Bringing the Seattle café community to Niseko.

Destinations include Seattle, Portland, and Colorado. In particular, I had a strong impression of Seattle, where I stayed for only 3 days in Alaska when I was 20 years old, and wanted to see it again.

It was around the year 2000, and Seattle's coffee culture had not yet penetrated Japan. I remember how impressed I was with the coffee and how delicious it was.

What impressed Mr. Togega was not only the taste of the coffee. There are so many cafes, and each café has its own community. He was also surprised to find that each café has its own community, a culture that is completely different from that of Japan.

For example, near a movie theater there is a café where movie lovers gather, and near a university there is a café where students talk about music. I had never seen such a scene when I went out for coffee in Japan, so that really impressed me."

I wonder if a café could be created in Niseko where outdoor enthusiasts could gather and have a strategy meeting about their next activity. Inspired by Seattle's café culture, he returned to Japan and found a property in front of Kutchan Station that was just the right size. SPROUT was born on December 15, 2009.

SPROUT at the time of opening

Mr. Togega had never worked with coffee before, but since his wife had a relationship with Yokoi Coffee in Sapporo, he purchased beans from Mr. Yokoi, the representative of Yokoi Coffee, and learned all about coffee from scratch.

For the first six years, I used Mr. Yokoi's beans and served them in my store. Over time, I became more and more interested in doing the roasting myself, so I gradually started roasting my own coffee while consulting with Mr. Yokoi. Backcountry skiing, trail running, and other activities that involve nature are very similar to roasting. Some mountains are steep and some are gentle. Some days the snow is fluffy, some days it is hard. I have to adjust my pace to "nature," which provides a different environment depending on whether I am skiing or running. I feel that coffee is similar in that I think about how to heat the coffee by watching the condition of the green beans, the temperature, and the humidity. I like the act of adjusting to nature.