Where to drink coffee from around the world in Tokyo

A darling little coffee shop with glass walls that looks like a greenhouse, Mocha Coffee offers a surprisingly niche selection of hand-drip coffee using beans sourced from Yemen and other parts of the Arabian Peninsula as well as Turkey. There are about 12 kinds of single-origin coffee on offer, which are served in charming china coffee cups. Choices range from the sweet and nutty Haraz coffee from Yemen to dark and thick Turkish coffee with Turkish sweets on the side. 

Not a big fan of coffee? Order an Arabic milk tea brewed with cardamom, rosewater and saffron to pair with a slice of homemade cake.

Jakarta’s Kopikalyan has opened its first overseas branch in Harajuku, bringing its home-grown Indonesian coffee beans to Tokyo. The arabica beans are sourced directly from farmers and processed at Kopikalyan's own roastery in Indonesia.

At the café, you'll be able to sample similar drinks to those on offer at the original shop in Jakarta. Lattes are served on sleek wooden boards and come with a complimentary slice of pandan sponge cake. But we can't go past the decadent Es Kopikalyan, which puts a twist on the classic milky coffee by adding in organic Arenga palm sugar.

There are non-coffee beverages, too, as well as snacks and light meals including crisp tempeh fries, honey butter toast and the café’s signature coffee jelly. If you find a roast that you enjoy, you can also purchase the beans for home brewing.

This beautiful Kagurazaka coffee shop is the Tokyo outlet of a small Chiang Mai-based craft coffee roaster, which began in an Akha village in northern Thailand. Started as a family business, Akha Ama Coffee focused on the cultivation and roasting of pesticide-free coffee beans.

All the coffee beans here are sent directly from Thailand one day after being roasted. The café’s interior is similar to one of the stores in the suburbs of Thailand, featuring large windows, black floor tiles and wooden counters, creating a warm, homely ambience.

To go with your coffee, we recommend the shop’s signature carrot cake, or the gluten-free scone made with rice flour. And if you like what you’re drinking, be sure to pick up a bag of Akha Ama coffee beans to take home.

You can now get Hanoi's famous egg coffee here in Yokohama Chinatown. Egg coffee (or cà phê trứng) is exactly what the name implies: a dark-roast coffee topped with an 'egg cream' that's made by beating egg yolks and sugar, much like the latter-day dalgona coffee.

The common origin story is that milk was scarce in Vietnam (this being at the start of the first Indochina War); as a replacement, the bartender of Hanoi's luxurious Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel, Nguyen Van Giang, started using whisked egg yolks in coffee. As they say, the rest is history: the original Café Giang is still going strong after 70-plus years and is currently run by Nguyen's son, Nguyen Tri Hoa.

If you're looking to snack over a caffeine boost, you'll be spoilt for choice at Chan Ki. This is a proper cha chaan teng, the Hong Kong-style cafés known for their affordable all-day menus offering staples like milk tea or coffee, egg tarts, noodle soup, toast and other classics (including dim sum!).

For the perfect teatime treat, we recommend the melt-in-your-mouth egg tart and the classic pineapple bun served with a slab of butter. As a show of authenticity, the restaurant serves its rich, creamy milk tea and coffee in cups from Black and White, one of the most iconic dairy producers in Hong Kong.

Coffee beans in Malaysia and Singapore – mainly of the robusta variety – are traditionally cooked with margarine and sugar to create an intensely dark roast. The resulting mixture, after it’s coarsely ground, is prepared drip-style using a sock-like cotton filter. Sweetened condensed milk is then added to temper the toasty bitterness, creating a rich, creamy and mighty strong brew.

You can now sample this unique coffee, known simply as ‘kopi’ in the region, at the popular Singaporean coffee shop chain Ya Kun. Do like the locals in Singapore and pair your kopi with a side of kaya (a caramelly egg and coconut jam) toast and soft boiled eggs. While that’s the staple breakfast in the island nation, you can enjoy this soul food (sets from ¥400) any time at Ya Kun.

Turkish coffee is known to be a strong, thick and velvety brew, and you can now enjoy a cuppa at Café and Bar Dogal. The space is peppered with decor from the region, with Arabian lamps, Persian carpets and Ottoman-style kitchenware to make you feel like you’re in Istanbul. That attention to detail is reflected in the food and drink as well, as Dogal imports many ingredients directly from Turkey.

The Turkish coffee here is made by boiling finely ground beans with sugar, and then served in a copper pot called cezve. The Turkish chai, on the other hand, is made with a two-tiered kettle called a chaidanlk, which is designed to reduce the bitterness in the milk tea.

Aside from beverages, Dogal also offers Turkish baklava (crispy puff pastry with sweet syrup) by Baisade, a Turkish patisserie in Aichi. If you order the Turkish coffee, you’ll find a piece of mastic (plant resin) gum or a lokum (Turkish delight) next to your cup – they’re imported from Divan, a long-established sweet store in Istanbul.