This time, we would like to introduce Machi Kodama the newest roaster at CROWD ROASTR, who is the head roaster at ou.bai.tou.ri coffee roasters .
Kodama is a promising young roaster who won the 1st Crack Coffee Challenge 2023, a roasting competition hosted by Giessen Japan.
We spoke to Kodama about his shop and his own roasting.
The joy of roasting is creating your own flavor
My name is Machi Kodama , and I am the head roaster at ou.bai.tou.ri coffee roasters a light roaster that specializes in seasonal, fresh specialty coffee.
Currently, the company distributes coffee nationwide from Sumida Ward, Tokyo, mainly through online sales and setting up stalls at events.
Having worked as a barista and a roaster, I thought about how I could express myself, but rather than using my hands as a barista, I felt that using my brain to bring out flavors with simple operations was more suitable, so I chose to become a roaster. I think the best part of being a roaster is not just having fun, but being able to create deliciousness on your own.
In 2020, he opened `` ou.bai.tou.ri coffee roasters '' and has been honing his roasting skills every day.In 2023, he won the ``1st Crack Coffee Challenge'', a roasting competition for young people hosted by Giessen Japan.
Having worked as a barista and a roaster, I thought about how I could express myself, but rather than using my hands as a barista, I felt that using my brain to bring out flavors with simple operations was more suitable, so I chose to become a roaster. I think the best part of being a roaster is not just having fun, but being able to create deliciousness on your own.
In 2020, he opened `` ou.bai.tou.ri coffee roasters '' and has been honing his roasting skills every day.In 2023, he won the ``1st Crack Coffee Challenge'', a roasting competition for young people hosted by Giessen Japan.
We want you to enjoy the colorful flavors of the Hikaru coffee beans.
We want everyone to enjoy colorful, fruity, soft sweetness and vibrant flavors of coffee, just like appreciating a painting, so we mainly deal with fresh, seasonal specialty grade coffee. We don't have any particular preference for the origin or variety of coffee beans, but recently we have been using a lot of Geisha beans and specially processed Colombian beans that bring out the flavor.
To me, roasting is like a work of art that expresses the heartwarming feeling of deliciousness and what I consider to be the elegance of coffee in an easy-to-understand way, using the coffee carefully produced by the producers as a medium.
Our commitment is to roast based on the aroma, adjusting each time according to the condition of the beans. Roasting is very delicate and there are different factors each day, so we need to take those into account and make adjustments. We aim to roast carefully under the best conditions for the coffee beans.
The roaster is the "Giesen W1A." We were looking for a roaster that could produce a richer, more elegant flavor while still recreating the taste of the direct-fire roaster we were originally using, and that's when we came across Giesen.
To me, roasting is like a work of art that expresses the heartwarming feeling of deliciousness and what I consider to be the elegance of coffee in an easy-to-understand way, using the coffee carefully produced by the producers as a medium.
Our commitment is to roast based on the aroma, adjusting each time according to the condition of the beans. Roasting is very delicate and there are different factors each day, so we need to take those into account and make adjustments. We aim to roast carefully under the best conditions for the coffee beans.
The roaster is the "Giesen W1A." We were looking for a roaster that could produce a richer, more elegant flavor while still recreating the taste of the direct-fire roaster we were originally using, and that's when we came across Giesen.
The range of heat, exhaust, and rotation speed is wide, and various roasting methods such as hot air and direct flame can be reproduced, expanding the possibilities of roasting. I think it is the best roasting machine to reproduce the taste I want to express.
The thing I pay particular attention to when using it is reproducibility. Although the Giessen machine allows for delicate expression, it is also a delicate machine and is easily affected by even the slightest changes in the environment. Daily maintenance is essential to ensure that the roasting is as consistent as possible.
There is still little recognition of female coffee roasters, so I hope I can be a catalyst for more women to pay attention to them. I hope you enjoy the colorful coffee flavors that only I can provide!
Thank you, Kodama -san!
By the way, I also heard about the name of Kodama 's shop, "Oubai Tou Ri (ou.bai.tou.ri)."
This four-character idiom means that each flower blooms in its own way.
It seems that the idea behind this is to enhance the individuality of each coffee bean through roasting.
As the name suggests, the company mainly sells coffee online, delivering its fruity, sweet and vibrantly flavored coffee to customers across the country.
CROWD ROASTER holds roasting events for brands that are not available in-store.
Please feel free to ask Kodama to roast the coffee of your choice.
