Nine Coffee Shops in Kyoto: Long-Standing Kissaten, Quiet Finds and % ARABICA

Kyoto has a long-standing kissaten culture, where people connected to the universities and the shops met over coffee.

The city now has more than 2,000 kissaten and cafes.

This article covers the coffee shops in Kyoto that everyone knows, along with places fewer people have found.

They range from machiya cafes that fit the old streets to shops with a Showa-era front.

Inoda Coffee: A Traditional Shop with the Air of a Fine Kissaten

Inoda Coffee is the long-standing name that cannot be left out.

Founded in 1947, it serves a generous breakfast in a retro Western-style room, along with coffee made by nel drip.

Arabia no Shinju, its own blend of beans from Colombia, Guatemala, Brazil and elsewhere, is served nowhere else.

Since it opened, coffee has come with milk and sugar as standard. Say so beforehand if you want it black.

The service is known to be good, and it reminds many people of what a fine kissaten used to feel like.

What is nel drip?

Coffee is dripped through a cloth filter made of nel, short for flannel, a soft woollen cloth.

The weave is coarser than paper, which brings out the body of the coffee for a rounder taste and a smoother feel.

Paper, by comparison, gives a clean finish. Nel takes more work than a disposable paper filter, and coffee drinkers rate it the best way to brew.

Ogawa Coffee: Ethical Coffee at the Sakaimachi Nishiki Shop

Ogawa Coffee Sakaimachi Nishiki is a few minutes on foot from the Inoda Coffee main shop.

Ogawa Coffee was founded in 1952 and opened the Sakaimachi Nishiki shop in 2022, under the idea of a shop that lasts another hundred years.

It serves ethical coffee, led by GRANCA, to protect both the environment the coffee depends on and the livelihoods behind the beans.

The result is strong and mild at once, in a way only the baristas here manage. The organic house blend, dark or medium, suits anyone who likes the deeper flavors of chocolate or wine.

What is ethical coffee?
Ethical means concerned with what is right. Coffee is largely grown in developing countries, often traded at unfairly low prices, and clearing land for farms has its own cost to the environment.

Coffee sourced through fair trade, which trades fairly and supports the growers, is called ethical coffee.
Look for the international fair trade mark, which also appears on drip coffee in the shops.

Smart Coffee: Loved in Kyoto for More Than Half a Century

Founded in 1932, Smart took its name from an aim to serve with a little wit.

The ground floor serves the cafe menu and the floor above the lunch menu.

Nothing has changed and nothing has been changed since it opened: the owner, with more than 20 years of roasting behind him, works from the technique handed down to him.

The original blend sets five beans so that each one shows, served by nel drip and adjusted so that it still tastes good as it cools.

The hotcakes, unchanged since the shop opened, are worth ordering with it.

From here on are the quieter coffee shops and kissaten of Kyoto.

cafe Hyodo: Deep Flavors to Match the Retro Furniture

A cafe that suits breakfast before a visit to Seimei Shrine.

Waiting while the coffee is made is part of it. The classical music that goes with the retro and antique furniture may be part of why it tastes good.

The sweets to order are the sweet potato cheesecake and the honey butter toast.

The warm interior and the easy manner of the owner make it hard to leave.

Kyoto Kodo: House-Roasted Specialty Coffee

Specialty coffee means coffee certified by the SCAJ as being of high quality.

It is managed from the farm to the cup and judged on flavor, acidity and sweetness.

The house-roasted coffee at Kyoto Kodo carries the sweetness and the body of the bean, with a long finish. It goes with the hot sandwiches and the chiffon cake.

Story coffee and espresso: Specialty Coffee Paired with Sweets

Another shop built on specialty coffee.

The coffee stand, with bare grey walls and a natural interior, serves specialty coffee from varieties around the world.

The scones go with the coffee, and the Basque cheesecake with a cafe latte.

The sweets change with the season, which is reason enough to come back.

Coffee Togenkyo: Siphon Coffee That Opens the Bean

A siphon coffee specialist run by an owner taken with the method.

Roasting and extraction decide how coffee tastes.

Roasting draws out what the green bean can be; extraction opens it.

The coffee the couple make can be drunk in the shop, and the beans are sold as well.

The owner renovated the old machiya himself. Smoking is allowed, and there are power outlets, which suits sitting with a thought for a while.

Other Coffee Brands That Started in Kyoto

Kyoto has other coffee shops with followings at home and abroad. Two in particular.

% ARABICA: Including % ARABICA Shokudo

A Kyoto coffee brand known by its % logo.

It has shops in Hong Kong, mainland China, the United States and Europe.

There are four in Kyoto.

% ARABICA Kyoto Higashiyama
% ARABICA Kyoto Arashiyama
% ARABICA Kyoto Fujii Daimaru
% ARABICA Shokudo

Each is sited with care, near a well-known sight, so you can take the coffee with you as you walk or shop.

As a Japanese brand that wants to carry the Japanese breakfast abroad, it also runs % ARABICA Shokudo, serving ichiju-sansai with Japanese tea and Arabica coffee afterwards.

WEEKENDERS COFFEE: Coffee Worth Slowing Down For

It opened one of the first cafes in Kansai built around espresso, then moved from a cafe with food and sweets to an espresso specialist, and later added drip coffee, narrowing the menu to coffee alone.

In a city that favors dark roasts, the owner has made the case for light roasts that show what the bean itself tastes like.

Besides the Tominokoji shop there is a roastery, for anyone who wants to buy beans. The Tominokoji shop has closed ahead of a move, so check the official site or Instagram for where it is now.

Summary

This article has covered coffee shops worth visiting in Kyoto.

The kissaten culture runs deep here.

The long-standing shops carry both the rooms and the coffee they have kept up. It is worth sitting with the thought of who drank the same thing here, and when.

The quieter shops carry what their owners care about.

We hope you find the coffee that suits you.

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