With skyscrapers, Buddhist temples, scrumptious meals, Japanese whiskey, and scrumptious specialty espresso brewed on each nook, Tokyo has one thing for everybody to like.
BY TANYA NANETTI
SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT
Photographs by Tanya Nanetti
Each time I see Tokyo, I fall slightly extra in love.
On my first go to, I used to be gained over by town’s putting structure and panorama, with its stunning Buddhist temples flanking the skyscrapers, and cherry timber in full bloom combined with life-size replicas of Gojira (Godzilla) and Gundam. On my second go to, I indulged in Tokyo’s meals scene, among the many most various and scrumptious on the planet: tasty ramen and delicate gyoza, crispy tonkatsu and Japanese curry, home made mochi, cotton cheesecake and dorayaki. Most just lately, I skilled all of the unbelievable drinks: craft beer and soda; sake, soju and Japanese whiskey; inexperienced tea and matcha; and naturally, specialty espresso.
At this time we have a look at simply 4 of the numerous espresso retailers and roasters we visited within the metropolis, excellent to start out exploring Tokyo’s vibrant specialty-coffee scene.
Leaves Espresso Roasters
Our expectations for Leaves Espresso Roasters had been fairly excessive since we first found them at final 12 months’s World of Espresso in Greece. There, as we sipped certainly one of their scrumptious light-roast Colombian brews, we had the prospect to fulfill founder and roaster Yasuo and be taught extra about his distinctive story. A former boxing champion who retired on account of a severe harm, he shifted his energies to espresso roasting. In just some years, he turned one of many best-known and hottest espresso roasters in Japan, with the purpose of changing into world roasting champion inside a 12 months or two. Yasuo shares, “We’ve come this far with out even having a championship title as a result of I consider it’s the results of our pursuit of high quality. Subsequent, the long run awaits us in pursuing not simply high quality, but in addition a title. We wish one thing visually interesting and satisfying to the style buds.“
Throughout our keep within the metropolis we had the chance to go to the roastery (a fantastic industrial house simply outdoors Asakusa, certainly one of Tokyo’s oldest and most distinctive neighborhoods), and the close by Leaves Espresso House, a comfy nook retailer that sadly closed for good a number of days later.
Koffee Mameya
Together with Leaves, Koffee Mameya (which accurately interprets to “the bean home“) is constantly advisable by espresso lovers all around the world as one of many coolest cafés in Tokyo. So we couldn’t resist visiting each areas, one so completely different from the opposite.
The primary Mameya is simply across the nook from Omotesando (one of many metropolis’s principal purchasing streets, sometimes called the Japanese Champs-Élysées). This minimalist and tremendous modern hole-in-the-wall has a protracted line all day lengthy, serving—only for takeout or buy—a protracted listing of coffees from world wide, offered in a sublime periodic desk that lists the completely different beans following their roasting fashion.
The second location, Koffee Mameya Kakeru, opened in 2021 in East Tokyo with a very completely different idea. It’s housed in a former warehouse transformed into a fantastic espresso bar that includes a protracted U-shaped counter. Baristas behind the bar are wearing white jackets harking back to lab coats, working their magic as espresso scientists.
Accessible by reservation solely, Mameya Kakeru presents a number of Koffee Omakase choices (espresso experiences that embody pourovers, espresso cocktails and mocktails, milk brew, and so forth). It additionally presents the choice of selecting particular drinks from its lengthy listing of beans for a wonderfully tailor-made expertise.
Single O Japan
On the lookout for a brand new espresso to strive on a chilly Sunday morning, we found Single O Japan’s roastery, a fantastic industrial house open solely on weekends that—we realized over a scrumptious filter—was about to maneuver in a number of days.
Chatting extra over a second espresso, an ideal flat white, we acquired to grasp why this milky beverage was so scrumptious and why, in a manner, it resembled a traditional Australian “flattie“ a lot: Single O was born in Sydney greater than twenty years in the past and arrived in Tokyo years later, instantly making a espresso tradition that completely blends Australia and Japan.
Not having the prospect to go to the roastery’s new headquarters (although we will certainly be again to take action), we couldn’t keep away from a minimum of a fast espresso at Single O Hamacho: The primary flagship café to open in Tokyo, it options the unique self-service free-pour espresso batch faucets the place you may pour your self a pleasant cup of batch brew selecting from six completely different coffees every day. A very unique expertise.
Kielo Espresso
We then headed to Akihabara, certainly one of Tokyo’s nerdiest neighborhoods, identified the world over for its shops specializing in manga and anime, electronics, collectibles, and extra. Our plan was to not store, however to hunt out one of many metropolis’s greatest tonkatsu (pork cutlet). And after a protracted line and a scrumptious lunch, we looked for a freshly made pourover (a not-inconsiderable effort in a neighborhood that has lots of of maid cafés and solely a handful of specialty-coffee retailers). Fortunate for us, we stumbled into Kielo Espresso, a small roastery packed to the rafters with one other lengthy line out the door. We opted for a Colombian Sidra ready for takeout, and what a shock! Flippantly roasted and really tasty, it was simply what we wanted to proceed our afternoon exploring the neighborhood.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tanya Nanetti (she/her) is a specialty-coffee barista, a traveler, and a dreamer. When she’s not behind the espresso machine (or visiting some hidden nook of the world), she’s busy writing for Espresso Riot, an internet site about specialty espresso that she’s creating alongside together with her boyfriend.
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