Kissaten

So you'll be pleased to know that it's not all just coffees from vending machines. There are a plethora of chains, both foreign and domestic all over the city (and further afield), however there was one Tokyo pleasure I was keen to seek out - the kissaten. I think the literal translation is tearoom, but I've read about them more in terms of coffees (although I guess that is my interest).

Then there is an even more select group where they really focus on the coffee and serve each cup in a unique (to my knowledge anyway) fashion, using felt and cotton hand-stitched drips. It is said to produce a very clean, smooth cup, with the attention paid to sourcing the best beans also helping. All in I was very happy with my mug of coffee, beautiful colour and very clean to taste - bags of flavour.

It was also nice to sit in this jazz cafe style basement with Theolonious Monk softly washing over the place while the torrential downpour continued outside. My kind of place.

Earlier, over tempura at lunch today, I received my third random comment from a stranger about my chopstick usage. They all (well those three anyway) seem to be pretty impressed with my handling of them, and are surprised that this is our first time in Japan. I haven't dared tell anyone that I hold my cutlery funny back home. Also, this comment may have had something to do with the two rather generous glasses of wine this old lady had consumed... At least she seemed amused, and was very nice to us.