Allpress Espresso's Tokyo Roastery offers coffee with a Cream Kiss

Sometimes you need to complement your morning perk-up with something sweet. Allpress Espresso’s Tokyo Roastery in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa has devised just such a pairing in time for the holidays. Until New Year’s Day, the store offers a special Christmas Blend flat white coffee paired with chocolate from Danish-born, Aoyama-based Summerbird Organic, for ¥750.

The coffee on its own is quite tasty. The blend — which you can also purchase to take home, 250 grams for ¥1,800 — features a subtle sweetness alongside accents of berries, making for a refreshing cup of coffee. It’s worth it on its own.

But it also works well — and warrants inclusion in this column — when paired with the special Summerbird Organic Cream Kiss pieces of chocolate available at the roastery. This one mixes chocolate with cream, the end result being an immediately sweet eating experience. On its own, it is a little overboard on the sugar, but a sip of coffee right after helps bring it down to something more manageable. It’s worth trying, though the coffee really wins the holidays.

LATEST FOOD & DRINK STORIES

Bringing out fish's natural flavor: One of chef Nakamura's delicate pieces of nigiri sushi.

Sushi M: Shaking up the world of sushi through sake pairings: Ever since he was a young chef in his early 20s, Michimasa Nakamura has wanted to shake things up in the world of sushi. Although he cherished its craftsmanship and traditions, he felt constrain...

Future proof?: The Japan branch of coffee chain Single O is experimenting with Starmaya, a new strain of coffee that is engineered to be more resilient to a changing climate.

Single O: Creating next-generation, climate-resilient coffees: It's every coffee lover's worst nightmare: A favorite local cafe closing down because there simply isn't enough coffee left to go around. Although it may sound like a hypothetical situation, throug...

New and improved: Chef Rachel Dow joins Tableaux's team in Tokyo.

Chef Rachel Dow's fresh take on 'new American' fare at Tableaux: Tableaux, a longtime presence in Daikanyama's restaurant scene, is revitalizing itself with American chef Rachel Dow at the helm, bringing a modern touch to the originally European-inspired restaur...