30 best coffee shops in Tokyo

Single O finally has its very own Tokyo flagship café separate from the brand’s roastery and tasting bar in Ryogoku. The open and airy space in Nihonbashi’s Hamacho district holds a handful of small tables and counter seats and boasts artwork on the ceiling and walls replicating the art found at Single O's now closed Sydney CBD location.

The focus here is on single-origin coffee, but with a fun new twist. The store has a unique self-serve coffee-on-tap bar where you can pour yourself a cup of joe for just ¥300. You can always expect six types of tap coffee including Single O's signature Reservoir blend along with five rotating single origins...

Beloved Shibuya mainstay Coffeehouse Nishiya has moved to its new home in Asakusa with an updated name, but still serves up the same menu of Italian-inspired café drinks. Unlike its previous sit down space, the shop operates more as a standing coffee bar where you can stop by for a quick pick-me-up or takeaway cup of joe. 

Behind the counter you'll find the jovial owner and barista Kyohei Nishitani, who has quite the coffee repertoire thanks to his experience at worldwide barista competitions. Ask him for a recommendation or go for one of the classic drinks like the cocoa dusted cappuccino, espresso con panna or espresso shakerato...

This Fukuoka-born coffee roastery has found a home in the old Coffeehouse Nishiya shop in Shibuya. Leaving most of Nishiya’s retro interior intact, the menu has also incorporated a few of the old café’s favourites including premium pudding. 

Rec Coffee initially started out as a small coffee truck and has expanded to ten shops including two in Tokyo and even a couple in Taiwan. Grab a seat inside or out on the terrace and enjoy an espresso or hand drip coffee made from Rec’s premium roasted beans. Have your pick from single-origin varieties and popular blends including the shop’s Hakata and Lucy blends...

While Kyoto’s Ogawa Coffee may be best known for its kissaten-style cafés, the chain’s latest outpost in Shimokitazawa is an entirely new concept. Ogawa Coffee Laboratory is not a café, and can best be described as a bean salon, offering coffee masterclasses where you can learn to do more with your beans. 

The sleek salon sells numerous types of coffee beans and staff will teach you how to brew the best cup of joe using a selection of 40 different coffee tools...

Koffee Mameya has finally given its fans the proper café space they’ve been craving with Koffee Mameya Kakeru, a stylish coffee haven nestled amongst the cool cafés in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, Tokyo’s self-proclaimed coffee town.

Koffee Mameya Kakeru isn’t your average coffee shop, though. While you can purchase beans and drinks for takeaway up front, the back of the store is reserved for serious coffee drinkers looking to explore and taste different roasts, coffee cocktails and even sweets...

Situated in Ryogoku, Leaves Coffee Roasters is a modern retreat in Tokyo's old school 'sumo town'. The shop happens to only be open three days a week (leaving the rest of the week for roasting, packing and delivery), but it's worth the trip for their smooth brews and cool atmosphere. Carefully curated beans are sourced from Ethiopia, Kenya and other South American countries while they are all roasted in-house through a German roasting machine...

Tucked into the ground floor of a small apartment block at a street corner, coffee shop WR has transformed the awkward space into an asset – something of a sleek, stylish bunker. The industrial-looking concrete walls and floor are combined with wooden tabletops and fresh seasonal flowers for a cool, welcoming vibe. Then there’s the coffee and craft beer, which are both excellent. 

The coffee menu covers the essentials, from crisp and complex cold brew and long black to milky latte and flat white. The coffee here is reminiscent of the styles you get in Australia, which is not surprising considering the managers of WR used to live and work there...

It might look small from the outside, but this speciality roastery has a lot to offer, with a dozen kinds of coffee beans imported from around the world and roasted on-site. Owner Kenji Okauchi opened this coffee shop in 2014 with the ambition of creating a cheerful neighbourhood haunt where locals could casually drop by to pick up freshly ground, single-origin beans or a drip coffee to go. 

The upstairs café overlooks the street with the window-side table perfect for people-watching as you sip your brew...

