Exciting News!

We are happy to announce our new global newsletter series! The "Kurasu Passport!"

In this series, we would like to introduce you all to our Kurasu shops worldwide and share exciting updates about them! We hope this will help you get to know us better and deepen your understanding of the coffee scene around the world!

For the time being, this newsletter will be released monthly. However, we would like to have it more than once per month in the future! We hope to provide you with fun and informative reading to accompany your coffee-sipping rituals.

1st Stop, Kurasu Singapore

We started Kurasu Singapore back in 2017 inside a co-working space on North Bridge Road. If we were to describe that setup, it encapsulated all that is "Kurasu": serving specialty coffee freshly roasted in Kyoto, introducing Japanese coffee culture by focusing on using Japanese coffee gear, and a warm and homey ambiance where people could just be themselves. 

It also quickly became a place of community gathering, a place for visitors to revel in the shared interest in coffee in a comfortable and meaningful space. Since opening, the team in Singapore has been consistently hosting events - such as coffee brewing tournaments and seminars - while also hosting some other lifestyle events, such as a film camera pop-up store.

It was a perfect beginning for us in Singapore, with more and more people interested in Japanese coffee culture by the day. Then, in 2020, we decided we wanted to take a big leap forward, and create a space that would allow the Kurasu community in Singapore to grow even more. And so, we stared searching for our flagship store...

Kurasu Waterloo

We finally found our spot on Waterloo Street, an established center for the arts, culture, learning, and entertainment -- only 9-minutes away from our first location by foot. It was a space with a huge window facing the street, a perfect place for our next journey. Through a collaborative effort with the design team from Japan, we wanted a space that would make people know they were home. And, so it follows, that the Kurasu Waterloo would become our new home.

As time went on, we grew together at Kurasu Waterloo. More family members, a bigger community, and a bigger reception of Japanese coffee culture. And, so too would our various events grow! Such as a our pop-up bakery event, and wild Jenga tournament, just to name a couple.

In late 2021, we had the idea of bringing Kurasu to the center of Singapore, the world-famous Orchard Street. It was challenging work behind the scenes, but on April 2023, we finally opened our second location, located on Orchard Street, a takeaway coffee stand to pay homage to Kurasu’s first coffee outlet, Kurasu Kyoto Stand. We called it “The Stand”.

The Stand

Although The Stand is limited in terms of space, it to became a gathering place for the community - a convenient place to refresh after shopping, do some people watching, or just enjoy the company of those around. If you live in Singapore, maybe you will remember some of the events we were able to host at The Stand! The Exotic Plant competition, or maybe the Jeans competition? (you read that right!) The Stand, even with its small square meterage, would still become a lively spot for Orchard Street.

And now we would like to share a little bit about Kurasu Singapore’s most recent event, a collaboration with the outdoor lifestyle brand CHUMS.

Kurasu The Stand x CHUMS

The CHUMS x Kurasu “The Stand” pop-up was a 3-month collaborative effort between two brands that believe in the importance of comfort, lifestyle, and a sense of adventure. CHUMS generously placed a series of camping chairs and tables outside “The Stand” so that Kurasu’s customers could have a different experience of drinking coffee. A brew-it-yourself station was also set up on the weekends to promote the love of brewing to beginners and experts alike. The pop-up was a resounding success!

Our customers —both new and old alike— were pleasantly surprised by the arrangements of camping tables and chairs in front of “The Stand.” We saw an increase in the number of people who stayed to hang out while having coffee or came because they knew they would have a place to sit and rest for a bit in the middle of their day in town.

Furthermore, there was a strong interest in the brewing station. We set up the brewing station on weekends with all the necessary basic equipment and recipes provided; it was easy for even complete beginners to try their hand at brewing their coffees!

It was nice to see a community growing while enjoying the collaborative effort to spruce up “The Stand.” It made us realize the importance of providing a comfortable environment for our customers to enjoy their beverages, and we’ll be looking to continue such efforts even though this collaboration has ended.