Coffee Taiga

Coffee Taiga sits at the end of a lane of houses near Tsuruhashi Station, cater cornered to a karate studio, in an old corner building the owner has fitted out with a partial grey mortar facade and a steel bench stretching the width of the windows. Taiga san hand drips every cup and has stayed committed to dark roast in a city where fewer shops still bother with it, judging a coffee on its aroma, its aftertaste and how it holds up once it cools.

Ceramics from Murasawa Toen and food from Ohnishi Masafumi round out a short menu built around a single sugar doughnut, keeping the focus on the coffee itself rather than a long list of sides. The room opens early, from eight in the morning, catching a different crowd than the shops that do not get going until closer to noon.