There’s a bright and sunny demeanour to Little Darling Coffee Roasters and it feels like you’ve been transported to California. This spacious café and roastery is part of the Share Green Minami Aoyama retail and event space, whose beautiful grounds feature repurposed warehouses and a manicured lawn. You can choose your preferred brewing method, be it American press or filter, and pair your coffee with snacks like Chinese-inspired bao sandwiches, coffee soft-serve and pastries...

Situated to the left of the entrance to the hip K5 building, Switch Coffee feels like you’ve stepped into a green nursery, complete with a handful of small tables, free wi-fi and excellent coffee. Choose from single-origin drip coffee, espresso, latte, cappuccino or an iced coffee with tonic water – an uncanny but surprisingly refreshing combination...

Located in a quiet corner of Shibuya, Heart’s Light Coffee found a home in a clean, modern space and suffused it with great music courtesy of an extensive vinyl collection. One of the two owners also handmade a spinning coffee dripper, making it that much easier for the baristas to make pour-overs that are of consistent quality. Try the house blend called 'Heart's Merge' or go for the banana latte – there's also an 'iced' latte that contains no ice. It's simply cold milk topped with a shot of espresso, creating a photogenic layer effect with the black coffee floating on top of the white milk...

Out of Coffee Wrights’ four Tokyo locations – including Sangenjaya, Omotesando and Shibaura – the main roastery and café at Kuramae is the most unassuming of the lot. Look past its factory-like setting on the ground floor and head up to the café space on the second floor, where the minimalist cool vibe is made for lingering over coffee, pastries and free wi-fi. Have your pick from an ever-changing selection of six single-origin roasts and a Brazilian decaf, which carries toasty, caramelly notes reminiscent of almonds and dark chocolate. Both drip coffee and espresso-based drinks are available...

Sarutahiko is reinvented by the Suppose Design Office with a spacious café tucked on the second floor of the new Harajuku Station building, which opened in 2020. There’s no shortage of seating inside this roomy café which looks over one of Tokyo’s busiest neighbourhoods and is fitted with cosy couches, communal tables and counter seating.

Although a predominately modern space, there are traditional Japanese touches too, from the wooden shoji panels dividing seating areas to the bonsai tree near the entrance...

Hidden down the backstreets of Ebisu, this charming space is everything you hope for from a quaint little neighbourhood coffee shop. It’s reassuringly homely, set in a remodelled house whose entrance is almost entirely covered up by lush leafy plants. It’s the perfect place to stay idle over coffee and cake (the gorgonzola cheesecake is a winner), but make sure to check out the second-floor gallery. Drip Bar focuses on single-origin varieties, and each cup of coffee is hand-dripped to order, using exclusive drippers made to fit just 15g of ground coffee at a time...

Occupying a renovated, traditional-style home right by Nakameguro Station, the most interesting café in town run by Jiyugaoka-based roasters and bean importers Onibus is equipped with a shiny espresso machine and newly acquired roaster. Just don’t expect to linger – this is a very functional spot with minimal frills...

When you come to this small shop tucked in the side streets near Ikejiri-Ohashi Station, there are a few things you should expect: a warm welcome from barista Tomoshi Okamoto, friendly conversation, and delicious coffee that bridges a variety of genres. Good People & Good Coffee is small and intimate, and Okamoto uses the space and his coffee...

Importing beans from Portland’s famed Stumptown Coffee Roasters every week, Daisuke Matsushima’s Paddlers have been caffeinating shoppers at the Nishihara arcade since 2015. All beans are served fresh in french press or espresso form for the perfect flavour. Beans are also available by the bag, with their most popular roast being the Nano Challa from Ethiopia...

A favourite of international style bible Monocle, the original Fuglen shop in Oslo, Norway is a blend of café, cocktail bar and vintage design boutique, where even the furniture is up for sale. Its Tokyo shop transplants the concept to a backstreet corner not far from Yoyogi Park. Fuglen Tokyo opens at 8am on weekdays, selling some remarkably good coffee during the daytime...

At Glitch you get more than a mere cup of coffee with your order: you get to participate in a coffee vision steeped in history. Kiyokazu Suzuki’s shop is located in fashionably vintage Jinbocho, nestled amongst dozens of secondhand bookstores and just a stone’s throw from Yasukuni Shrine. The shop’s unassuming exterior belies the seriousness with which Suzuki, who spent a decade as chief barista...

