Kaikado has been selling hand crafted chazutsu or Japanese tea caddies since 1875 . In plain English, a tea caddy is pretty much a can, but the craftmanship at Kaikado is pretty amazing and this is not your average tea or coffee can. Kaidado caddies are made in Kyoto.
Kaikado shop in Kyoto
I encountered my first Kaikado in the wild a while ago when I visited Cafe Bimi in Fukuoka where the owner kept all his coffee beans in these exquisite cans.
I have lusted for one of these for a while and on a recent visit to Kyoto, I preordered a 400g copper caddy by phone and picked it up at the store. If you intend to drop by, they will let you order and ship later on some of their product.
Their caddies are made out of tin, brass, copper and silver. Tin, brass and copper are all the same price and their product is somehow time sensitive. As soon as their product is finished, it is subject to oxidisation which will slowly change the color of the can.
One year color change
How often to you buy a pristine product which is predestined to age as soon as you unwrap it. The charm of the Kaikado cans is exactly this patina, the slow transformation.
While Kaikado offers a specific coffee can, I opted for the regular 400g can since I intend to store beans and not grounded coffee.
Coffee can
The shop is lovely.
The shop offered me a tea spoon which was engraved with my name.
It’s a really nice gift.
Yes, my name is Luc.
The shop wrapped my caddy since I told them I would put it inside my back pack. Nice paper.
Unboxing
Shiny and new
Simple and well made
The can should not be washed.
When you align the seams, the cap just slides down by itself.
The caddy next to my custom painted Kalita grinder.
The caddy is certainly not cheap, but it’s an object of beauty and daily usage.
The shop is a short walk from Kiyomizu-Gojo station.
Kaikado recently opened a coffee shop and I will try to visit it on my next visit to Kyoto.
Kaikado
84-1 Umeminatocho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto
http://www.kaikado.jp/english/
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