I recently popped by KIELO COFFEE in Akihabara, a small cafe and roaster specialising in light roast pourover coffee. They do also have milk-based coffee and matcha lattes available as well.
They had a range of reasonably-priced beans to choose from for your pourover, ranging from an 800 yen Rwanda washed bean to a 1600 yen cup of Colombia’s El Paraiso M3.
They also sell all of these beans, and they have sample jars of the beans out to help you make your decision.
I decided to get a cup of the 1300 yen Finca Milan Nitro Melon from Colombia - the melon intrigued me.
The drink came in a beaker - rather cute - and you got an information card with the tasting notes as well.
The drink did have a faint whiff of melon! Although it was almost a little bitter.
Being in Akihabara, it seems Kielo’s main customer base is probably tourists visiting the area. Akihabara is of course famous for its otaku culture - electronic stores, maid cafes and lots of anime goods. One lady in particular had stopped by to take a break while her brother went off to explore all the anime merch that Akihabara had to offer (she didn’t have as much interest in it - fair enough).
It’s a tiny little store, with a small amount of tables and counter seats. They did have Wi-Fi and power outlets, and a 90 minute time limit.
It seems that KIELO has three separate locations and this seems to be the smallest - so if you were specifically interested in checking out KIELO, it may be worth heading to one of their other locations, both of which are in Asakua. But this is a nice spot if you just need a coffee fix and you happen to be nearby.
I did end up buying some beans as well, although it took me a while to make my choice. You can also see all of their beans online here. A few of the beans were priced at 3300 yen for 100g, including the melon drink that I had tried. I think Kielo tends to have some pretty interesting processing methods which accounts for the higher price. There were also a couple in the slightly more affordable 1600 - 1900 yen range.
Maybe there is something psychological to it, but when I see a price range like that, it almost makes me not want to buy the 1600 yen priced option since it almost feels like I am getting the poor end of a deal (or maybe that’s just me?)
But as I sniffed my way through the options - I was quite surprised (in a good way) by the fragrance of their Tanzania Acacia Hills bean, which was priced at 1600 yen for 100g. Coincidentally as I was pondering my options the barista behind the counter also happened to recommend that same bean as more of a “daily drink” option so helped make my decision for me.
Kielo Coffee’s recommended pourover method
Kielo provides a brewing guide for both hot and cold pourovers. Their method is as follows:
- 15g of beans, 240g of water (1:16 ratio)
- A temperature of 88 - 92℃
- 50g bloom (stir with spoon)
- 60g pour at 0:40, then 130g pour at 1:15
They also provided an iced version which follows the Japanese-style “flash pourover” recipe:
- 17g of beans, 150g of water, 120g of ice
- A temperature of 88 - 92℃
- 50g bloom (stir with spoon)
- 50g pour at 0:40, then 50 pour at 1:15
The liquid should drip directly onto the ice cubes in the cup you are using, and once you finish the ice will have mostly melted.
I don’t stir with the spoon, but I’ve otherwise been using the iced method for my other beans going forward and I quite like it!
Kielo Coffee beans: the verdict
I bought Kielo’s Tanzania Acacia Hills bean, which is my first time buying beans from Tanzania on this blog. My first impression is that it does taste quite similar to a Kenya bean - there is almost something vegetably about it. Which is not actually a good thing as it means I am doing something wrong with my pourover process (ha, ha).
I had some beans remaining from Onibus Coffee which I used to compare against this one. I mentioned that Onibus almost left me underwhelmed, and in comparison Kielo’s Tanzania bean did have a bit more of a kick to it.
I first tried it at 12 clicks, which was too fine and it ended up over-extracting, so I stuck with my more regular 15 clicks on the Timemore C2 grinder which seemed to do the job.
Hi, I'm Emma!
I'm a long-time lover of coffee - back in Sydney my go-to drink was always a soy cappucino. After I moved to Tokyo 4 years ago, I discovered the wonders of pour-over coffee and now I'm always on the lookout for new coffee beans to try. So far I've checked out 29 coffee shops and roasters here in Japan.
If you found this post useful, you can also show your support by buying me a coffee ☕
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