Sarutahiko Coffee Ebisu Honten — Restaurant in Tokyo

Delicious, friendly, great selection and open late!

There are lot's of great cafes to choose from in Tokyo over the last few years and Sarutahiko remains one of my favorites.

The place is very small and very busy; you can probably find it by looking for the staff standing outside handing out free samples. In addition to their drips of the day, they have a good selection of seasonal specials of 'fun' coffee like gingerbread lattes, etc. In light of places like Starbucks, prices, while not cheap, are reasonable IMO.

My favorite part of this place is their excellent staff. I'm by no means a coffee snob but I usually have a rough idea of what I'm craving. While some places tend to be a bit pretentious and intimidating, staff here are always happy to help steer you towards what you want in terms of choosing YOUR coffee rather than THEIR coffee.

BTW, their honey latte is highly...

One thing Tokyo has a lot of is great places to get a cup of coffee, but the place where nearly all of them go wrong is their hours of operation. A coffee shop is suppose to open early and close late, but Tokyo coffee shops seem to think otherwise. So often if you have to be somewhere early in the morning nearly all places with a decent cup are still closed. Get off a little late for work and just want to unwind and have a nice cup of coffee? Impossible! Nearly everywhere closes between 7 - 8pm. This place however stays open until 12:30am and opens at 8am!!!! That's doing it right.

Enough about the hours of operation. This place actually has really great coffee and a really small, but cozy and welcoming atmosphere to to enjoy a cup. Unfortunately for me I'm rarely in Ebisu, but when I am I will hit this...

Small little coffee shop in Ebisu with some indoor seating for a handful of people

Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, I'm used to a lot of artisan coffee shops, so arriving in Tokyo and seeing several US based chains, I wasn't too excited for a cup of joe.

I visited this Sarutahiko Coffee with a couple of friends who ordered the honey latte and a Costa Rican to go. As it was late I didn't order anything, but they still gave me a sample shot of both. Both were delicious and the staff are super friendly. I really like the decor inside with the old drip machine (i think that's what that was?) and the small bags of their Coffee JEDI series beans on the right to purchase.

Definitely coming back when I need...