9 replies to this topic

[Orik]

Oliver Strand recently offered a good peek into the emerging coffee scene in Tokyo (which, curiously enough, did not elicit hundreds of responses from Japanese chauvinists like the one about espresso in Paris):

http://tmagazine.blo...o-tokyo-coffee/

A couple of the places he mentions are there because they're on all kinds of lists, for example Daibou is on every list but I never managed to get a good cup of coffee there, just burnt oil slicks. Maybe I should try again.

We tried Streamer on a previous visit, and again this week. The espresso is very much in the style of some Counter Culture blends, but the drinks are very milky (the latte feels like a gallon of milk, the cappuccino is a latte, even the macchiato is too much for me) and there's something very right wing about the aesthetics (camouflage donuts, Kyokujitsu-ki motif t-shirts). Very good but not really my thing.


Omotesando Koffee is amazing - the entire operation is one guy standing inside a cubic metal frame placed in an old Japanese house. He makes very good espresso drinks from Ogawa beans and a kind of cubic cannele and that's it. I believe he initially intended this to be a temporary location as the house was supposed to be torn down next month, but he just got another year or two on his lease.






Nozy Coffee, also very good - they roast their own beans and they offer a daily selection of single origin beans for espresso. Of the two we tried - one from Costa Rica and the other from somewhere I couldn't parse from the Japanese pronunciation, one was excellent, well rounded with slight hints of mocha, the other was too acidic and flat.


Madeleine - quirky even by Tokyo standards, an espresso bar operated from the back of a Citroen 2CV, where the owner crouches for 4 hours on most days and serves espresso from a manual machine. The weakest of the bunch but still fine.

[yvonne johnson]

It does look cool, if nothing else.

[prasantrin]

Have you been to Bear Pond? Wondering if it's worth making the trek out there.

[cstuart]

I enjoy the "espresso in x" threads. Thanks.

I think the car looks silly, but to each their own. Here's the version I visit (quite good) - http://reveillecoffee.com/HOME.html

[Orik]

Have you been to Bear Pond? Wondering if it's worth making the trek out there.

Went there last time. It's very good but almost too similar to what we get in nyc to be worth the trek. They have a second location in one format or another on the same street as Streamer in Shibuya.

http://r.tabelog.com...30301/13113702/

[Orik]

I think the car looks silly, but to each their own. Here's the version I visit (quite good) - http://reveillecoffee.com/HOME.html

Amazingly enough, he's been doing it since 2005.

http://madeleine2.exblog.jp/

[Anthony Bonner]

I'm guessing it was the costa rican at Nozy that you thought was acidic and flat. I had my first as espresso and thought it unpleasant. A too-milky-for-a-macchiato macchiato was quite good with it. With today being a quasi holiday that was the only beans they had on.

The bakery next-door Signifie-Significant is quite good. Picked up a great looking ficelle. Its tablogs second favorite bakery in Tokyo fwiw. Our apartment is two blocks away. I'm quite pleased by that.

[Orik]

Sarutahiko Coffee in Ebisu - a newish shop using Nozy beans (a blend, judging by the flavor, with a hint of that overly acidic bean but a more complex profile). The second best so far following Omotesando Koffee.

[Orik]

Sarutahiko still going strong, very impressive.

 

Fuglen, which doubles as a cocktail bar at night, also very good.

 

Omotesando Koffee a bit less impressive this time.

 

Paul Bassett @ the giant new mall by Shibuya makes terrific espresso but the atmosphere is poor.

 

February Cafe out in Taito - you need to get there, very convenient if you're in Asakusa and one of the more interesting blends I've had - manages to balance the currently fashionable fruity acidity with a hint of more traditional roasts.  

 

Downstairs Coffee at the Mercedes Benz showroom - variable but inoffensive coffee, good people watching.

[balex]

Streamer coffee in Harajuku -- tiny little alcove near Pure Blue Japan in case you are buying some jeans.

Very good macchiato.