Japan’s Ogawa Coffee Opening Shop in Boston

Photo courtesy of Ogawa/Facebook

Legendary Japanese coffee roaster, Ogawa Coffee, is set to make its American debut on May 22 in downtown Boston. Located at 10 Milk Street, behind the Old South Meeting House in Downtown Crossing, the new Ogawa shop will be the first of its kind in the U.S. Chosen over New York, Chicago, and other major markets, the Ogawa team says they settled on Boston, after two years of scouting, because of its “unique similarities in culture and size” to Kyoto, where Ogawa Coffee is headquartered.

The Downtown Crossing shop was designed by Boston-based architect Takako Oji and features a training studio, event space, and teaching lab with retractable stadium seating in front of the espresso bar. Ogawa’s team of local baristas will be led by World Latte Art Champion barista Haruna Murayama, who has relocated from Japan to Boston to oversee training and development at the new shop.

In addition to all the intricately designed coffee drinks, the 42-seat shop will serve breakfast and lunch items such as Ogawa’s teriyaki chicken tartine, a house-made gelatin coffee sundae, ham and cheese croissants, oatmeal, salads and more.

The highly anticipated new concept follows in the footsteps of another popular Asian-based coffee chain, Caffé Bene out of South Korea, which opened its first Boston shop at 333 Massachusetts Avenue last year, and has five more locations on the way.

Ogawa Coffee will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the weekends.

10 Milk Street, Boston; 617-780-7139 or ogawacoffeeusa.com.