CONTRIBUTED BY JEANINECZUBIK

If your day doesn’t get started without a cup of joe, or you just love the smell, take a stroll in Yamachu-Honpo in Chatan.

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Roasted here in Okinawa, Yamachu-Honpo’s brews three varieties of coffee: Original Blend for both hot and iced coffee, and Gettou Flavor.  Gettou, a native plant to Okinawa, is part of the ginger family and has a variety of uses in creating sticky rice, sweets, paper products, essential oils and soaps.  To create the Gettou coffee, Yamachu-Honpo roasts the coffee beans with mochi and chopped gettou leaves.  As a coffee lover who typically needs a little milk and sweetener, this coffee required neither – it was smooth and delicious.

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Beyond the coffee, Yamachu-Honpo carries a wide range of other Okinawan-made items: awamori (ask about the special 10th Anniversary bottle), chinsukou (cookies), sauces and spices, glass, soap, and tea.

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With just a few chairs and a table inside, Yamachu-Honpo won’t replace your usual cafe hangout.  It will, however, provide you a perfect cup of coffee, and perhaps a unique Okinawan souvenir or gift.


Yamachu-Honpo

Hours: 1100 – 2000 daily

Phone: 098-936-8430

Website: www.yamachu-honpo.com (Japanese only)

Address: First floor, Depot Island Bldg. “E” 9-1 Mihama, Chatan Town

GPS Coordinates: 26.3157639, 127.7547012

Directions: Mihama Chatan just south of American Village on the back road parallel to Highway 58. From 58, turn west at the Jagaru intersection between B.C. Motors and Toyota dealership.  [From Camp Foster, this is the first light north of the intersection of 58 and 130.

From Kadena/Lester, this is the first light south of Starbucks.] After one block when the road Ts, turn right and immediately left into the parking lot. Yamachu-Honpo shares a structure with a soba shop.  On the back road from Araha Beach, this light is one light north of the old ETWS building.

 

6 COMMENTS

  1. Ahh….we should have gone here Monday! I’m looking for coffee to give to my aunt who’s as bad of a coffee drinker as I am. Hmm…maybe I’ll have time to go before we leave? Btw, don’t pay attention to negative people with bad grammar =)

  2. Kate, do you have something useful to contribute, or do you just like to make useless posts to establish your “superiority” on the internet?

    Why don’t you make useful suggestions on what you’d like to see?