Pumpkin spice season is upon us. We hate to be the ones to say it… but it’s hard to avoid at the moment!
Around the first week of September, a switch flips. Cinnamon-dusted lattes reappear in paper cups across the UK and the US, and autumn becomes less of a season and more of a flavour. (Whatever your feelings on it, we’re not here to judge. Much.)
But at Ueshima Coffee Company, we’re passionate about helping people discover exceptional coffee, crafted the Japanese way. We’ve been roasting since 1933, so we know that in Japan, autumn and coffee are just as closely linked. They just go about it very differently. So, if you’ve ever wondered what autumn coffee looks like beyond the syrup, here’s everything you need to know.
First Things First: Autumn Isn’t a Flavour in Japan
The Japanese character for autumn, 秋 (aki), is traditionally understood as a combination of two older characters: 禾, meaning grain, and 火, meaning fire. In other words, it’s a harvest word. Long before anyone put a season on a drinks menu, autumn was when the grain ripened and the fields turned the same red-gold as the maple leaves that followed.
That shapes what “autumn flavour” means. It’s not a seasonal note dreamed up in a marketing meeting. It’s the actual harvest: chestnuts, new-season sweet potato (satsumaimo), mikan citrus, sanma fish and the first rice of the year. Autumn is something Japan eats its way through, not something it flavours a drink to resemble.
Shokuyoku no Aki (Yes, It’s a Mouthful)
There’s a phrase for this that we’d love to see catch on in the UK: 食欲の秋 (shokuyoku no aki), or “autumn, the season of appetite.” You’ll spot it on menus and in food writing all through September and October, describing the very specific hunger that arrives with cooler air and shorter days.
Where UK and US coffee marketing tends to pick one flavour and put it in a cup, shokuyoku no aki treats the whole season as something to enjoy in lots of small, changing ways. The same coffee tastes different alongside a bowl of chestnut rice than it does on a July afternoon. The coffee hasn’t changed. Everything around it has.
Kissaten Coffee: Go Dark, Go Slow
Step into a Tokyo kissaten, one of the old-school, Shōwa-era coffee houses that have kept their own coffee culture alive since the mid-20th century, and you won’t find an autumn menu insert. What you will find is deeply roasted coffee, brewed slowly by hand, sometimes through a flannel cloth in the nel-drip method for a rounder, more mellow cup.
And it suits the season perfectly. A rich, weighty coffee simply makes more sense next to grilled sanma or roasted chestnuts than a lighter, brighter cup does. The coffee adjusts to the meal and the mood, rather than becoming the main event.
Even the convenience store coffee gets in on it. Japan takes canned and bottled coffee far more seriously than most, and autumn releases tend to borrow from the harvest, with flavours like roasted hōjicha, chestnut and sweet potato, rather than a spice blend that says “cosy” in general.
Coffee as a Pause, Not a Purchase
Autumn in Japan is also kōyō season, when leaves turn and people head out specifically to look at them. It’s treated with something of the same seriousness as cherry blossom viewing in spring. And just like hanami has its drinks and snacks, a kōyō walk goes hand in hand with a stop for a warm cup along the way.
This is perhaps the biggest difference. Here, the pumpkin spice latte is part of the spectacle: something to photograph, something that says autumn has “started”. In Japan, the coffee moment is closer to the opposite. A quiet, unhurried break, good company, and the leaves outside the window. The coffee isn’t the main event. It’s what makes the pause worth having.
For those at the back, or anyone who’s nodded off in a pumpkin patch…
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UK and US autumn coffee = a flavour, added to the cup
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Japanese autumn coffee = a mood, built around the cup
Not Sure Which Autumn Coffee to Choose?
Here’s our advice. And no, we’re not here to cancel the pumpkin spice latte. Neither is wrong, it simply depends on what you’re craving when the leaves start falling.
Go for the pumpkin spice latte if you enjoy:
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Sweet, spiced and cosy-in-a-cup
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A seasonal treat you can grab on the go
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Autumn as a flavour you can taste straight away
Go the Japanese way if you enjoy:
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A rich, mellow cup with no syrup required
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Slowing things down and making a little ritual of it
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Coffee that lets the beans do the talking
Slow Down. We’ve Got You.
When the evenings draw in, you just want things to be nice and easy, don’t you?
If you fancy trying the Japanese way at home, our Pour Over Coffee is a lovely way to slow things down without the faff. Brew it, pour it into your favourite mug, and take five minutes with the view (or the leaves, if you’re lucky).
Not sure where to start? Our Brew Guides walk you through it step by step, so all you have to do is enjoy it. After all, great coffee should be ready when you are.