Patience, Poured
Tokyo has a vibrant specialty coffee scene where the Japanese art of precision is on full display. So, as someone whose ritual is four shots of espresso first thing in the morning, I was delighted to find some time to begin exploring a few of Tokyo’s coffee shops. What started as an idea to try two or three coffee shops first thing on a Sunday morning before proceeding to eat some breakfast quickly turned into a lesson in Tokyo line culture.
I started by walking to Glitch in Ginza — about a 30-minute stroll from my apartment. As I approached, I saw that the inside of the small shop was packed with people. I then noticed nearly 20 people queued neatly on the sidewalk in front of the shop. “How long can it take,” I asked myself, so I joined the queue and waited for about 10 minutes with no movement in the line. I asked the woman in front of me if she had been here before, and she told me she comes every Sunday morning and that I should expect to wait at least an hour in line before being served coffee. Little did I know that Glitch is considered one of the best coffee shops in Tokyo with single-origin beans and incredible pour overs. I made the mistake of not eating breakfast or having any coffee before leaving my apartment, so I did not have the desire to wait for that long for coffee before I found some breakfast.
So, off I went strolling through the streets of Ginza in search of another coffee shop. After walking about three blocks, I saw a clapboard sign on a street corner advertising Bongen Coffee. As I turned the corner, however, I spotted another queue in the distance. As I approached, I discovered that about 20 other people were in line for coffee at Bongen. Assuming the wait would be as long as at Glitch, I kept walking.
A block or two later, I came across Brewman—which, surprisingly, had no line. Good thing, because by this time I was hangry (not a good look on me) and was about to give up my coffee quest altogether and pivot to finding breakfast. The coffee master at Brewman recommended some new beans they started offering this week: Ecuador Finca Eliza Geisha Anaerobic. The aroma was quite floral and lovely—a light roast with nuanced flavor. I was fortunate to arrive before any line, because there was a line of people at Brewman by the time I finished enjoying my cup.
After I was able to satisfy my hunger, I enjoyed a couple more incredible coffee shops during my meandering through Tokyo. X Coffee in Ginza served a delicious pour over of Esmeralda PC Geisha beans from Panama (described notes of jasmine, honey, lemon, and orange blossom), and the citrus Basque cheesecake was light, not sweet, and just the right amount of citrus tang. Coffee County in the Shimokitazawa neighborhood was my favorite experience so far. The atmosphere is serene, vinyl was playing softly, and locals were chatting and relaxing. I had a pour over of Alejandro Variant Pacamara beans from El Salvador that was light, complex, and fruity. It paired perfectly with their scrumptious chocolate cardamom cookie (with a strong burst of cardamom like I prefer).
In the States, I typically started my day with a dark-roast espresso. Here, however, I’m learning that hand drip / pour over is more common and that most coffee shops focus on lighter-roast beans. The coffee master at Brewman explained to me that the light roasts allow many notes to come through in the aroma and taste—akin to the nose or the taste of a wine. Of the shops I visited, the staff took great pride in understanding my flavor preferences and describing their offerings with care to try to find a nice match for my palate. And, while I now know to plan ahead for lines, I also have learned that long queues in Japanese culture mean that the product or service is exceptional and “wait worthy.”
