Just like the year before, spring 2026 had another long trip to Japan lined up for us. We spent the first few weeks road tripping through the (sub)tropical islands of Okinawa and Ishigaki, the latter of which sits just off Taiwan – and quite far away from Japan’s main island Honshū. This beautiful part of Japan really felt like an entirely different country. Next up was an extended stay in Tokyo once again. Our home this time around was in a cute, residential neighborhood around the Higashi-Matsubara station in the Setagaya ward, not too far from where we stayed the year before. This year again we were spoilt with cherry blossom in full bloom all over.

After our coffee trip in southern Ecuador and northern Peru, we were to explore a more touristy side of Peru for the following weeks: Lima, Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Arequipa. As we were working almost full-time throughout most of the trip, we traveled at a slow pace, spending a week or more in most of these places. Yet, we took lots of day trips and tried to see as much as possible.

Last fall, it was once again time for some coffee farm visits. Within just a couple of days, we visited farms in southern Ecuador and northern Peru – only a few hundred kilometers away from each other. We’ve been buying coffee from both farms for several years and now we had the chance to finally meet in person and visit the farms ourselves. Two very different farms, yet both produce high-quality coffee. This trip reminded us that there is no single right way to produce good coffee.