Collection: Apollon's Gold 🇯🇵

Apollon's Gold has been roasting in Tokyo since 2017. The adventure began as a hobby, in a small workshop in the Nerima district. The name pairs Apollo, god of light and the sun, with the "Land of the Rising Sun". The emblem draws on an ancient Asian celestial crest: the sun at its centre stands for the pure expression of terroir.

Ultralight Roasting and Omni-Roast

The company specialises in very light roasts, designed for filter as well as espresso. Its coffees take time: at least 35 to 45 days of rest after roasting, peaking at around 60 days. Before roasting, the green coffee goes through an AI-powered optical sorter with two high-resolution cameras, then through hand sorting. Every cupping lasts 50 minutes, with water of calibrated mineral content, and the coffees are cupped again the next day.

Long-Term Producers

Apollon's Gold works directly with a few chosen estates. Fincas Mierisch, in Nicaragua and Honduras, has been with it from the start. The Monge brothers, Oscar and Luis, of La Lia and Pie San in Tarrazú, Costa Rica, have been partners since 2018 and set aside their Pie San Yellow Typica for it. Then come Edgar Gutierrez, at Corpachi and Ponderosa in Panama, Pablo Andres Guerrero, at Hacienda El Obraje in Colombia, winner of the 2021 Cup of Excellence, the Alietta family in Costa Rica, whose ETH47 variety the company buys as the exclusive worldwide buyer, and Eliyas Dukamo, who worked at Daye Bensa before founding Elto Coffee in Ethiopia.

Tokyo, Two Spaces

At the foot of the old Edo Castle, Kitanomaru is the company's extraction lab: a reservation-only space offering an omakase journey through filter coffee, an espresso cocktail and espresso. In Akasaka, the café, which also houses the roastery, sells the whole range to take home along with homemade cakes, and runs a vintage EK43 fitted with pre-2015 cast burrs. Apollon's Gold coffees travel to Canada, the United States, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Paris, where Singular Coffee is one of its stockists.