Finding the coffee space between two objects with Hazama
This month, Another Corner is focused on Coffee. We’re learning about how to make drinks, how to find a coffee community and finding the best gear to get started on a coffee journey. On Sunday October 19, we’re hosting Camilo of Hazama Coffee to present a new menu of from Pilgrim Roasters. We asked him some questions to understand Hazama and how he started his own coffee journey.
Another Corner: Can you first introduce yourself and tell us how the concept for Hazama Coffee and the choice to operate as a pop-up came to be?
Camilo: Hazama is inspired by the five years I worked in Tokyo as an English teacher. That’s where I first got into specialty coffee and home brewing, and Hazama is a way for me to share the experiences that informed my appreciation for coffee, craftsmanship, and Japanese café culture.
The word means "a narrow space between two objects," and symbolizes a desire to bring people closer together around coffee.
Another Corner is celebrating coffee as October’s Corner of the Month. When did your personal enjoyment of coffee turn into a serious pursuit?
By and large, I oriented myself in Tokyo by visiting cafés and talking to baristas. One summer, I visited 40 cafés in August alone. When I moved back to the US during the pandemic, I got a job as a barista as a way of taking my skills to the next level and situating myself in Philly. I've met so many wonderful people through the coffee scene, so I know I made the right decision.
What elements of the coffee ritual make it a hobby for so many people?
I think people who are drawn to coffee brewing are inclined towards the pursuit of refining the senses and deep focus. For me, it's a practice of slowing down, being mindful, and accepting imperfection. I used to be a quality-over-quantity guy, and it took me too long to realize that quantity actually begets quality—as long as you’re paying attention to the process. When you only have enough time in the morning to brew a single cup, there are no do-overs. You can only drink what's in front of you and consider what to change next time.
For Another Corner customers just starting their coffee journey, what is the most impactful and easy step to level up home brewing?
The boring but real answer is to buy well-sourced and roasted whole-bean coffee and grind it fresh each time. That said, I wasted a lot of time seeking out the freshest coffee without understanding how that impacted flavor. CO2 from the roasting process can mask the flavors of a coffee, as well as contribute to uneven extraction. Understanding the relationship between roasting and degassing can both improve the flavor of the cup, and save you a decent chunk of change and frustration.
Hosting a pop-up at a non-coffee venue like Another Corner requires adaptation. How do you tailor the menu or the overall Hazama Coffee experience to fit different environments?
In college, I worked as a live sound engineer, so the problem-solving and logistics involved in setting up events are fun and familiar to me. Hazama is all about crafting an educational experience around coffee, as well as a dialogue between guests and the barista. As long as that remains intact, I'm open to different ways of presenting the coffee. So far, we've focused on comparative tasting and storytelling around different coffee varieties with our tasting flights.
Are there any specific books or publications like an essential guide, beautiful volume on coffee origins, or a cultural deep-dive that you recommend to people who want to learn more?
James Hoffmann’s work is invaluable. The World Atlas of Coffee serves as a great primer to this day for understanding coffee’s history, cultivation, processing, and roasting. For those more focused on brewing, How to Make the Best Coffee at Home is a great place to start.
Katsuji Daibō’s A Daibo Coffee Manual is a beautiful reflection on the café he operated from 1975 to 2013. I regularly come back to it when considering the atmosphere I wish to create around coffee. Spaces experience their own “death of the author,” in that one may design a café with certain intentions in mind, only for guests to interact with it in ways they never considered. People begin to leave their marks on it, whether it’s a bouquet of flowers, a decorative ornament, or even a warm smile. So much is determined by the intersection of people at a particular time and place. It's a reminder to cherish the moments that we spend in each other's company.
Coffee brewing relies on precision and aesthetic. What other hobbies or interests have you found that surprisingly guides how you approach coffee?
Brewing coffee is a lot like playing music. Coffee is the sheet music and you are the performer. No two performances are entirely identical, but through practice you can achieve greater consistency. You may try to emulate someone else's style, or you may find one that suits your tastes. The more you do it, the more you can improvise and make informed choices when brewing, the same way a musician may interpret a piece to suit a specific performance.
What is a piece of advice you would give to someone who is thinking of turning their own personal hobby into a professional venture?
I’d argue that Hazama is still a hobby. Coffee has gone from taking up five days of my week to just one or two. The day-to-day reality of running a café is far from glamorous, and the tedious, but necessary elements of sustaining the business often take precedence over connecting with guests. I've chosen to pursue coffee in a way that honors the experiences that drew me to it in the first place. While cafés feel more pressure to cater to the demands of the larger coffee-drinking public, the limited nature of a pop-up allows it the freedom to be specific. If you’re at Hazama, chances are you already know what’s in store, because you heard about it and it resonated with you. My advice is to make sure you understand the core experience or value you have to offer and preserve it at all costs as you scale, or run the risk of losing not only the interest of your patrons, but yourself.
