STRINGS COFFEE ROASTERS

Coffee in My Daily Life

It’s just part of the routine you know. 

Wake up, shower, boil water, grind coffee beans, pour hot water over coffee grinds, drink coffee. 

It’s automatic, its engrained into my DNA, it’s what must happen every morning.

I picked up this habit back when I was studying at Berkeley. Having Blue Bottle Coffee so close to my dorm meant I was able to get some of the best coffee in SF at my doorstep. I really enjoyed looking through the circulating collection of beans every time I would go.

 Now in Shimane, I have the added joy of picking a coffee cup from my little collection to fit my mood in the morning.Yet since I am no longer in Berkeley, where do I get my supply of coffee you may ask? It’s the one and only STRINGS COFFEE ROASTERS I tell you. 

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Introducing STRINGS COFFEE ROASTERS

STRINGS is a coffee roaster and store located in Izumo city in a quiet neighborhood about 20mins away from the famous Izumo Grand Shrine. It is not located in the most visible location you will ever see, and it blends in well with the rest of the houses around it.  The most recognizable part of the store are the light blue walls and the fashionably crooked ventilation duct that looks almost like a chimney. The front of the store is made of glass so you can clearly see that it is a coffee store from the outside. 

The inside is a cozy little space with a lot of personality. The owner Iijima-san changes the interior decoration every now and then, so it’s enjoyable just looking around to see what he has changed around. 

At STRINGS, you can buy a wide selection of beans as well as order take out or order in as well. When you buy coffee beans, you have the option of keeping the beans whole or having them grinded into coffee grinds as well. 

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What Makes STRINGS the Coffee Shop for Me 

 First of all, STRINGS has such a wide variety of single origin coffee beans. Iijima-san sources beans from Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mexico which makes you sometimes doubt that you are still in the countryside of Shimane. Every couple month he also circulates the beans so there’s usually always some new type of coffee I can try.  

Yet the most impressive thing about STRINGS is not simply its variety but Iijima-san’s ability to roast these beans to perfection. It is well known that lighter roasts are a very hard technique to acquire. However, Iijima-san’s lighter roasts are so delightful and full of notes such as berry, milk chocolate, and light caramel. Coming from Berkeley, I always enjoyed the lighter roasts that were very characteristic of the coffee roasters in the area. In Japan though, people seem to prefer darker roasts and dark blends that contains mostly beans from brazil. So, having access to really good quality light roasted coffee beans is one of the main reasons why I’m such a loyal customer at STRINGS. Also, as a sidenote, the beans are extremely affordable and never feel overpriced. At STRINGS, I can get two bags of 200g single origin coffee beans all for under 2000 yen! Such a good deal. 

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The Owner, Iijima-san

In the end it’s all about Iijima-san though. He is always so welcoming and social, making any customer who enters a friend. During the wintertime like now, he gives you a little cup of hot coffee on the house, while in the summer he has ice coffee on tap. Whenever you ask him about tasting notes, he has these quirky ways of describing them like “depending on if you like it or not, you may not want to go to work after drinking it.” Half of the reason why I go to STRINGS is to go meet Iijima-san and to talk to him about whatever relevant or random conversation topics. I also had an opportunity to use his coffee beans for the coffee beer I made last year. He’s always up to a challenge and his openness to trying something new is really invigorating. Iijima-san has a great balance of just an overall interesting individual together with the skills of a very competent coffee roaster. 

So if you need your coffee fix and you want the whole process as enjoyable as possible, give STRINGS COFFEE ROASTERS and Iijima-san a visit! 

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Location and Hours

 

Hours: 11AM to 5:30PM, closed usually every Tuesday and Wednesday. See Instagram for calendar.

Parking Available

Website: http://stringscoffee.com

Facebook:https://ja-jp.facebook.com/strings.coffee.roasters/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stringscoffee/