TOKYO, Japan – Japanese beverage maker Ajinomoto AGF Inc. will launch trial sales of coffee made from beans grown in Tokunoshima, an island in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima, in around 2022.
The Ajinomoto Co. subsidiary aims to release the product in a limited quantity in 2023, the company said Tuesday.
AGF plans to sell the product made from the fairly rare Japanese coffee beans as high-quality “specialty coffee.”
In June 2017, AGF kicked off a production support project jointly with major trading house Marubeni Corp., the town of Isen in the island and the coffee producers association of Tokunoshima.
The project encourages people to join the coffee-growing business and promotes the expansion of the growing area. It helps producers select coffee seedlings that suit the natural features of Tokunoshima and take measures to prevent damage from typhoons.
