Collection · 24 palettes

Cafe Color Palettes

Roasted, steeped, and served — color combinations for coffee culture.

The best cafes have a visual warmth that makes you want to stay. It is not accidental. The palette of coffee culture runs from the deep brown of espresso to the ivory of steamed milk, from the terracotta of Japanese hand-thrown cups to the warm gold of afternoon light through a window. Wada's catalog captures all of this in combinations that predate the third-wave coffee aesthetic by decades. These palettes work for cafe branding, packaging for roasters and specialty food producers, restaurant interior concepts, and any project that should feel like a warm room on a cold morning.

Edo era

Persimmon & Burnt Brown— 柿と焦茶

Autumn persimmon against scorched cedar — harvest colors from the countryside.

Muromachi era

Scorched Brown & Unbleached— 焦茶と生成

The dark brown of scorched wood against unbleached hemp — quiet materials.

Edo era

Kerria Gold & Chestnut— 山吹と栗

The bright gold of the kerria flower against the warm brown of roasted chestnut.

Edo era

Kite Brown & Gold— 鳶と黄金

The warm brown of a kite's wing lit by afternoon gold.

Edo era

Light Pink & Tea— 薄紅と茶

A whisper of pink against tea brown — the tone of an Edo-period lacquer sweet box.

Edo era

Bitter Orange & Navy— 橙と紺

The sharp orange of the daidai citrus set off by deep indigo navy.

Edo era

Crimson Lake & Pine— 臙脂と松葉

The deep lake crimson of cochineal against pine needle green — winter evergreen.

Edo era

Turmeric & Indigo— 鬱金と藍

Warm turmeric yellow against true indigo — the everyday textile of Japanese farm life.

Showa era

English Red & Cerulian Blue

Plate 1 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — English Red, Cerulian Blue.

Showa era

Raw Sienna & Pale Lemon Yellow

Plate 3 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Raw Sienna, Pale Lemon Yellow.

Showa era

Grenadine Pink & Deep Indigo

Plate 6 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Grenadine Pink, Deep Indigo.

Showa era

Orange & Glaucous Green

Plate 7 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Orange, Glaucous Green.

Showa era

Cinnamon Rufous & Grayish Lavender - A

Plate 8 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Cinnamon Rufous, Grayish Lavender - A.

Showa era

Cinnamon Rufous & Dark Citrine

Plate 10 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Cinnamon Rufous, Dark Citrine.

Showa era

Raw Sienna & Veronia Purple

Plate 13 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Raw Sienna, Veronia Purple.

Showa era

Spinel Red & Naples Yellow

Plate 14 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Spinel Red, Naples Yellow.

Showa era

Vandyke Red & Pale King's Blue

Plate 16 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Vandyke Red, Pale King's Blue.

Showa era

Eugenia Red | B & Sea Green

Plate 17 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Eugenia Red | B, Sea Green.

Showa era

Fawn & Dusky Madder Violet

Plate 18 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Fawn, Dusky Madder Violet.

Showa era

Mars Brown Tobacco & Night Green

Plate 19 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Mars Brown Tobacco, Night Green.

Showa era

Grenadine Pink & Sea Green

Plate 21 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Grenadine Pink, Sea Green.

Showa era

Cinnamon Buff & Light Mauve

Plate 23 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Cinnamon Buff, Light Mauve.

Showa era

Sepia & Veronia Purple

Plate 24 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Sepia, Veronia Purple.

Showa era

Etruscan Red & Nile Blue

Plate 25 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Etruscan Red, Nile Blue.

From the archive

Support the archive The full catalog, on your disk, as a thank-you.

All 378 palettes (348 Wada + 30 editorial) in five formats
Figma design tokens (W3C-spec JSON, drag into any file)
Tailwind v4 + v3 configs — drop into any project
CSS custom properties — every plate, one stylesheet
378 museum SVG plates — print-ready at any size
Full JSON — colors, names, eras, moods, dominant hues

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