Picture drinking a fresh, creamy latte while wandering cobbled streets lined with wooden houses, temples and shrines. And no, not a Starbucks latte or a matcha latte from a convenience store but a quality fresh-roasted, single-origin coffee. In Kyoto, a new influx of coffee shops has made this a reality.
Though coffee culture has long been a part of Kyoto, and generations of Kyotoites have enjoyed fresh-roasted coffee at kissaten (old-style coffee shops) like Ogawa Coffee and Inoda Coffee, where the waiters dress in white shirts and bow ties, the third wave coffee boom has increased the number and variety of coffee shops in the city. These shops feature take-away cups, espresso and not a waiter in sight.
One such new-style coffee company is % Arabica, which has shops in Kyoto's Higashiyama and Arashiyama areas, as well as in the city's Fujii Daimaru Department Store. The company has 27 stores worldwide, but all its Japanese branches are located in Kyoto. Head barista Junichi Yamaguchi, a Kyoto native, says: "Because our company is Japanese but with a worldwide reach, we wanted to base ourselves in Kyoto, the most traditionally Japanese place, so that we could teach our customers worldwide about Japanese quality."