6 best coffee shops in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, Tokyo's underrated coffee neighbourhood

Just a five-minute walk from iki Espresso café is this riverfront warehouse that has been converted into iki’s roastery and eatery. The lofty space features an in-house bakery, coffee bar and relaxing dining space, where you’ll enjoy freshly roasted coffee along with baked goods. You can catch the roastery in action on Monday and Tuesday between 10am and 4pm – that’s when the space smells the loveliest as the roasters create iki's signature blend and single origin roasts.

The food menu revolves around bread and pastries that are baked in house, ranging from filled baguettes and hot sandwiches to focaccia and sweet treats like cinnamon buns. There's also a tempting selection of New Zealand-style pies and a daily array of quiche and salads.

As for coffee, you can't go wrong with any of the espresso-based drinks. There’s the classic flat white and refreshing espresso tonic as well as unique coffee drinks such as manuka honey latte.

One of the newest additions to the neighbourhood is the gorgeous Koffee Mameya Kakeru. While its sister shop in Omotesando is more of a takeaway stand, Koffee Mameya Kakeru is taking a new approach to coffee by turning it into an omakase-style tasting, not dissimilar to a degustation menu.

Here you get to explore and taste various roasts and beans through different brewing techniques and preparations such as cold brew, milk brew, filter and espresso shots. There are also coffee cocktails and a small selection of sweets that pair well with coffee. With baristas that dress like lab attendants, this beautifully designed and pristine space is created for serious coffee geeks. Coffee tasting courses start at ¥2,500.

This drink stand in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa is an offshoot of Rikashitsu, a renowned glassware company known for its lab-quality scientific equipment such as beakers, test tubes, flasks and distillation devices. 

Taking a new approach to coffee, Rikashitsu Distillery feels more like a science lab than a café, with beverages like cold-brew coffee that's processed through Rikashitsu’s artisanal chemistry glass apparatus. Other notable drinks on the menu include cold-brew tea, lemonade, ginger masala coffee and a special ginger soda that’s made by distilling organic ginger into water and then mixed with soda.

The distillery is a take-away shop only, with no seating. Besides coffee, you can also shop for Rikashitsu’s home distiller that can distil herbs and flowers to make fragrant aromatic water. At the affiliated Rikashitsu shop located across the street, you can also purchase real laboratory equipment (preservation glass jars, etc) that make for cute kitchen and interior decorations.

Enjoy pour-over coffee at Arise, a small but inviting café and roastery specialising in single-origin beans from around the world. There are always around ten bean varieties to choose from, including the most popular one from the Dominican Republic that boasts light, fruity notes. As seats are limited at this main shop, you can also hop over to the nearby Tokyobike flagship store, which houses an outpost of Arise Coffee Roasters. There are plenty more seats at the renovated warehouse.

Serving quality brews in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa since 2014, New Zealand-born Allpress was one of the first international coffee shops to move into the neighbourhood. The lofty shop and roastery was formerly a warehouse that's been beautifully renovated into a modern wooden structure.

Seating is limited, but you can rest your feet at one of the outdoor benches while sipping on a selection of coffee drinks including espresso, long black, and of course, flat white. Feeling peckish? The café also offers sandwiches and baked goods such as cookies, banana cake and gluten-free dark chocolate brownies.

Cream of the Crop's main roastery is consistently turning out quality beans and top notch drip coffee. The shop takes over a renovated warehouse and stocks beans from all over the world. The café menu usually contains five types of roasts, all of which are served hand-dripped. Fair warning: you won’t find any espresso here, but there’s a café au lait variation if you prefer a bit of milk. Seating is limited, but you could always get a takeaway to enjoy at the nearby Oyokogawa River.