The largest coffee trade show in Asia brewed a buzz in Tokyo, Japan, drawing more than 450 exhibitors and thousands of buyers eager to sip, sniff and test the newest gear across the bean-to-cup chain. This edition of the Specialty Coffee Association of Japan (SCAJ) Conference, lasting from Sept 24 to 27, showcased the entire coffee supply chain, from planting and roasting to consumption, and featured a variety of new equipment. Among these innovations, an AI-powered green coffee bean sorting machine attracted considerable attention from buyer. The machine can quickly identify and remove beans with dark, damaged, or insect-infested defects. Beans from China's Yunnan Province caught much attention at the exhibition. Roasters said the region's high-altitude lots deliver a sweeter, more floral profile than classic Latin-American or African lines, giving Japanese cafes a new origin story to market. However, the enthusiasm to coffee has been colliding with a bitter reality. Consumers feel the pinch everywhere -- from coffee shops to convenience-store counters, due to the rising prices of coffee beans. Some small coffee shop operators in Japan have purchased coffee-bean roasting machines to cut costs, and tried to improve extraction technology, hoping to retain customers with a better flavor experience. Shotlist: Tokyo, Japan - Sept 24-27, 2025: 1. Visitors at coffee exhibition; 2. Various of exhibitors; 3. Various of coffee beans; 4. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Michinori Abe (transliteration), Japanese coffee device developer: "This machine can sort five to six kilograms of green coffee beans in an hour. Sorting by eye, one by one, would take much longer than that."; 5. Various of visitors tasting coffee; 6. Bag of Yunnan coffee; 7. Coffee beans; 8. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Machi Kodama (transliteration), Japanese merchant of Chinese Yunnan coffee bean: "The first year we brought in Yunnan beans, many people came to buy them. Currently the orders become regular, rolling in season after season."; 9. Coffee exhibition; 10. Various of coffee beans; 11. Visitors at exhibition; Tokyo, Japan - Recent 12. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) resident (name not given) (partially overlaid with shot 13): "I've noticed a significant price increase at the coffee shop that I often go to, which is quite frustrating. Convenience store coffee prices have also gone up by about 30 yen (about 0.20 U.S. dollars). I feel a little bit sad when I spend more money on it." [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]; 13. Various of people at cafe [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]; 14. Various of coffee shop, pedestrians; 15. People at coffee shop; 16. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Naoya Nishiyama (transliteration), coffee shop owner (ending with shot 17): "We bumped the price of our coffee by 100 yen per cup, but paired it with better beans and a cleaner brew. We hope that a tastier cup of coffee earns that second order and keeps the consumers satisfied."; 17. Various of coffee being made. [Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]