Best Coffee Shops in Tokyo

Tokyo runs two coffee cultures side by side: the old kissaten, where a single master brews by hand, and a younger filter-bar scene that spread out from one 2016 flagship.

Kiyosumi-Shirakawa

Blue Bottle opened its Japanese flagship here in 2016, helping grow the area into a self-declared coffee town with over 30 shops.

Shimokitazawa

On the Way, Coffee and Cupcakes serves a seasonal blend mixing Mexican and Rwandan beans in this theatre district.

Sangenjaya

Obscura Coffee Roasters anchors this neighbourhood two metro stops from Shibuya.

Takadanobaba

The student quarter near Waseda University is home to the independent shop Stroll, north of the Kanda River.

Kissaten tradition (citywide)

Kissaten trace to Japan’s first café, opened by Tei Ei-kei in Nagasaki in 1888, and spread nationwide through the Showa era.