Coffee Counter Nishiya, Asakusa

On a recent weekend we found ourselves back in Kuramae to check out another of its many coffee stores - Coffee Counter Nishiya. This one came at the recommendation of a barista from another coffee store we had visited, so we were sure it wouldn’t disappoint (and it didn’t!) Coffee Counter Nishiya has a bit of a unique setup in that you take your order at one long and narrow counter. There are no seats, so this is probably not the place to linger for too long. The store is owned by Kyohei Nishitani, who was runner-up at the Japan Barista championship back in 2004. From our visit to Ignis Coffee, we heard that apparently barista championship judges when they come to Tokyo will specifically come here to drink coffee, so it must be good. You might think that because you are being served championship-level coffee that you should probably just stick to a basic latte so that you can enjoy the taste of the coffee properly. But interestingly he seems to like specialising in quite a lot of…