Opened in December 2017, the 89th Coffee Station, on weekends, sells over 1,000 cups of specialty coffees per day
Located in one of the most coveted corners of Praça da Liberdade, in the district named after it, in São Paulo, the house is the fruit of the partnership between two traditional families in the region: the Japanese Maeda and the Taiwanese Guo.
Johnny Guo, 64, is Taiwanese by birth, married to a descendant of Japanese, residing in Brazil for 53 years now. He owns the Marukai markets, among other developments in the region, including the import of Japanese food and utensils.
Forced, by his business, to travel to Japan at least once a year, Johnny closely saw the special coffee business flourish in the land of the Rising Sun. “For 10 years, I’ve been thinking about opening a Japanese-style cafeteria, but I could not find the right spot. When new available properties emerged in that corner, thanks to the conclusion of a negotiation, I had no doubts: I called my friend Osvaldo Maeda and the 89th Coffee Station emerged,” he says. The name has to do with the ideal temperature for preparing the special coffees.
89o. Coffee Station
Five months of renovation have passed by, led by architect and engineer Marcelo Nagai, who has been specializing in the field. The new MCA – Museum of Contemporary Art – cafeteria, in the old building of Detran, also left from his drawing boards. The result is that 89th Coffee Station could be anywhere in the world, including Tokyo. But it’s right here, at Liberdade.
As both families understand business, but do not have much proximity to specialty coffees, they hired an area consultant, Marcio Shinagawa, to choose the coffees and train baristas.
They made an exclusive agreement with the Mitsuo Nakao brand, so far the only supplier of specialty coffees for the 89th. Coffee Station. “We chose a red bourbon with a differentiated roasting to serve our customers,” says Johnny. Besides espressos, coarse coffees on the Hario V60 are the most popular ones in the house.
Immediate success
The cafeteria is full time, offering, in addition to the specialty coffees, 50 items, all produced in the establishment’s kitchen. “There are 14 professionals in the kitchen alone, under the management of Felipe Tadao Arakaki, with a special emphasis for the karé cookie, made of meat, curry, potato and carrot, and the site must-see, the melon cake. Croissants are also mouthwatering. Not to mention the variety of Japanese sweets, refined by the patissierie’s French art. “Everything is produced right here, I do not outsource the production of any item sold in the house,” he proudly explains. In all, the cafeteria has 44 employees.
Professionals – 89o. Coffee Station
“The Liberdade neighborhood is visited by Brazilians from all over the country, and, of course, foreign tourists. With the boom in Japanese restaurants that have opened up across the country in recent years, many marketers have to come to the neighborhood often to buy crockery and food to format their establishments. Not to mention the weekend visitors who pack Liberdade,” says Johnny.
So much so that the 89th Coffee Station has sold about 7 kg of coffees per day. “At weekends, there are about 500 cups of special coffee, besides the other coffee-based drinks,” she confided.
89o. Coffee Station
At the height of last summer, during an extended holiday, the businessman says he sold 1100 cups of coffee a day. “Of course, we are already working on the second unit of the 89th Coffee Station and will be in the Paulista region. We are still looking for the spot that, in my opinion, is the Achilles heel of the business,” he explains. The plans are to open the new house by the end of the year.
As soon as they find the spot, they will move the kitchen that now produces all the house items, to another site, a more central one, so they can optimize supplies for the other addresses that will come soon.
89th Coffee Station – Praça da Liberdade, 169 – Liberdade, SP
Phone: +55 11 32031108
Open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Facebook: 89th Coffee Station
