AOYAMA COFFEE ROASTER

AOYAMA COFFEE ROASTER is a coffee shop tucked away on a residential side street in between Ueno and Nippori, in an area known as Yanesen. Quite amazingly it has 4.9 stars on Google Maps as of me writing this, with over 300 reviews. I think this can be attributed to how charming and friendly the owner is - she runs this shop by herself and seems to have built a loyal fanbase of locals, plus is super welcoming to any new visitors that pop in. The store is also English-friendly, and they provide both Japanese and English menus. The first page of the menu details a 2500 yen cup of specialty coffee, so I was a bit surprised by the prices (and wondering if I came to the right place), but as you flip the pages their regular menu is much more reasonable at 600 yen for a cup. Each cup is hand-brewed, pour over style, on the spot, and they have a number of beans to choose from ranging from medium to dark roasts. The coffee is brewed using a Kono dripper, and there’s a colourful array of them…