Mermaid Coffee Roasters, Ikebukuro

Mermaid Coffee Roasters is cafe specialising in specialty pour over coffee, located in a tall and narrow 4-storey building (complete with a rooftop) near Ikebukuro station. They have three branches in total - I’m not sure if that quite makes it a chain yet - with one of its stores all the way up in Sapporo, of all places. I had the chance to visit that store in Hokkaido a couple of years ago while looking for an early-morning coffee and I quite enjoyed the experience, so I was quite keen to check out this branch as well. The vibe is like if you had a really eccentric grandma that liked to collect art. Their trademark is this super cozy yet eclectic interior, with plenty of comfy chairs and art on the walls. For their pour over, you can choose from a couple of varieties of light and dark roast beans (both single origin and blend). Very helpfully, they even have samples available of all the pour over beans, so you can take your time choosing if you are not sure. Of course, you can get a…