The commercial hub of Ginza may be the last place you’d expect to find a local and independent coffee roaster, but Toriba Coffee is just that. A gorgeous golden-hued space of high ceilings and shiny chrome fixtures, this boutique coffee specialist makes a wonderful pitstop for freshly roasted beans as well as a caffeine boost at the tasting bar.
The roasting process happens on the second floor – just ask the staff and they’ll take you upstairs for a look – and the beans then get transported down via a dumbwaiter. Toriba offers five signature blends using a variety of beans from across the coffee-producing world, plus one single-origin Kona coffee that’s harvested from its very own plantation in Hawaii. The roasts are just as varied, with options from light to medium, dark and even acidic, and there’s merchandise too, including coffee-flavoured awamori (Okinawan rice liquor).
At the ground-floor tasting bar, the daily coffee features two of the six house blends. Takeaway coffee starts at ¥300 and you can get your coffee made with alternative milk options such as oat milk. Psst… there’s another bar up on the fourth floor serving cocktails using Toriba’s coffee – you can also sit here between 2pm and 6pm on weekends and just enjoy the coffee from the tasting bar.