Light Up Coffee

Yuma Kawano did not even like coffee until a fruity, lightly roasted single origin changed his mind, sending him to buy a small roaster and teach himself to roast in his parents' living room. He opened Light Up Coffee in Kichijoji in July 2014 with Tamito Aihara, a colleague from the coffee industry who has since gone independent to run his own shop in Nishi Ogikubo, and the two built the space almost entirely by hand over a month, from the counter to the tables. Coffee is still poured into light blue cups Kawano found in London and conical beakers from Stockholm, souvenirs from the trip that first got him hooked.

The Kichijoji shop treats each single origin lot as an agricultural product worth tasting on its own terms, pricing a flight of coffees side by side so guests can compare origins in one sitting, and it sells its own roasted beans from the counter as well as online. Light Up has since grown into a small group with a roastery in Mitaka and a stand in Shimokitazawa, and this original Kichijoji location keeps a steady daily schedule from 9 in the morning to 7 at night with extra seating outside when the small room fills up.