Brewing Comfort: Komeda Coffee Offers Eco-Friendly Incense Sticks

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The Komeda Coffee Shop, a major chain of cafes, has released a new eco-friendly product. In collaboration with candlemaker Kameyama Co., Komeda developed coffee incense sticks made from recycled used coffee grounds. The new product has been a hit on social media, garnering over 2.8 million reactions. Coffee lovers have expressed joy at using the incense both at their Buddhist altars and as a room fragrance. We asked Komeda about the background of this new best-selling product in an interview.

Offering Coffee to the Deceased

A post on X (formerly Twitter) about using your coffee incense sticks when visiting the graves of coffee lovers received 2.8 million views and sparked discussions. How did this product come about?

At Komeda Coffee Shop, we believe in the value of coffee. This means not just brewing it, but also not wasting the coffee grounds afterwards. That's why we recycle 98% of the coffee grounds produced in the brewing process. They are reused as bedding material for cattle, and then again utilized as high-quality compost, ensuring no waste. We also use them as material and dyes in products sold in our online shop.

*Komeda Coffee Shop's coffee incense sticks. (provided)*

Many companies have sustainable practices related to coffee beans, but your product has gained special praise on social media. What is unique about your company's approach that has made this product so popular?

While working on initiatives to recycle our coffee grounds, we learned about a series of food-shaped candles made by Kameyama. These candles are designed as favorite food and drinks to be offered to the deceased. They comfort those in mourning. We began thinking about how Komeda could offer a similar kind of comfort. We ended up collaborating with Kameyama on product development.

Continue reading the full interview on Japan 2 Earth to read more about Komeda's popular coffee incense sticks.

And find more great articles on the environment and the challenges of achieving the SDGs on our affiliated website Japan 2 Earth (J2E), sparking a transition to a sustainable future.

(Read the article in Japanese.)

Author: The Sankei Shimbun