Professional Registration
BORN IN JAPAN. SPECIALTY COFFEE ROASTERS
PANDA COFFEE: OUR STORY
The idea of Panda Coffee was born in 2014 on an early and particularly cold autumn morning in Kyoto. That morning, the founder of this adventure, Borja Gracia, decided to take a walk along the Philosopher's Path and visit Ginkakuji, also known as the Silver Pavilion. Borja, who longed for Japan after living and working there for a year, used all his free time to travel to this fascinating country 3-4 times a year. As often happens, it is the sum of many experiences that converge into wonderful ideas, and during this walk, many experiences and memories came together. A specialty coffee served at Sarutahiko in Tokyo days before by a splendid barista who knew how to listen to a customer and serve him the best coffee of his life at that moment; a memorable cup of matcha green tea served at Ippodo's main store in Kyoto by a kind lady; a delicious yuzu wagashi served at Rokkatei in Hokkaido, in the most beautiful pastry shop he had ever visited; a breakfast in the mountains of Karuizawa with a fluffy shokupan or Japanese milk bread with eggs and corn cream served at Sawamura; a dream-come-true pancake with the most addictive texture enjoyed at Bills, on a beach with views of Mount Fuji in Kamakura; and a delicious espresso extracted from a Brazilian catuaí, roasted and served masterfully at Fuglen in Tomigaya, a neighborhood in Tokyo that smells of coffee and freshly baked bread. Panda Coffee was born with the purpose of giving back everything learned in Japan and sharing with people from other countries the extraordinary experiences lived in Japan around specialty coffee, tea, and gastronomy. During that trip, in those days in Kyoto, the brand's foundations, the future menu, and even the logo were defined, an idea that, like so many others, was born on a paper napkin. From Japan came ways of understanding coffee roasting and extraction, technical and aesthetic pastry influences, many materials, ingredients, and even artisan tea farmers from whom we still import the tea we sell and serve in our stores today. For all these reasons, we can proudly say that Panda Coffee was born in Japan, and it was not until a year later, in 2015, that we opened our first location in Madrid. From there, we have continued learning and growing, especially as a team, adding to our adventure other lovers of coffee, tea, and quality gastronomy.
Below, you can discover the most important milestones of our journey to date:
PANDA opens in Madrid (Spain) in the spring of 2015, near Gran Vía, as the city's first Japanese pastry shop and café. From that moment on, it became possible in Madrid to enjoy an artisanal mochi or dorayaki, taste a Japanese cheesecake or a cake made with matcha, yuzu, or black sesame, and savor a matcha latte or a drink inspired by cherry blossoms. At that time, specialty coffee was not yet a widely discussed topic, but we laid the foundations by offering high-quality coffee, with a defined origin and a name and surname. The pastry shop and café were an unexpected success that overwhelmed us, featuring on television and national press, with long lines at the door. However, this was only the beginning of what was yet to come. Those were years of learning, refinement, and hard work. During those years, we developed some of the desserts that remain part of our identity today, such as the Cotton Cheesecake or Fluffy Pancakes—Japanese hits that we introduced to Spain for the first time—or even Kakigori, the Japanese shaved ice dessert that we helped popularize in Madrid.
After years of hard work and with a fully developed concept, PANDA took one of the most important steps in its history: investing in a central bakery in Madrid, opening a new specialty coffee shop in the Trafalgar neighborhood of Chamberí, and launching Europe's first online pastry shop: panda-patisserie.com. What we now summarize in just a few lines involved facing multiple challenges, entering industries we previously knew little about, and fighting hard to grow while preserving our founder’s vision. Due to the complexity of these projects and the highly demanding standard of attention to detail applied to every element, each project took years to develop. The result has been wonderful, as the opening of the new central bakery marked an extraordinary leap in professionalism and quality, becoming the heart from which products are created and, thanks to the new coffee shop and online store, have reached many more people both within and outside Spain. The new store, located at Viriato 31, was a love letter to coffee, offering brews made with V60, cold brew, or espresso extracted with the formidable Victoria Arduino machine we chose to be the centerpiece of the café.
The next and long-awaited step was to be able to roast and package our own coffee, a goal we achieved in 2023 after investing in talent, surrounding ourselves with great professionals, and conducting many, many tests.
In addition to our Tokyo Blend, we have been offering different unique single-origin coffees, carefully selected from many options by professionals certified as ‘Q Graders’.
Our adventure is about finding and offering extraordinary coffees and teas while also educating people about Japan and the influence it has had on the history of coffee. Very few customers come to us knowing that many popular brewing methods were invented in Japan, such as the V60, the Kalita, or the Kyoto-style iced cold brew. Even the siphon coffee maker, although originally invented in Europe, was perfected and popularized thanks to figures like Tadao Kato and Hiromu Shibata, the founder of Hario. Coffee has also been a part of Japanese history since the Meiji period in the 19th century, and during the 20th century, it became integral to the development of kissaten, traditional Japanese coffee houses, where for over 100 years, the focus has been on the coffee-drinking experience and precision in brewing. Undoubtedly, today, Japan is one of the countries, if not the leading one, with the most refined coffee culture and the highest investment in importing extraordinary coffees.
Pandacoffee.es launched in 2024 with the dream of bringing our coffee to all of Europe, but in a way that only we can: accompanied by the finest handcrafted Japanese pastries. Additionally, with Japan in our DNA, we wanted to offer a selection of tableware, utensils, and tools for brewing and enjoying coffee and tea from the most prestigious Japanese producers and artisans, honoring Japan’s crucial role in the history of coffee.
Pandacoffee.es is one of the few online stores where you can buy specialty coffee alongside pastries, chocolates, and other handcrafted sweets designed specifically to pair with coffee. We began 2024 with a reflection that became a project: specialty tea is possible (and necessary). Just like coffee, the quality and flavor of extraordinary teas depend on many factors (location, harvest, drying, roasting,...) and an unwavering commitment to the quality of the farmers. Due to the lack of high-quality teas, at Panda, we have spent many years visiting local farmers in Shizuoka and Uji, searching for the finest teas, importing them directly, and offering them in our stores. Since 2024, it has also been possible to enjoy our selection at home. The project, which we call Tea Adventure, brings consumers teas of such exceptional quality that they surprise just as much as the first specialty coffee one ever tries. With this, we are opening a new chapter, where not only the selection and tasting of tea take on special importance, but also the brewing methods, which allow us to experience different dimensions of the same tea—just like with coffee. There are still many pages of our story to be written, and we are delighted that you are part of it.
PANDA COFFEE® GUARANTEE
OUR COMMITMENT IN 5 KEY POINTS:
| 1 |
EXTRAORDINARY COFFEEEXTRAORDINARY COFFEE IS NOT A MATTER OF CHANCE. |
| 2 |
FRESH, LOCALLY ROASTED COFFEEOUR COFFEE IS ROASTED IN SPAIN BY EXPERTS |
| 3 |
QUALITY THAT EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONSWHEN YOU CHOOSE SPECIALTY COFFEE, |
| 4 |
SUSTAINABILITY AND SUPPORT FOR OUR FARMERSWE ENJOY GREAT COFFEES THANKS TO NATURE |
| 5 |
SUPPORT FOR CRAFTSMANSHIP, DESIGN, AND TALENTWE FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT EXTRAORDINARY COFFEE |
