What is
the Okinawa Coffee
Nature Tour?
The northern part of Okinawa's main island is called Yambaru. It is an area rich in nature with an abundance of subtropical evergreen trees. Visitors from mainland Japan are often amazed at the amount of greenery in the area especially during the winter season. Oriental Hotel Okinawa Resort & Spa is located at the entrance to Yambaru and offers guests a variety of experiences based on the concept of "Love Okinawa Discover Yambaru."
Yambaru offers experiences that are hard to find in other areas of Okinawa Prefecture. One of them is harvesting and roasting Okinawan coffee during the winter. For more than 100 years, coffee has been grown in Okinawa. However, this fact is not widely known because crops are small and are rarely shipped outside of the prefecture. From the end of November until April, coffee trees produce red berries called "coffee cherries." It is only during this season that visitors to the Nakayama Coffee Farm in Nago City can experience everything from harvesting to roasting coffee berries.
Another unique experience is hiking through the subtropical forest. When people think about Okinawa, they usually think about the beautiful ocean. However, in order to fully enjoy the charm of Yambaru, it is essential to get to know the forest. While you climb to the top of a mountain where a magnificent view of mountains surrounded by the stunning ocean awaits you, you have the opportunity to observe plants, birds, and animals endemic to Okinawa.
Oriental Hotel Okinawa Resort & Spa offers a half-day tour to enjoy both the coffee roasting and the hiking experiences together: "Learn, Roast, and Taste in the Nature of Yambaru! Okinawa Coffee Nature Tour." Participants will first visit the Nakayama Coffee Farm to learn about coffee grown in Okinawa and experience harvesting and roasting. Afterwards, an experienced guide will take them through the Yambaru forest to the top of a mountain where they will savor freshly roasted coffee while admiring the fantastic view. For guests from other countries, a translation device will be available to provide explanations and to facilitate communication.
A benefit of this hotel tour is an optional Spa experience at the end of the adventure to soothe tired bodies after a day of hiking. The richness of being out in nature and the high quality hotel hospitality allows guests to spend a day renewing minds and bodies.
Photo gallery
*Please note that harvesting may not be possible depending on the growing conditions and weather. In this case, you will be gifted with with items such as coffee beans.
Flow of the Tour
One of the attractions of Nago City where Oriental Hotel Okinawa Resort & Spa is located, is that it is not only next to the ocean, but a few minutes drive will give you the opportunity to enjoy the rich nature in nearby mountains. Until now, we have offered a harvesting and roasting experience at Nakayama Coffee Farm, but we wanted to make the experience of drinking special coffee even more appealing by adding a nature tour within the limited time frame. So we have introduced "Learn, Roast, and Taste in the Nature of Yambaru! Okinawa Coffee Nature Tour", giving our guests the chance to enjoy coffee and enjoy nature together in a limited amount of time. By including hiking as an option, we believe that our guests can enjoy active travel even in the winter when it is difficult to enjoy marine activities. We hope that you will experience "Love Okinawa Discover Yambaru" to the fullest under the guidance of those who know Nago inside out.
(Tsutomu Kinjo, Marketing Department,
Map
Participants’ Voices
The scenery is something I do not experience in my every day life and it was very refreshing and inspiring. Thanks to the guide's careful explanations, I learned about the ecology of Okinawa's creatures and experienced Okinawa's charm beyond the sea. I will never forget the taste of the coffee that I had at the top of the mountain. Combined with the accomplishment of harvesting and roasting the coffee myself, I was able to enjoy a truly delicious cup of coffee.
Participant A
I used to be more of a sea person, but this hike kept me excited the whole time and made me love the mountains of Okinawa as well. The view from the top of the mountain was amazing. I am glad that I know more about nature in Okinawa than I have ever known before. The coffee I made with my own hands was more delicious than any coffee I've had before.
Participant B
The tour starts at the Nakayama Coffee Farm in Nago City. With an land area of about 23,141㎡ and an annual coffee harvest of about 1.2 tons, the farm is one of the largest in the prefecture. Tatsumi Kishimoto started the coffee farm in 2013 with 300 seedlings. Currently around 2,000 coffee trees are being cultivated.
Mr. Kishimoto will guide guests through the farm. As they walk between coffee trees that spread out like terrraced fields, they will hear various stories about the ingenuity and hardships of cultivation and the characteristics of the different varieties.
"That sound is the Oshima cicada which lives in Yambaru." "This plant is called Dracaena and acts as a windbreak. Goats love to eat it." In addition to talking about coffee, the conversation is also about the creatures and the culture of Okinawa. Born and raised here, Kishimoto's love for Okinawa is evident.
The berries on the coffee trees begin to change color around the end of November. When the entire fruit, known as the coffee cherry, turns bright red, it means it is ready to be harvested. Each one is carefully handpicked. About one cup of berries will be enough to make you one cup of coffee.
