In search of a good cappuccino

I like coffee; in particular, cappuccinos. This is one area in which Japan does not really shine. In Australia, virtually every restaurant, cafe and fast food place now sells espresso coffee made from beans and with a coffee machine. In Japan, it's very common for even coffee shops not to have a coffee machine, but to only sell 'black coffee', 'coffee au lait', etc.

This post is totally subjective and many people may disagree, but for anyone with similar tastes, here are my recommendations and opinions regarding coffee in Japan. ^_^

Franchises

There are a bunch of chain cafes in Japan which sell average-priced cappuccinos. I would rank them in this order, from best to worst:

Good:

1) Starbucks
2) Excelsior
3) Tully's
4) Krispy Kreme

Of the above, Starbucks is the easiest to find, which is why I frequently seek out Starbucks everywhere I go. In Australia I was all 'no, I want to support local business', etc, but in Japan, there is no better alternative to Starbucks.
I would put 'Cafe Colorado' in the 'good' category too, but their coffee is much more expensive, so I didn't list it here at all.

Mediocre:

5) Cafe de crie
6) Beck's Coffee Shop
7) Doutor
8) Various bakeries and pastry shops like Choco-cro, drink bars like at Jonathan's or Gusto

What these ones have in common is that they are cheaper in price, not topped with chocolate (it's either cinnamon or nothing), the foam is less creamy/smooth and more foamy/bubbly, and the coffee either tastes like it's come from a vending machine (drink bars) or is very weak, like drinking warm milk (Doutour).

I have found one-off cafes with good, reasonably-priced coffee. Examples are 'Bubby's Pies' in Sakuragicho, Yokohama, and 'Cesari' in Osu Kannon, Nagoya. However, generally, if you don't go to a franchise, the coffee is either disgusting or expensive. Many non-franchise cafes and restaurants have cappuccinos for 500 yen or more. I've seen cappuccinos for 750 yen at some places. That's so much! And these are not necessarily amazing, exclusive cafes in ritzy locations; sometimes they're in some generic department store basement.

Other coffees


Moving away from cappuccinos, I have tried a variety of other coffees in Japan. In general, I have disliked all hot coffees I've ever had, period. They are strong and bitter and taste nasty. I really think Japanese tastes are very different from mine. I always think this when I go to Kaldi Coffee. This is a great specialty store which has lots of cool imported products (I go there for Tim Tams and curry pastes ^_^), also selling coffee. They're always giving out free samples of coffee, which are so mouth-puckeringly awful I can't keep the grimace off my face, yet there's always a line of people waiting for them.

Anyway, if it comes to hot coffee, I make mine at home with a plunger. I use cheap Maxim's ground coffee - only about 250 yen (AU $3) for a 200g bag, yet tastes just fine.

I like Japanese-style iced coffee, which is just black coffee in a glass with ice in it. To this you can add creamer and gum syrup (liquid sugar which is stronger and dissolves more easily). I find I can more easily get iced coffee to suit my taste regarding strength/sweetness, than I can with hot coffee.

Japanese-style iced coffee, with a 'cake set'. Yum! ^_^

If you order 'set meals' in Japan, you are frequently given a choice of drinks: hot or iced coffee, hot or iced (black) tea. Usually no choice of espresso drinks with milk.

Vending machines


I asked my co-workers if there was anywhere on the campus I could buy hot coffee (I wasn't expecting cappuccinos, but anything). They looked each other, unsure. "Well, it's early October," said one, "so the vending machines haven't stocked hot coffee yet..."

In Australia it would be absolutely unthinkable to have a university campus without hot, coffee-machine coffee. I'm sure mine had at least four places you could get cappuccinos and fresh-made espresso-style coffee. However, in Japan, many places don't have them.

In Japan, you can buy cans or bottles of hot *or* cold coffee from vending machines. Most vending machines only stock hot drinks in the colder months of the year. I can say that all hot and cold coffees I've had from vending machines have been disgusting; very sugary and tasting of chemicals.

One thing I have gotten into, though, are cold cafe lattes, found in convenience stores and so on. My favourite brand is 'Mt Rainier', especially the 'espresso' type (there's also 'non-sugar', 'no-fat' and 'normal' cafe latte flavours). They're sold in cups with straws, and the labels look like Starbucks labels (for a while I thought I was buying Starbucks drinks). They're much cheaper than buying espresso coffee from cafes - about 140 yen per cup - and I get one every day. *love* I wish I could get easy access to nice, hot coffee for the colder months, but I will continue to enjoy these drinks as long as I am here. ^_^

Caffeine


While on the subject of coffee, I'll also point out that decaf coffee is a rarity here. The only place I've seen it is at Starbucks, and you can't get decaf cappuccinos etc, only decaf blend coffee.

I don't know if this is true, but my personal theory is that Japanese people are less susceptible to caffeine. After all, Japanese people drink tea - lots of tea - from a young age. Cold, hot, green, black, oolong - even children drink tea quite a lot. I think cold tea is considerably more popular a beverage than soda. At Japanese restaurants, tea is often served with the meal rather than water. And I have never heard a Japanese person say 'oh, I won't have this tea because it's late and I won't sleep'.

Therefore, my theory is that after a lifetime of tea consumption, Japanese people are pretty resilient against the effects of caffeine, so they don't feel the need to seek out caffeine-free beverages.