Japan doesn’t actually have as many cafés as I expected.
There were many times when I walked for more than an hour thinking, “My legs hurt… I should rest at a café somewhere.”
In Korea, you just stop for a moment, look around,
and there are two or three cafés nearby.
So maybe Korea simply has a lot of cafés.
Anyway, when traveling in Japan, you often have to check the map beforehand if you want to go to a café.
And surprisingly, there aren’t many places that pull espresso.
Most cafés are hand-drip only.
So an iced americano is hard to find, and you’ll run into “iced coffee” much more often.
That actually works out well for me.
I’m not good with espresso, and I prefer hand-drip.
So when I drink coffee during my Japan trips, I often end up with something that fits my taste perfectly.
It was a rainy day.
I wandered around quiet alleys, and my legs started to hurt.
That moment when you think, “I need to sit somewhere and take a break.”
But I already know it’s too risky to just walk into whatever café appears.
So I opened Google Maps.
There were a few cafés scattered here and there.
I picked the closest one and walked to the location.
But… nothing.
No café in sight.
I checked the map again, walked around the block a few times, but the café just didn’t exist.
So I opened Google Maps again and searched for the next option.
There was one in the next alley.
I walked over — only to find that it was closed today.
Then I searched a third one.
That place was &COFFEE.
The menu had the bean names with their roast levels beside them.
I first tried to order the Ethiopia, but it was labeled as a dark roast.
So instead, I chose Honduras, which was marked as medium roast.
Maybe they roast high-acidity beans darker, and low-acidity beans lighter, to balance the flavor.
That was just my guess, as a total coffee amateur.
The master’s carefully brewed coffee tasted exactly like what I imagined, but even better.
It had that nutty, slightly salty character of South American beans, and because the roast was lighter, the acidity felt nicely balanced.
Very easy to drink.
It was simply good coffee.
While drinking it, I worked on the tasks I’d fallen behind on.
People who blog as hard as I do end up having things to work on even during a trip.
After finishing my work, I finally relaxed and looked around the shop.
It wasn’t big, but the quiet mood was wonderful.
Since it was deep inside a residential area, I wondered if customers even came here.
But while I was working, a few people came in — some buying beans, some drinking coffee.
The big speakers on the wall looked like a model you don’t casually see.
And they sounded great.
While focusing on my work, I didn’t notice the atmosphere around me.
Only afterward did I realize how calm this place felt.
My coffee was already cold, but a well-brewed cup still tastes good even when it cools.
Maybe because of the rain, even my mood felt quieter.
It might have been the most relaxed moment of this whole trip.
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