In December 2020, we, students in the Business Department at Okayama Prefectural Washu Senior High School, developed a new collaborative product through the “Kojimatching Project.”
The collaboration brought together products from the following two businesses:
- Music and the finest coffee: “Meikyoku Kissa Toki no Kairo”
- A farm with ocean views: “Seaside Farm Nanba Farm”
The product is called “Brazilian Gelato.”
This article introduces “Brazilian Gelato,” the third installment of the Kojimatching Project.
This article was contributed by students in the Business Department at Okayama Prefectural Kurashiki Washu Senior High School. The editorial team at Haretoco General Incorporated Association edited and published it.
The information in this article was accurate when it was published in December 2020. Please note that it may differ from current information.
What is the “Kojimatching” Project?
The Business Department and Business Research Club at Okayama Prefectural Kurashiki Washu Senior High School are carrying out an initiative called the “Kojimatching” Project. It matches (combines) products already found in the Kojima area to create new value.
The first installment was “Fig Gelato,” a dessert made entirely in Kojima.
It was sold for a limited period of about one month starting in September 2020, and sales were strong.
The second installment, “Pretend? Strawberry Daifuku Gelato,” was created through a collaboration with Fuubido, a long-established Japanese and Western confectionery shop in Kojima.
As of December 2020, it is still on sale and proving very popular.
About the music and finest coffee at “Meikyoku Kissa Toki no Kairo”
The first of the businesses to collaborate on the third installment of the “Kojimatching Project” was “Meikyoku Kissa Toki no Kairo,” perched atop a small hill in Tanoura, Shimotsui, Kurashiki City.
It is a coffee shop that opened in 2015, run by its young master, Kenta Kuroshita.
Step inside, and you enter another world, as if you had traveled back in time.
Kuroshita samples coffees from around the world, then carefully roasts and serves coffee that pairs well with music.
The shop also offers takeout and mail-order sales, so you can enjoy fragrant coffee at home.
About the seaside farm ice cream shop, “Seaside Farm Nanba Farm Ice Cream Shop”
“Seaside Farm Nanba Farm Ice Cream Shop” makes ice cream using raw milk produced through farming practices that do not cause stress to the cows.
It opened on January 11, 2019.
The shop enjoys a superb location overlooking the Seto Inland Sea below.
We worked with third-generation owner Kodai Nanba to help develop a limited-time menu item.
Tasting and sampling coffee and coffee beans from Brazil and Ethiopia
For product development, we sampled two kinds of coffee, from Brazil and Ethiopia, available at Meikyoku Kissa Toki no Kairo.
We were also given the special opportunity to taste the coffee beans themselves.
The taste… was similar to soybeans.
They were easy to eat, like roasted beans eaten during Setsubun, and had a rich flavor!
The Ethiopian coffee beans were quite distinctive, with a fruity aroma.
The Brazilian coffee beans, on the other hand, had the familiar taste of the coffee we usually drink.
After tasting the two kinds of beans, I felt like a “high school girl who can tell the difference”! (laughs)
After that, we mixed the roasted coffee into Nanba Farm’s milk-flavored gelato.
Adding Brazilian coffee gave it the nostalgic taste of “coffee milk”!
That was the moment the “flavor” of the gelato for the third installment of the Kojimatching Project was born!
It’s called “Brazilian Gelato”
We considered several possible product names, including:
- Coffee milk
- Milk coffee
- Cafe latte
When people in Kojima hear “Brazil,” they think of Brazilian Park Washuzan Highland.
“We had to call it Brazilian!”
With that in mind, we decided to name the product “Brazilian Gelato.”
Then something unexpected happened.
In fact, shortly after “Brazilian Gelato” was completed, Washuzan Highland held a Free Admission Day on November 14, 2020.
And the new product was going to be sold at Washuzan Highland’s Free Admission Day!
Unveiling “Brazilian Gelato” on Washuzan Highland’s Free Admission Day
Washuzan Highland held its Free Admission Day on Saturday, November 14, 2020.
Under clear autumn skies, the temperature rose, making it the perfect setting for selling gelato.
Six members of the Business Research Club who had worked on developing the gelato sold it that day.
Of course, we high school students also made the labels to stick on the cups by hand.
We also made promotional signs and sold gelato to customers with smiles on our faces.
We sold more than 500 items that day, including other products, far exceeding our sales target.
From the Writer
The “Kojimatching” Project has now reached its third installment, and another new product, “Brazilian Gelato,” has been created.
But there are still many more ingredients and products in the Kojima area, so we hope to continue creating new matches.
As we were thinking this, a new “Kojimatching” collaboration was born at Washuzan Highland’s Free Admission Day.
There’s a clue somewhere in this article…!
Stay tuned for what comes next!
Recruiting participants for the “Kojimatching” Project
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it is difficult to attract tourists from far away.
So, with “micro-tourism” as our theme, we are considering ways to help local people discover what makes their own area special.
The Kojima area has a wide variety of specialty products. By matching them effectively, could we create new value?
We, the students in the Business Studies Department at Okayama Prefectural Kurashiki Washu Senior High School, want to act as the bridge between them and learn about real-world business.
If you’re interested, please get in touch with Washu High School.
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