The Story of AYANOMA

One Georgian. Three Japanese.
From that meeting, AYANOMA was born.

In 1990’s, as a boy, Gurami Kheoshvili lived in Japan alongside his father, a cellist. Long after returning to Georgia, he carried a quiet wish within him: To one day become a bridge between Japanese and Georgian culture.

Nearly a quarter century passed. In 2024, Tatsuya Sugimoto — a Japanese devoted to cultural research around the world — set foot in Georgia for the first time and met Gurami. Moved by the country’s deep traditions and the warmth of its people, Tatsuya took Gurami’s dream as his own and began to act.

In January 2025, to open the door to that dream, Tatsuya invited two coffee professionals to Georgia — two people in whom he saw the quiet potential to carry Japanese culture across borders, one cup at a time.

Akimasa Kawakubo and Sanpachiro Iwata. What they pour into every cup goes beyond flavor or craft. They are people who believe — and live by that belief — that a single cup of hand-dripping coffee can open a conversation of humanity, and that such conversations, multiplied, might one day reach world peace.

They held an event on Rustaveli Street and served their coffee to the people of Tbilisi. In each cup, Gurami recognized something unmistakable: the spirit of Japan. Akimasa and Sanpachiro, in turn, found their hearts drawn to Georgia.

So four visions became one, and the project began to move. 

In time, one more soul joined the story.

Yuta Niwa — a young Japanese coffee professional who had learned the art of roasting under Akimasa’s guidance.

With his arrival, the story found its momentum.

Japanese coffee, carrying Japanese culture and spirit, to Georgia. Georgian culture and human warmth, to the world with a cup of coffee.

Guided by this vision, AYANOMA opened its first doors on Rustaveli Street in April 2026.

The space holds two worlds within one building: a gallery-style cafe where you feel the cultures of Japan and Georgia while drinking coffee and wine, and a quieter Japanese-style “Kissa” café where a single cup is simply, purely, enough.

AYA (文) — the interweaving of culture and written word. NO (乃) — a gentle thread connecting one thing to another. MA (間) — the space between; the relationship that lives in the meeting of two.

When a cup is placed before you, we invite you to pause — just for a moment.

A conversation begins here.
Between people.
Between cultures.
Between nations.
Between you and yourself.

You, too, are part of this story now — welcomed by a cup of coffee, woven into a dialogue that bridges hearts and cultures.

May gentle connection spread from this place in Georgia, out into the world — carried by every soul who walks through our doors.

Today, as always, AYANOMA brews coffee  with all our heart for you.