Leaves Coffee Roaster Yasuo Ishii Meetup

Kumquat in LA recently collaborated with Yasuo Ishii, the founder of Leaves, to set up a pop-up shop. I braved the rain to check it out. I thought there wouldn’t be too many people, but arriving just 10 minutes late already meant a long line. The 45-minute free valet parking was nowhere near enough.

I ordered a washed Geisha from El Orbraje, Colombia, and a washed 74158 from Ethiopia. Since the crowd was so large, the brews were prepared in double servings: 30g of coffee, two pours of 200g each, with the drawdown cut around 2:10. At higher temperatures the cups felt a bit thin, but as they cooled some citrus notes came through. The tight ratio likely caused under-extraction, though that’s hard to avoid with batch-style brewing.

Just like on his social media, Yasuo Ishii used a Sanwen CT62 dripper and a U-scale. He distributed the grounds with a WDT tool, created a small crater with a glass stirrer to even the bed, and even used a level to ensure the dripper sat perfectly flat. He was also very warm and welcoming. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to visit Japan and experience more of his work in the future.