Coffee News.

Allpress will hold its 2026 V60 Championship Sydney heat at La Marzocco in Botany, Sydney on 24 September, with tickets released on 4 September. The elimination-style pour-over competition gives brewers nine minutes to prepare, grind, brew and serve, with the Sydney winner progressing to the ANZ final in Melbourne.

Why it matters: this is a genuinely useful date for Sydney’s filter-coffee crowd, not a routine cafe promotion. It also links local brewers to a wider programme spanning Australia, Singapore and London, with regional winners travelling to Tokyo for the World Coffee Championship experience.

Tokyo has opened pre-registration for SCAJ 2026, which runs at Tokyo Big Sight from 14 to 17 October with around 560 exhibitors, a 240-company Coffee Village and seven coffee competitions. The new registration announcement includes the Japan Barista Championship, which will select Japan representative for the 2027 World Barista Championship in Tokyo.

Why it matters: this is a material planning update for a major specialty-coffee date, not a recycled event listing. Coffee Village gives visitors a practical route to micro-roasters and cafes alongside the larger trade-show programme.

Tokyo Brew Lab has opened near Nicoll Highway in Singapore as a Japanese-style pour-over coffee bar by day and Hanoi Story Bar by night. The new venue at The Concourse pairs drip coffee with a vinyl-lined room and shifts into an Asian craft-beer bar after the coffee service ends.

Why it matters: Singapore has no shortage of polished cafés, but this is a more focused, coffee-first daytime proposition with a clear brewing identity and a distinctive day-to-night format. Its Nicoll Highway location also gives visitors a reason to look beyond the better-known central specialty clusters when planning a coffee stop around Kampong Glam or the Kallang side of town.

Sarutahiko Coffee has launched Coffee Spark in Tokyo, a new carbonated-coffee series led by Coffee Spark Cola and a seasonal watermelon Jellatte, available from 4 August through 14 September. The Ebisu-born specialty-coffee company says the drinks are built to explore coffee in a lighter, sparkling format while its regular coffee programme continues across participating shops.

Why it matters: This is a specific, time-bound menu change from one of Tokyo's established specialty-coffee names, not a routine café promotion. It offers a useful summer planning cue for readers interested in how serious roasters are translating coffee into seasonal, non-espresso formats.

Urban Coffee Roaster has opened its first overseas café in Tokyo, bringing the Hong Kong specialty-coffee brand to Gaienmae on 7 August. The 20-seat Aoyama space is led by co-founder Gary Au, a former Hong Kong Barista Champion, and introduces the roaster's coffee alongside a Specialty Yuen Yeung that reworks the Hong Kong coffee-and-tea drink through a specialty lens.

Why it matters: This is a concrete new international specialty-coffee arrival rather than a vague opening watch. Gaienmae sits within an already dense but design-conscious Tokyo coffee landscape, and the opening gives visitors a distinct Hong Kong-rooted programme to seek out while it is still new.

Tokyo’s 1st Crack Coffee Challenge will bring six young-roaster finalists to Tokyo Culture Culture in Shibuya on 28 August, with Rancilio Specialty supporting the final stage. The programme asks competitors to present coffee from roast to cup, with a judging panel selecting the 2026 winner and public tastings built into the evening.

Why it matters: this is a focused way to see emerging Japanese roasting talent in one room, rather than a broad trade-show programme. It is especially useful for readers planning a late-August Tokyo visit who want a specific specialty-coffee event with a clear date, venue and competition format.

Hankyu Coffee Fes 2026 is running at Hankyu Umeda Main Store in Osaka from 22–27 July, bringing together roasters from across Japan and beyond for tasting-ticket flights, equipment displays, workshops and talks. The first edition includes Single O Japan, Akha Ama Coffee, Belleville Brûlerie Tokyo and regional Japanese roasters on the ninth-floor event space.

Why it matters: This is a genuinely useful, time-sensitive stop for anyone in Osaka this weekend: the format makes it possible to compare multiple roasters in one place rather than crossing the city shop by shop. It also gives Filter Notes readers a current view of Japanese festival coffee beyond Tokyo, with enough named specialty operators to clear the editorial bar.

goodcoffee Aoyama has opened in Tokyo in July, creating a new third-place-style coffee room in Aoyama from the goodroom team. The launch frames the venue as a place to pause between work and daily errands rather than simply a takeaway counter, putting coffee at the centre of the space’s communal role.

Why it matters: Tokyo’s coffee map rewards places with a clear point of view as much as a strong cup. A newly opened Aoyama room is a useful signal for readers planning a stay in the west-central city, and it is a credible candidate for a closer Filter Notes look once its coffee programme has had time to settle.

Single O in Sydney has released its 2026 Firecracker blend, a Colombia Caturra coffee built around a 36-hour anaerobic fermentation, alongside a new Hanabi Foam drink. The release connects the Surry Hills roastery with Single O’s Tokyo operation; beans, drip bags and the seasonal drink are available now, with a 15cenchi cheesecake collaboration beginning on July 27.

Why it matters: this is a concrete, current menu change from one of Sydney’s most established specialty roasters. It gives visitors a time-specific reason to call in, while the Tokyo link makes the release useful for travellers moving between two Filter Notes coffee cities.