Downtown Kissaten and Coffee

Salon de thé François is recognizable by the soft glow of its gaslamp-style sign and a French-inspired exterior that stands out along the Takase River. Established in nineteen thirty-four by the labor activist Shoichi Tatsuno, this café…

Soirée is a cafe defined by its pervasive, deep blue lighting that washes over the interior. Established in nineteen forty-eight near the Takase River, this long-standing coffee shop maintains an aesthetic that purposefully separates the…

The name Tsukiji in Kyoto’s Nakagyo ward points to a specialized history rather than the famous Tokyo fish market. In the Edo period, this area was known as a site of reclaimed land, or tsukiji, created by filling in parts of the Kamo…

Elephant Factory Coffee is identified by a small, black-on-white sign at the entrance of a narrow alleyway in the Nakagyo ward. Inside the alley, the shop occupies the second floor of an unassuming commercial building. A steep set of…

Rokuyosha sits along Kawaramachi-dori, marked by a brown, brick-style signboard that distinguishes it from the surrounding storefronts. Established in nineteen fifty, the cafe occupies two levels, with an original basement space and a…

Smart Coffee, tucked into the Teramachi shopping arcade, opened its doors in nineteen thirty-two. It began as a Western-style restaurant called Smart Lunch, earning its name to reflect the attentive service the staff provided to every…

Inoda Coffee’s main shop occupies a traditional wooden townhouse, or machiya, that blends into the surrounding streets. While the exterior remains anchored in the classic aesthetic of Kyoto, the interior transitions into a retro,…