Why I Like Market Lane's Espresso.
I noticed him when I first wrote about Bench’s all-Japanese event last year. He wore a white chef jacket and seemed very Japanese and professional.
A few months later at the actual opening party of Bench, we were both outside and I noticed he had kids and they were also speaking Japanese to each other and we just started talking.
What do you do?
I’m a coffee roaster.
Oh, just like Ken then. How did you meet?
I’m the roaster at Market Lane.
Wait, what’s your name again?
Toshi.
Cool, where’s your favourite restaurant?
M Yong Tofu.
No way! That’s my favourite Malaysian restaurant.
I also like Jojo’s.
No way! That’s like Malaysian pan mee with anchovy broth and all that. Not many Japanese know about that place.
Yes, it’s delicious.
Wait, did you say your name’s Toshi?
Yes.
Like Toshi from Market Lane?
Motherfucker I just told you.
Ok, that last sentence I made up, but he definitely gave me the look.
For those who are under thirty, and not from Melbourne, the name Mark Dundon probably means nothing to you.
Pop quiz hot shot, can you tell me the founders of the following cafes:
1. St. Ali, South Melbourne
2. Seven Seeds, Carlton
3. Paramount Coffee Project, Surry Hills
You know I like trick questions, so the answers are Mark Dundon, Mark Dundon, Mark Dundon.
He was the godfather of Melbourne coffee, one of the firsts to roast beans and triggered third-wave coffee. He sold St. Ali in 2008, started Seven Seeds, then went to LA and back, started cafes in Sydney, and is now, I don’t know, rolling in gold leaves and gesha beans in a fancy house in Camberwell.
This short recap has a purpose, when he was in St Ali, a Japanese man was there, roasting and experimenting next to him. As St Ali changed hands, he left and started applying his knowledge to a new company, Melbourne Coffee Merchants which later also started Market Lane.
Whenever I’m buying coffee in Tokyo, Kobe, Fukuoka, whenever I say we’re from Melbourne, they will say ‘oh the holy land of coffee’, followed by ‘do you know Toshi-san’?
If you’re under thirty-five and not from Melbourne let me simplify it for you: Toshiyuki Ishiwata is the founding palette, the Alexander Hamilton, the Steve Wozniak of Melbourne coffee.
And I just found out he likes laksa and pan mee.
Most people, especially professionals, lead busy lives.
If you ever wonder how I get these people to talk to me remember these seven words:
What have you done for me lately?
For Victor, I gave him a portrait. For Dani, also photos and a nice chirashi. Jessica Jennifer I actually still don’t know, a real-life tour of Melbourne, maybe.
For Toshi, I offered to buy and bring him lunch from M Yong Tofu1. (Also, I took photos of his family at the opening.)
That’s how I ended up in the green room, the command center overlooking the giant robot operating Market Lane.
I have the story all panned out right, because he likes Malaysian food for its pungent, fermented punch, he roasts his bean that way. He understands belachan. That’s why I also like the coffee from Market Lane, hence the title of this post.
“Actually, I just do quality control. I oversee all the green beans from MCM and don’t interfere with their roasting. Nick is actually the head roaster for Market Lane now.”
No, don’t tell me that.
I also told him out of all the filter paper in Melbourne, only the one from Market Lane, the non-branded ones do not give out a strong paper taste.
“It’s just normal generic filter paper. They should all be the same.”
No, don’t give me that.
“So, when are we going to talk about coffee roasting?”
He’s really so professionally Japanese.
Since I also invited Ken, the head roaster from Bench, I said don’t worry, let’s just chat. The boring stuff I can just read from his book.
He let out a smile of relief, and we started to party.
Ken was actually the reason I fast-tracked this meeting because during bread delivery I shared some coffee processed with wine yeast and lychee and he gave me a spill on how there’s the old-fashioned way and the new fashion way of processing beans, splitting Melbourne’s roasters into old school and modern. It was a good discussion and we thought Toshi should be there.
Once again the agenda I had was evil coffee merchants trying to use anaerobic processes to overcharge us for cheap crappy beans.
“Well, if it can produce interesting results, that’s not a bad thing,” Toshi said.
COME ON! Don’t give me that. Give me some dirt.
*sigh* He is so Japanesely nice.
This was all my inner critic talking, in reality, we had fun.
Just some bros enjoying a hearty Malaysian lunch, in a control room on top a giant coffee factory. A regular Thursday.
Toshi shared which roasters he likes in Fukuoka (not telling you), and what beef to buy in Japan (definitely not telling you).
After lunch, he made coffee. *fangirl scream*
I don’t know, it’s like Kazuo Yamagishi came back from the dead and started making a bowl of Taishoken’s morisoba from the 80s.
Compared to other cafes that use golden filters and flow-rate indicating, sunlight-sensitive scales, temperature-controlled kettles and whatnot, his low-fi setup gave me so much glee.
A statement that if you get the fundamentals right, the rest is just fluff.
We asked what beans he was using, and he replied, ‘my own blend’.
Okay, either something super rare, or super expired.
Either way, I should be so lucky. Contextually it was probably the most exclusive 80cc worth of coffee in my life.
It’s got a heavy bass, I said. Not too floral, with a deep-tone finish2.
“You like umami profile,” Toshi said.
“Coffee has umami?” Ken asked.
“Yes, many roasters aim for ‘positive’ profiles like citrus, floral, fruity, sweetness and they always mark ‘savoury’ as a ‘negative’. But umami is still part of the flavour wheel, sometimes you get soy sauce, tomato, and beef from certain beans. Maybe that’s what Harvard likes.”
The clouds cleared. It explained my disdain for recent filter coffees, where everyone is just pushing for edgy, floral notes when all I want is just for coffee to taste like coffee.
This guy charges $500 for a roasting lesson, and he just read my palm like a coffee bean fortune teller.
“I’ve never thought of that, and will keep that in mind next time,” says Ken.
Even the head roaster of Bench coffee learned something.
I got what I came for. I can keep the title.
I like Market Lane’s espresso because of the sensibility of their head of quality control.
I requested a signed copy of his book, roughly translated to ‘a cup of coffee; a grain of bean. The full book is in Japanese, as of today, with the help of Google Lens, Bing and Chat GPT-4, I have translated the book to be coherent for my own education. With his approval, maybe I can redesign it into an English version. Maybe if you subscribe, I can send you a bootleg copy.
Here are a few of my favourite paragraphs.
Sure I’m fanboying, but Toshi is absolutely the silent titan who built Melbourne’s coffee scene. I always thought the mystery is part of the plan, but he just seems like a shy and reserved guy. He absolutely deserves some sort of Hall of Fame recognition.
He requested a portrait to use for his upcoming lesson, only to realise days later that he had the wrong apron on. (It should’ve been Market Lane’s, not CMC’s.)
Once again, so Japanese.
For me, apron is apron.
I said no no I didn’t bring my proper camera, only to yell out for one last shot as he sent us off because the ‘light’ was better.
Maybe for him, camera is camera.
Who should’ve sponsored this post. But seriously, go there, support them, and don’t tell your friends.
You can technically use this for wine tasting, chocolate tasting, whiskey tasting, a Van Gough art exhibition…