Coffee in Koenji

I'm not the biggest coffee fan in the world, which is probably a good thing in Tokyo. From what I've seen in the few weeks I've been here, the coffee you normally get is super sweet, actually milk in disguise, Starbucks mud, or so weak it's almost transparent.

But in the weekend, I was gloriously proved wrong right on my doorstep when I met a friend at Coffee Amp in Koenji, just one tube station away. Now I think I AM a coffee fan.

Time Out took a picture of a cup of Coffee Amp's bog standard cup:

The surprising thing for me - in Japan, I really shouldn't be surprised about it any more, but I am - was that the coffee really does actually look this beautiful when it arrives at your table in real life. And Coffee Amp is one of the only places I've seen here where you can buy coffee beans by weight, too. Hurrah!

Just as I was leaving, the owners very apologetically handed out a beautifully designed note explaining why their prices had to go up by a few yen (coffee beans just got a lot more expensive). I don't think I'd bother if I owned a coffee shop this good. But perhaps that's one of the reasons why I DON'T own one...

Coffee Amp. Perhaps it's the place that will finally get me a new addiction to add to sugar, salt, cigarettes, books, wine, and collecting pictures of strange monuments. The more the merrier, perhaps!