Blue Bottle brews in Japan: Can artsy U.S. coffee chains make it overseas?

Japan, famous for green tea, is welcoming artisanal American coffee roaster Blue Bottle with long lines that have at times meant a four-hour wait for a cup. The company, which began in Oakland, California in 2002, hopes its early popularity is more than a passing fad. Japan’s consumer culture is littered with manias for Western food imports: pancakes, popcorn, doughnuts, even Taco Bell. Even convenience stores are serving freshly brewed coffee. Japan also invented “manga-kissa,” or a cafe-cum-library, where you can curl up with a comic book and sip on coffee for hours.

It’s a new era in eating out.

Food industry consultant Jotaro Fujii

Attention to detail that dovetails with aspects of Japanese culture accounts for part of the coffee chain’s early popularity. The spread of Starbucks internationally, which has created a cookie-cutter coffee culture that some people want to trade up from, is another factor. Blue Bottle is also benefiting from the image problems in Japan of fast food chains and highly processed foods, such as McDonald’s.

Business Blue Bottle