Blue Bottle Coffee: Shinjuku, Tokyo

Coffee is getting lost in the crowd.

Every time we visit Tokyo, we are drawn to the Shinjuku neighbourhood. Millions of people moving around, on the streets, in buildings and, of course, in the non-stop network of rail and subway. Little wonder that the Shinjuku station is the busiest train station in the world (used by an average of 3.64 million people per day, the station has 36 platforms and over 200 exits).

It’s not hard to find coffee here; there are coffee shops and cafes around every corner. But how about good coffee? Or even great coffee?

Head over to the station’s southside, in the ground floor of the NeWoMan mall, and you will find the latest outpost of Blue Bottle Coffee, that stalwart of the American third wave coffee invasion. Lighter in ambience than its sibling outlets — some would argue almost sparse — the Shinjuku cafe offers the same high quality of espresso and filter coffees.

Not a bad stopover for a caffeine fix when you’re journeying from one part of Tokyo to the next. You might well find yourself lingering longer than you planned…

每次到訪東京，我們都愛去新宿走走。
有時去逛街買東西，有時去探訪美食，有時就只到新宿御苑賞賞花。
作為世界最繁忙的火車站之一，
新宿站的人潮永遠都那麼多，也永遠不乏新餐館、新建築。
在車站南邊出口處，記得去年秋天經過時這還是一片建築工地，
上個月初再度到訪時，這裡已經變成了一棟新商場NeWoMan。
抱著貪新鮮的目的到裡頭逛了一圈，底層入口處有著法國大廚Joel Robuchon的烘焙店，
再走進裡頭看看，竟然發現了Blue Bottle的最新分店，
吃飽肚子兼逛得累了的我們正想找地方喝咖啡呢，
看到這就像個瞌睡時有人送枕頭一樣美好啊。

木製家具和長吧檯，搭配以白色為基調的墻壁和飽滿的自然光，
這裡和總店以及青山分店給人的感覺不同，
不過那到訪的人還是很多就是了。
我們點了一杯手沖薩爾瓦多El Salvador 和奶咖啡，
奶咖啡順滑可口，溫度也剛好，不過最讓我驚訝的是那杯薩爾瓦多，
乍喝之下，我還以為是衣索比亞的豆子，心想該不會弄錯了吧。
第二天再去喝了一杯，味道和口感依然如是，
於是便買了兩包豆子回來，一包送人一包自用。
友人試了豆子后也覺得好有趣，就像衣索比亞早期的豆子一樣。
這是這一趟旅途中一份意外收穫，一份驚喜。