Uncle Masatoshi from Japan has started vending freshly roasted coffee beans, and it’s going well

A coffee shop in Fukushima (say that carefully) has started selling freshly roasted coffee beans from a vending machine after Covid-19 caused a drop in customers. Nice move, uncle.

Is this the first of its kind?

OK, coffee vending machines are nothing new. But is this the first vending machine to sell freshly roasted coffee beans?

After a dramatic drop in sales from the Covid-19 pandemic, 51-year-old Masatoshi Yamaguchi of the “Coffee-sha Miyabi” cafe converted a snack vending machine into a machine to vend freshly roasted coffee. And it’s going well.

He’s got the machine painted up in natty yellow colour, and he’s got a cartoon image of himself on the side. He also attaches a hand-written message card to each bag of beans.

Let’s face it, it’s nothing exactly ground-breaking or revolutionary, and it’s not going to break any records. It’s certainly not going to offer this brand any global competition.

But there’s something brilliant about a small business innovating and adapting to the challenges that have come in the last year.

Bravo, Uncle Masatoshi!