From Page to Cup

Some books remain on the page.

Others quietly find their way into the world.

　

Over the years, we received a similar message more than once:

I'd love to taste coffee prepared in the way Mr. Daibo describes.

 

For many readers, A Daibo Coffee Manual became more than a book about coffee.

It offered a glimpse into a way of paying attention — a way of moving more slowly, noticing more carefully, and finding depth in seemingly ordinary moments.

　

On 1 October 2025, International Coffee Day, that curiosity took physical form.

　

Presented by Stout Books in San Francisco, A Daibo Coffee Manual Experience with Nahoko Press brought readers together across three sessions for nel-drip coffee, quiet reflection, and shared attention.

 

 

The room filled and emptied in waves.

Some came to taste.

Others came to experience nel-drip coffee for themselves.

Still others simply wished to spend time with people who had found something meaningful in the same book.

Some had discovered the book only recently.

Others had been carrying it with them for years.

For the first time, many met not only the coffee, but one another.

What surprised me most was how familiar some faces already felt.

There were readers I had known only through emails and messages exchanged across time zones and continents.

After the quiet of the sessions, conversations that had begun years earlier through correspondence suddenly continued across a table.

As each gathering drew to a close, I shared a passage from A Daibo Coffee Manual:

The good thing about coffee is, that if there are a hundred people, there are a hundred varieties of coffee, and if there are a hundred people, there are a hundred ways to drink it.

— Katsuji Daibo, A Daibo Coffee Manual

 

The words felt particularly fitting in that room.

 

Each person had arrived with their own passions, concerns, memories, and reasons for being there.

Yet for a brief moment, everyone shared the same space, the same coffee, and the same stillness.

 

A few days later, one of the attendees shared a series of photographs and three small drawings created in response to the experience.

She was, in fact, an artist.

 

 

That felt especially moving.

 

The drawings were simple and observant, capturing what a room can hold when people are willing to slow down:

the same view from the window,

the same cup of coffee,

the same shared attentiveness.

 

 

Photographs and drawings by Kelli McGrath

 

 

One by one, familiar things seemed to change their shape.

A gathering became a lingering light.

And that light became part of the story.

Perhaps this is how certain things continue to travel.

A book becomes a cup of coffee.

A cup of coffee becomes stillness.

A stillness becomes creation.

And somewhere along the way, what began on a printed page quietly finds new life in the hands of others.

Long after the final cup has been emptied.

Explore A Daibo Coffee Manual →