Once harvesting is completed, the coffee needs to be prepared for roasting. First, the coffee beans are removed from the coffee cherry. Pressing the fruit with your fingers pushes the beans out from inside. These beans are wrapped in a thin skin which is removed by machine and dried with a hair dryer. You are left with what is called the raw bean.
Nakayama Coffee Farm staff are committed to sustainability and do not waste the skin or pulp after the coffee beans are extracted. The pulp is boiled to make a syrup, then mixed with soda water to make a refreshing drink. Guests can enjoy this drink while they are roasting the beans. Products utilizing the fruit are also developed and marketed, such as "cascara coffee" which is made with the dried skin and pulp.
Roasting is done with a hand roaster. Place the raw beans in the hand roaster and shake it side to side until the desired degree is reached. The fragrant aroma of the coffee increases as the roasting process continues. Even with the same coffee beans, the color and aroma of each finished product varies depending on the individual. This is truly your own unique coffee.
Nakayama Coffee Farm
https://nakayama-coffee.com/
We recommend Oriental Hotel Okinawa Resort & Spa's special breakfast boxes for lunch on your tour. An original menu designed by the hotel's chef is created to be enjoyed outdoors. (Breakfast boxes are optional.)
*You can change your breakfast plan to a breakfast box if you contact the hotel by 8:00 PM the day before.
Enjoy a special lunch menu at the top of the mountain or at some other spectacular viewpoint.
The Yambaru forest adventure begins after meeting up with Mr. Yamato Yoshida from Okinawa Sampo, a nature tour company. The location for this day is Mt. Nago which is located in the middle of Nago City. At 345 meters high, the mountain is easy to climb even for beginners and children and the trails are well maintained. Comfortable clothing and appropriate foot wear are recommended to make it easy for everyone to have a successful hiking experience.
"I climb various mountains in Nago City throughout the year," says Mr. Yoshida as he explains Okinawa's trees, plants, flowers, birds, and insects in an easy-to-understand manner. As soon as we entered the forest, we were met by a cute bird with an orange belly called a Varied Tit. In winter the cicadas are silent, so the sounds of birds singing and the wind rustling in the trees are pleasant to listen to. It was late November and the small yellow flowers of the leopard plant were beginning to bloom in the forest, a signal of winter beginning in Okinawa.
"This hole is a hiding place for a spider. It is called a Trapdoor Spider because it hides by making a door out of its web mixed with dirt."
"This is a kind of acorn tree called Itajii. These acorns are common in Okinawa. There are some traces of acorns eaten by wild boars."
By walking with a guide, visitors are able to learn about the interesting world of living creatures that they would not otherwise even be aware of.
About halfway up the mountain and 30 minutes into the hike is a place of worship that is important to local people. Coral and stones have been placed at this location which is said to be just above the sacred site at the foot of the mountain. This hike gives visitors a better understanding of the history and culture of Okinawa.
An hour of climbing slowly and enjoying nature brings you to the top of Mt. Nago. The mountains of Okinawa have few flat trails and many steep inclines. But the sense of accomplishment from climbing many stairs and the stunning 360-degree panoramic view will blow away any fatigue you may feel. Take a deep breath in the warm light of the Okinawa winter sun and the pleasant breeze at the top of the mountain.
After a short break, the preparation for brewing coffee begins. The delicious aroma of coffee wafts through the air as the grinding of freshly harvested and roasted coffee beans begins. The water used to brew the coffee is spring water collected from Mt. Haneji in Nago. Mr. Yoshida had prepared it in advance. Each drop is like a treasure carefully poured out.
Slowly sip your cup of coffee remembering harvesting the beans one-by-one and carefully roasting them producing that special flavor different from any other specialty coffee. And as you look down the mountain you have just come up step-by-step, perhaps your thoughts are about the moments that have brought you to this boundless view unfolding in front of you and to the bounty of the land of Okinawa.
When guiding people through nature in Okinawa, it is important to understand and engage with the seasons. I like to find the meaning of the details that can be observed - the flowers that only bloom at this time of year, the birds that can be seen, the sounds of insects that can be heard, and so on. Although it is difficult to feel the seasons in terms of temperature changes, there are many things we can learn from the flora and fauna in Okinawa. I want people to eperience things they can't look up in books or find on smartphone apps that will enrich their view of nature. I believe that this is our purpose in providing guided tours through nature.
(Mr. Yamato Yoshida, Okinawa Sampo)
Okinawa Sampo
https://www.okinawa-sanpo.com/
Enjoy the scenic views on the way down the mountain and say goodbye to your guide before turning off for the Oriental Hotel Okinawa Resort & Spa. It will take about 20 minutes to drive from Mt. Nago back to the hotel.
Optional Spa time at the hotel can be added to this tour. A relaxing soak in a jet bath or vibra bath soothes tired muscles refreshing your whole body with pleasant water pressure.