Collaboratively run by the folks behind Nozy Coffee and restaurant impresarios Tysons (TY Harbor, Cicada, Ivy Place etc), this uber-hip roastery and café on Harajuku's Cat Street is one of the city's flashiest specialist coffee haunts. Every day, you'll get to choose from two kinds of single-origin beans...

'Coffee Only' reads the sign outside Café de l'Ambre, which has been keeping the Ginza hordes well caffeinated since 1948. The kissaten was founded by the late Ichiro Sekiguchi, and the staff on-hand continue to run the shop under his legacy. Though they treat their coffee with the utmost seriousness, this isn't one of those fussy, killjoy coffee temples where conversation has to be conducted in furtive whispers and customers need a secret handshake to get through the door (we exaggerate, but only slightly)...

Who knew Iriya had a place like this? Daisuke Matsushita's Davide is a very decent take on an Italian streetside café, sidestepping drip coffee entirely (simply because it takes too long to brew) and offering excellent espressos and lattes instead. Down yours at the counter or just get one to go – the man in charge of the machine doesn't care either way...

Stepping through the low, marble-tiled entrance, the first thing you’ll notice is the gorgeous tableware displayed behind a long hardwood counter. That’s not to say that the surroundings here outshine the coffee – on the contrary, Satei Hato’s hand-drip offerings maintain the absolutely highest quality. Choose from up to eight varieties of charcoal-roasted beans and watch as the formally dressed staff prepare your treat with almost religious dedication...

Tucked down a cosy shopping street in Koenji, Amp is run by a husband-wife duo who have been turning out carefully roasted beans and quality cups of coffee since 2010. The roaster is the first thing you'll notice on entering – space is at a premium in this narrow shop, with weathered floorboards and seats for just over a dozen people, none of them especially comfortable...

Located in coffee central, aka Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, Arise is the kind of place where you feel like you’re having a good ol’ cup of coffee at your friend’s house. The walls are covered with the owner’s skateboard decks which he’s collected over the years, and there’s a handful of trinkets from his travels to Thailand littered around the in-house roaster. As for the coffee, there are about ten single-origin varieties to choose from...

Located on the ground floor of an apartment building close to Musashi-Koyama Station, certified cupping judge Toshiaki Ishii’s stylish neighbourhood shop merits a trip off the beaten track all by itself. We love the place’s impeccably friendly service, the languid atmosphere enjoyed by everyone from local hipsters to senior citizens and the fact that Amameria upholds a strict non-smoking policy...

The chalkboard in front of Turret Coffee says ‘Welcome to the best outrageous coffee shop in Japan’. Named for the ‘turret’ mini-trucks that used to zip around nearby Tsukiji fish market, Turret Coffee and its owner Kiyoshi Kawasaki both pull and pour quality espresso, all in a funky, intimate space. Relax on one of the few ‘real’ seats or sit on the back of an actual turret as you chat with friends, or with Kawasaki himself...

The perfect place for a coffee break in busy Shinjuku, 4/4 Seasons serves up a well-curated selection of single-origin beans roasted in house daily. Up at the front of the café you’ll be greeted by the roaster alongside tubs of beans – if you’re lucky enough, you can catch the staff in action, meticulously measuring and carefully roasting their beans all while keeping track of the process...

Serving terrific coffee in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa since 2014 – long before the arrival of Blue Bottle made the neighbourhood one of Tokyo's third-wave hipster havens – New Zealanders Allpress also have outlets in cities like London, Sydney and Singapore. Housed in a former warehouse that's been beautifully renovated to match the brand's sleek but down-to-earth image, their Tokyo outpost is where to head for mild but refined brews...

Imagine a stereotypical neighborhood Italian bar transposed to the suburbs of Tokyo, and you might get something like Lo Spazio. It's one of those rare places where you can prop up the counter while sipping your espresso after work (or grappa, if it's got to that point in the evening), and even the slightly shabby décor is of a piece with the kind of places you might expect to find in a small town...