On April 19, 2026, I attended the "5th Okinawa Coffee Forum" held in Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture. In this article, we will report on the insights gained on-site regarding the current state of domestic coffee cultivation in Okinawa, which is located at the northernmost limit of the coffee belt, the challenges faced by producing regions, and the implications for our Vietnamese coffee business.
Background of participation in the 5th Okinawa Coffee Forum
Through an introduction by the president of a company we do business with, who manages cacao plantations in Vietnam, one of the organizers of this forum,Ryukyu Coffee Energy HD Co., Ltd. Representative, Mr. TakagiI was invited and participated to gain a deeper understanding of the reality of coffee cultivation in Okinawa.
Okinawa Prefecture: The Northern Limit of the "Coffee Belt" - Challenges of Cultivating Domestic Coffee
Many people are surprised to hear that coffee is grown in Okinawa, but in fact,Okinawa Prefecture is located at the northernmost limit of the "Coffee Belt," where domestic coffee is cultivated.。
The coffee belt refers to the latitude band approximately between 25 degrees north and 25 degrees south of the equator (around the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn), and major coffee-producing countries in the world, including Vietnam, are concentrated in this range.
In Okinawa Prefecture, coffee is mainly cultivated in the northern part of the prefecture. Despite the harsh cultivation environment, including the soil and temperature variations, there are bold challenges being undertaken to produce high-quality coffee.
Challenges Facing Okinawan Coffee | Common Ground with Vietnamese Coffee
In fact, some farms harvest high-quality coffee beans that reach a level where they can be offered as excellent specialty coffee. On the other hand, production sites are said to face the following challenges.
- Quality reproducibility
- Green bean quality standards
- Lack of transparency in distribution channels
- Lack of coordination with the administration
The challenges facing Okinawan coffee are exactly those faced by our Vietnamese coffee beans,Branding in the Japanese MarketThis also overlaps with the challenges facing [the region/industry]. In that sense, this forum was a valuable opportunity to gather information and learn how Okinawan coffee will address its challenges going forward.
Lessons learned from a lecture by Mr. Horiguchi of Horiguchi Coffee Research Institute
In the forum, renowned in the coffee industryMr. Horiguchi from Horiguchi Coffee LaboratoryThere was also a lecture, and it was a very informative time for us as well. We were able to hear about topics such as quality assessment of specialty coffee and perspectives for building sustainable relationships between producing and consuming regions, which can be directly applied to future initiatives for Vietnamese coffee.
Okinawa and Vietnam: The future seen from the challenges of their production areas
We want to leverage the insights gained from the challenges undertaken in Okinawa and Vietnam, respectively, in our future Vietnamese coffee business operations.
At Tanizaki Coffee Village, we will continue to work on improving the quality of Vietnamese coffee and branding it in the Japanese market. Please look forward to our future activities.