close to exit 3 Roppongi Station, Roppongi Japan
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is James Clarke. I am the marketing and admin manager for MCR. I’m a young Y gen coffee fanatic, and have began reviewing to share my passion as many others do, who are involved in the company. Debut: Japan
As I arrived late last night into Tokyo Japan, After an unbelievable day of travel, the first thing my body was craving this morning was a satisfying pour of espresso to kick off my day. MY GOD was it hard to find. Apart from the hustle and bustle of navigating my way around one of the worlds largest cities, My efforts for a quality cup of coffee seems rather short chnged after I finally found a place. The culpret, Tully’s Coffee…
My experience was that of a Starbucks, or Gloria jeans franchise. A “cafe” with no real atmosphere, and coffee with no real complexity. The coffee was seved hot, which was a good start as this is a real pleaser for me, but lacked any depth or flavour. I looked around as people swarmed the venue ordering drink after drink, shortly realising the majority were iced coffee’s or dessert type beverages. Obviously painting a clear picture. This was by no means an espresso bar, likes the ones we are privillaged to have in the hidden lanes of Melbourne. never the less, i’m sure many coffee lovers have experienced this at one stage or another. The feeling has left me wanting more, and over the next 10 days of my trip I will cull my way through Japans cafe’s to find a means to an end, and the perfect devils cup..
No beans Mr Tully
Coffee: Tully’s ‘Espresso Roast’
Hi James, I was in Hong Kong recently and really had to work hard at seeking out some decent specialty cafes in a city dominated by Charbucks and Pacific coffee. It was also very expensive.
I know this place, I go there regularly when I am on extended business trips to Japan. Being a Melbourne coffee girl is hard, especially after spending weeks in Japan you start to think Tully’s coffee is actually OK, because everything else is worse. I look forward to hearing about your coffee experiences in Japan.
Welcome to my world
Hi James, I spent 3 years living in Japan with similar results. Couldn’t find a decent espresso anywhere. Though I’m sure it does exist in Japan as Japanese barista have figued quite highly in worl barista championships. I actually found it best to go into small coffee shops and see what was offer in those. My favourite was a small place with only 5 seats at a bar, where the owner was 70+ years old and made his coffee using a drip filter. Pouring hot water through a hand held filter. The coffee was excellent. He was also a very interesting character. He was in his past an accomplished Jazz musician, had some of his instruments in the tiny shop and he had spent time as a musician and bit part player on Akira Kurasaki films and had scrapbooks to prove it. So if your ever in Miyazaki (south east Kyushu) drop into ‘Girl Talk’. Though it sounds like you haven’t got time for this kind of search.
Well spoken, JamesB! Glad to see you setting jamesclarke straight. Have just spent 30 minutes solid on the net trying to get to the bottom of how coffee shops in Japan brew their coffee, but nobody seems to want to get specific. Is drip filter (or syphon) the standard there, I wonder. Have just travelled in Japan for 2 weeks without seeing or hearing a single espresso machine – but, jamesclarke, that does NOT mean I didn’t have any good coffee. Try to let go of your espresso machine fetish when in a country that doesn’t seem to need them. Now I’m back in Sydney, I’m very aware that the espresso coffee I drink is essentially a milk-based drink, and after Japan I’m feeling a bit over the milk. One thing I like about J kissaten coffee is that the acid component comes to the fore, something most espresso processes suppress, here in Australia at any rate. If I ever make it all the way down to Miyazaki, I’ll look in on danna-san at Girl Talk …
PS to jamesclarke – so where are the follow-up reports on J coffee that you promised?