Shibuya and Harajuku can be quite a crowded placed to visit, and so I welcome any opportunity for a coffee in a more quiet place. Enter BAGGAGE COFFEE - a coffee store tucked away on a residential side street. It’s located halfway between Harajuku station on the JR line, and Omotesando station on one of the metro lines. If you are doing a walk between Shibuya and Harajuku, or checking out the shops along Omotesando or Cat Street, this can be a nice detour spot for a good cup of coffee.
I’m not 100% sure what the theme is here, but for the first thing that came to mind for me was the baggage claim section of the airport terminal. Along with tables and seating for coffee-drinkers, the cafe is half-taken up by a display of soccer merch and other clothing items that you can buy. So maybe it’s also about the “baggage” you accumulate when you end up buying a lot of stuff.
Unlike my usual focus on pour-over coffee, this cafe serves espressos and milk-based coffees for around 600 - 700 yen, and offer alternative milks (oat and soy) for a surcharge as well.
As a bit of a side story, when I first visited this place a couple of years ago with my husband he ordered a straight espresso shot thinking it was some variant of black coffee and did not have a good time (of course, it’s quite strong and bitter).
As it turns out, regular canned black coffee in Japan sometimes has an “espresso” label on it, which is what led to a bit of an unfortunate (but funny) misunderstanding. Growing up in coffee-loving Australia everyone knows what an espresso or a cappuccino or a flat white is, but it’s not such a given in Japan!
As well as a latte, I enjoyed a delicious cheese sandwich. If you’re looking for a more solid lunch, it looks like they sell curry as well.
I arrived right around lunchtime on a Friday, but this cafe was very quiet - so I guess it might be quite easy to get a spot on the weekend as well. (When living in Tokyo, doing the math on if or for how long you are going to need to line up to visit a cafe is very important!)
They even had WiFi if you wanted to pull out your laptop. I stopped by here right after lining up for 40 minutes at Koffee Mameya, so being able to relax here was a welcome reprieve in comparison.
Hi, I'm Emma!
I'm a long-time lover of coffee - back in Sydney my go-to drink was always a soy cappucino. After I moved to Tokyo 4 years ago, I discovered the wonders of pour-over coffee and now I'm always on the lookout for new coffee beans to try. So far I've checked out 20 coffee shops and roasters here in Japan.
If you found this post useful, you can also show your support by buying me a coffee ☕
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