? IWASAKI 's answer to that question is probably the interior design, which uses "zero off-the-shelf products," the Probat refrigerator that is "fired by eye," and his love for the ship he brought from Myanmar.

In response to a viewer's question, we asked about the relationship between the soaring price of green coffee beans and their quality.

"We're not in sync," IWASAKI said clearly.

Comparing Ethiopian washed coffee from around 2018 to its current price, it may have nearly doubled. However, that doesn't mean the taste has doubled. Price fluctuations are the result of a complex interplay of global factors—material costs, transportation costs, exchange rates—and operate on a different axis than coffee quality.

On the other hand, he also says that the quality itself has "definitely improved compared to 10 years ago." The farm's facilities and production techniques have also evolved. The fact that the Cup of Excellence (COE) cup scores have been on an upward trend year after year supports this.

However, there is a paradox to this.

"The higher you go in the COE competition, the harder it becomes to understand. Every aspect is top-notch, so there's no real standout. The lower ranks are actually easier to understand, because the flavors tend to pop out more."

Yamamoto agrees, saying that he's recently found it harder to find washed coffee that he finds delicious. He's unsure whether this is simply a change in coffee or if his own palate has changed—the improvement in quality and the resulting difficulty in distinguishing between different types of coffee are both progressing simultaneously. The complexity of the coffee industry was evident in this ambiguous reality that cannot be summed up in a single word.

When asked about his future goals, the first thing IWASAKI said was "volume."

"Wouldn't you rather have a customer who buys 100 kilograms of daily coffee every month than one who buys 100 grams of COE (Cup of Excellence) coffee every month? I'm sure the farm owners feel the same way. It all comes down to whether the producers can invest in equipment for the next crop."

When he continued to talk about his target audience, his words were surprisingly specific. "We're not targeting coffee lovers. We're targeting people who don't like coffee." A shop where young Manabu students walking by can casually drop in. He also brought up the idea of ​​holding coffee experience events for children.

"It's like asking, 'Are you ready to show your children what you're doing?'"

I also asked him about competitions. He said firmly, "I want to participate in the JCRC." When he participated in the TiRC (Tisca International Roasters Cup), an international invitational roasting competition held in Taiwan, "JAPAN" was written next to his name. He said he can't forget that feeling. "I want to experience that feeling in a real competition. I have no choice but to win the JCRC."

Towards the end of the conversation, Mr. IWASAKI quietly said the following:

"I didn't really feel it when I was running continuously. But when I stopped running and decided to do it on my own, I realized how much I owed to the people around me."

My friend helped me create the business plan, my acquaintance introduced me to a bank loan officer, the president of an antique company volunteered to do the interior design, my friends provided the cutlery, and the person who designed the menu board. Almost everything in the shop is made up of things I could never have done on my own.

"The reason we were able to burn down the COE so badly was because of the environment. It wasn't due to any of my own abilities."

The opening date, July 7th, was chosen because, after asking ChatGPT for "auspicious days in July," one of the suggested dates was "easy to remember." "Whether it's finished or not, we'll open on July 7th. At worst, we'll just open the door (laughs)."

When I was in charge of the office coffee for a foreign company, I went to the office, which was under construction, to make adjustments. Even though the opening was scheduled for a week later, the site was still being drilled. I became worried and told the person in charge, who said, "Whether it's finished or not, that day is the opening." IWASAKI laughed and said that this attitude is what led him to where he is today.

Ten years of hard work and dedication are now about to blossom in a slightly different form. On July 7th, in Nishinakajima, Osaka, YUYA IWASAKI 's coffee will begin in a new location.

 

CAFFEINE OASIS

Address: Sunshine Residence 1B, 1-13-26 Nishinakajima, Yodogawa-ku, Osaka City

Nearest stations: Nishinakajima-Minamigata Station on the Osaka Metro Midosuji Line / Minamigata Station on the Hankyu Kyoto Line (3-minute walk)

Opening: July 7, 2026

URL: https://www.instagram.com/caffeine_oasis_official/

Interview and text by: Shohei Yamamoto, CROWD ROASTER