"Coffee & Chocolate Marley " is a small coffee shop with a sign that says "Coffee Shop" in Susukino, Sapporo, commonly known as "5 no 5" (Minami 5-jo Nishi 5-chome). As the only coffee shop in Susukino, it is popular with a wide range of customers, from businessmen to locals.
In Hokkaido, where winters are long, traditional dark roasted coffee with a rich, sweet flavor has been popular. Marley continues to propose new coffee styles through chocolate made with home-roasted cocoa beans and selected specialty coffees from around the world, while continuing to carry on this tradition.
The owner of Marley , the barista and roaster, is Manabu Narita . His roasting techniques, Manabu in Manabu , are the result of experience outside the coffee industry, honed by the palate and sensibilities he has cultivated in the food and beverage industry.
Roasting techniques acquired at the long-established Miyakoshiya Coffee
Narita started working in the food and beverage industry when he was 18 years old. He has experience working in restaurants in big cities such as Tokyo and Sapporo. After many encounters, in his late 20s, he began to aspire to start his own business. That's when he came across Miyakoshiya Coffee, a long-established coffee shop that originated in Sapporo.
"Until then, I had been working in the alcohol industry as a bartender in clubs and music bars. It was during this time that I found Miyakoshiya Coffee, which has the concept of carefully brewing home-roasted coffee one by one and serving it in a beautiful cup so that customers can enjoy a relaxing time, and I was really attracted to the cafe, including the atmosphere."
Narita , who saw the master's deep roast coffee filter and thought "That's cool," decided to become his apprentice. While Manabu creating the atmosphere of Miyakoshiya Coffee, he learned that coffee is a very broad term, from drip to roasting to bean selection, and became even more absorbed in it. After four years of training, he opened the coffee shop " Marley " in the same place.
What Third Wave Coffee and Wine Have in Common
Narita 's training at a long-established coffee shop makes sense, and so does the atmosphere of Marley and its focus on dark roasted coffee. However, what makes him unique is that he didn't just follow tradition. He took on the trend at the time of lightly roasted single-origin specialty coffee with a unique Marley approach.
"Light roast specialty coffee first became popular about 10 years ago, and I often drank it in Tokyo and other places because of my job. Coffee with a beautiful color and clean acidity and aroma is still popular today.
However, I personally roast these specialty coffee beans a little more to bring out the undertones. This gives the beans a lot more depth, and you can enjoy everything from a nice acidity to a strong coffee flavor."
Narita compares this way of handling specialty coffee to that of wine.
"I thought the trend for natural wines with bright acidity and aromas was very similar to the light roast culture of third wave coffee. But classic Bordeaux and Burgundy-style beautiful wines are also popular."
City roast brings out the special sweetness
Marley has a 2kg roaster made by Tokyo Sanki installed in the store, and sometimes roasts coffee during work hours. The degree of roast is adjusted to suit the beans, but at most they prefer a city roast, which is a dark roast.
"The reason we use a dark roast is overwhelmingly for the sweetness. We sometimes brew at around 68°C, and at that temperature the coffee tastes very sweet. I think that CROWD ROASTER users tend to drink lightly roasted, clean coffee, even when it comes to specialty coffee, so I think that when they drink our coffee, they feel that it has a lot more body, even though it is the same beans.
We often hear comments like, 'I didn't know that even specialty coffee can be roasted this dark,' and 'This is a bit different from other coffee shops.'"
We want to deliver classic coffee that is unique to Sapporo.
Although Narita is a firm believer in dark roasting, when he opened Marley 13 years ago, he received some negative feedback from local people in comparison to the previous Miyakoshiya Coffee.
"After starting our own roasting, we continued to offer dark roasts, but gradually we also started serving medium roasts with a beautiful acidity. At first, some people had trouble getting used to it. They didn't like the lukewarm coffee. But it took a while, but gradually people started to get used to it."
He learned his roasting techniques through trial and error at Manabu . However, he orders and tests a wide variety of beans from around the world, and there are very few countries and farms where he has not tried them.
Regarding participating in CROWD ROASTER , Narita responded to user requests by saying, "We want to deliver a dark roast that is typical of Sapporo."
"Using the high-quality, cutting-edge specialty coffee beans available at CROWD ROASTER , I want to convey a classic Sapporo-style city roast with a strong undertone. I want people to enjoy the balance of acidity and bitterness."
Among the roasters participating in CROWD ROASTER , Narita is the first in Hokkaido and can be said to be the poster child for city roasting. Please try requesting various beans and enjoying the classic taste that is unique to Sapporo.
To commemorate Narita 's participation in CROWD ROASTER , a tasting set has been released.
This set allows you to enjoy the following three types of coffee in dark and medium roasts.
[CSLC] Colombia El Paraiso Farm Double Anaerobic Lychee [SJBA] Brazil Sant John Grande Farm Bourbon Anaerobic [GLP] Ecuador La Primavera Farm Typica , Caturra , Saltimol Washed
If you are interested in Narita 's dark roast, which retains a fruity flavor, please give it a try.
<SHOP INFORMATION>
coffee&chocolate Marley
Head office: 10 Minami 5-jo Nishi 5-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
East store: 2F Lydia Building, 8-9 Minami 4-jo Nishi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
OPEN: 15:00-2:00
