Friday, March 29, 2002


recently i noted that cafe-ology was a hot japanese past-time. and what else is going on with tokyo's coffee scene?

james knows all. again, to borrow that fabulous feature of the old new yorker:

letter from a friend in tokyo

coffee is very popular in japan, but i'm no expert -- so this is just my hanging out in the city perspective.

japanese people like very dark coffee. drip is a popular method for brewing, and people who aren't too fussy or so rich just use a coffee filter holder on the cup and pour hot water slowly over the grounds. but japanese love whatever they think is best and coolest, so vaccum brewing is popular.

there are several coffee shop chains -- doutour is cheap and also serves sandwiches and things. it's a great place because in tokyo and other big cities there isn't any place to sit and rest and relax, unless you pay for a seat somewhere, and doutour is the cheapest coffee around. also mr. donuts has great donuts and american coffee, which is not so bad. it's like coffee in the midwest.

but popular now are american coffee cafes -- starbucks and stewart brothers (part of the seattle's best company). a year ago there were huge huge lines to get a latte at starbucks. its new and cool so that's what people want. it's always full and it's cheap.

the most interesting coffee has to be the canned stuff in the vending machines. there are a zillion brands. i even saw a new one the other day trying to seattle-fy and called something like ranier latte. these canned coffees are cold or hot. the hot is great, especially on cold days, as the cans come out hot, and you have to flip it back and forth between your hands to keep them from burning.

(a popular brand is coca-cola's georgia, first introduced in asia in the late 1980s. here too. see an ad for it [windows media player].)

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